young woman paying bills online

Empowering utility customers through digital tools strengthens trust

EY Americas
EY Americas

Multidisciplinary professional services organization

7 minute read 19 Nov 2025
Related topics
Energy and resources
Power and utilities
Digital

Unclear utility bills and outdated tools erode customer trust. A customer-centric approach can simplify payments and restore confidence.

This article is authored by:
Joanne Campbell, Customer Experience Managing Director, Ernst & Young LLP

Co-authored by:
Nicholas Handcock, Customer Experience Leader, Ernst & Young LLP
Gerrad Marsh, Customer Experience Senior Manager, Ernst & Young LLP
Amir Badawi, Customer Experience Manager, Ernst & Young LLP
Timothy Cheung, Customer Business Innovation Manager, Ernst & Young LLP
Brian Mendoza, Customer Experience Senior Consultant, Ernst & Young LLP

In brief
  • Unclear and unpredictable utility bills lead customers to question charges, while outdated digital tools further diminish their trust in billing processes.
  • Ineffective digital platforms hinder customer inquiries, as cluttered interfaces and unclear billing details foster frustration and erode trust.
  • By adopting a customer-centric strategy, utilities can help customers avoid frustration and delays, enabling seamless and straightforward payments.

Introduction

Unclear and unpredictable bills drive utility customers to scrutinize their charges before paying, while outdated digital tools contribute to their distrust. Nearly half of Americans — 49% — believe utilities intentionally make bills confusing, and more than a third don’t trust their bills to be accurate.1 In an era defined by digital ease, utility customers are comparing their experiences to the seamless, transparent and empowering interactions they have with banks, airlines, streaming services and retail brands. They command most of their lives with just a few taps, and they expect the same from their energy providers. 

Redesigning energy bills is a great start. In a recent survey, nearly every business (99%) reported growing frustrated with poor digital experiences and expect energy providers to offer advanced digital tools, with more than two-thirds expecting artificial intelligence (AI) to be part of the energy experience.2

Only 33% of consumers find it “very easy” to understand and pay their energy bills, and nearly all (92%) want new digital bill capabilities, including the ability to analyze usage.3

Yet many utilities lag on this, constrained by outdated systems and complex billing operations that frustrate customers, inhibit trust and force extra steps between receipt of a bill and payment of it.

Today’s customers demand better.

Confusing utility bills
of utility customers believe utilities intentionally make bills confusing.

Cryptic bills and digital friction fuel customer distrust.

How EY can help

Unpredictable utility bills drive customer scrutiny

 

Consider this scenario: You are reviewing a software subscription for your business, having initially agreed to a monthly fee of $50. However, when the invoice arrives, you find it’s for $150, accompanied by charges for “premium features” and “setup fees” that were never disclosed during the sales process. This lack of transparency undermines your trust in the provider, leaving you feeling misled and questioning your decision to engage its services.

 

This scenario mirrors the monthly experience of many modern utility customers, whose monthly bills can vary by hundreds of dollars — even when consumption remains similar. Time-of-use (TOU) pricing, surcharges and rate changes introduce swings that are often poorly explained. Only 17% of customers report having a “very good” understanding of their bill, while 30% rate their understanding as “poor,”4 and 43% report they feel considerable anxiety over monthly utility bills.5

 

Without clear messaging about their costs, customers scrutinize every charge, growing frustrated as they seek to understand where their money is going; this leaves them unwilling and unable to “set it and forget it” with autopay.

Digital tools create barriers, not clarity
of customers say they wish their electric bills were easier to understand, and 59% agree that parts of their bills “seem like another language.”⁶
Understanding the utility bill
of customers rate their understanding of their utility bill as “poor.”

Outdated digital platforms hinder customer solutions

When customers seek answers, outdated digital platforms become obstacles rather than solutions:

  • Websites are cluttered and do not flow in an intuitive way.
  • Billing details do not display the information that customers actually want, leaving the exact source of price variations unclear and providing no actionable insights.
  • Email and mobile notifications happen at the end of the billing period when costs are set, rather than warning customers in real time about higher-than-normal costs or allowing them to mitigate.
  • Live chat, FAQs and support channels are limited or inconsistent.

These gaps fuel frustration and contribute to a cycle of consumer distrust.

How EY can help

  • Payment services

    Our payments professionals can help your business enhance innovation, drive growth and improve performance. Find out more.

    Read more

A cycle of distrust causes further challenges

 

The consequences extend beyond individual customers; as customers become frustrated in their search for clarity, utilities face increased call volumes, media backlash and regulatory scrutiny. For example:

  • Call volumes are 26% to 35% higher when customers cannot easily understand digital tools, resulting in significantly more hours of work for customer service teams.7
  • Dissatisfied customers turn to the news media and social media to air their concerns.
  • Regulators hear these concerns through public hearings and local news reports, considering them when determining whether to approve rate increases.
  • Auto-pay rates suffer, with only about 50% of customers auto-paying their utility bills, compared with the approximately 75% who auto-pay for telecom bills and other subscriptions.8,9

Now envision a better world

 

Imagine a world where bills are predictable and valuable information is easy to find. The result? Customers can skip the detective work and the frustration and delays, and just pay.

 

A strategic approach to solving the problem

 

Utilities can transform this cycle through a customer-centric strategy built on four pillars:

 

Pillar 1: Assess the current state and set the strategy

 

Conduct holistic customer experience (CX) assessments across billing, digital and service channels; benchmark against leading-class digital brands, not just utility peers; and set a transformation roadmap tied to measurable trust and satisfaction metrics.

Utilities that conducted CX maturity assessments saw measurable improvements in payment rates and customer trust.

Pillar 2: Design for customer-centric experiences

Apply user experience (UX) leading practices to bills, web and mobile; simplify language and personalize insights; and prototype and test solutions with customers.

Customers who find their bill easy to understand are more likely to consider their monthly bill manageable.

Pillar 3: Leverage technology and data

Launch intuitive modular portals and mobile apps; use analytics to predict usage spikes, flag anomalies and send proactive alerts; and provide tools such as usage forecasts, bill smoothing and self-service billing options.

Customers who receive, or are aware that their utility offers, midcycle billing alerts rate their bill as significantly easier to understand and the total monthly charge as significantly more manageable than average.

Pillar 4: Enable change and track results

Conduct change management workshops across departments; train front-line employees in empathy, channel fluency and problem solving; and track key performance indicators (KPIs), including autopay adoption, first-call resolution, digital engagement and customer trust scores.

Utilities that embed customer feedback loops outperform their peers on measures of consumer trust, retention and satisfaction.

A customer-centric strategy enables customers to skip the detective work and the frustration and delays and just pay. Enhanced digital billing capabilities enable utilities to seize greater engagement opportunities with consumers.

Recommendations for transforming utility CX


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Summary 

Utility customers face confusion and distrust due to unclear bills and outdated digital tools. Nearly half believe utilities intentionally complicate charges. To regain trust, utilities must modernize their platforms, simplify billing and enhance customer experiences. By adopting a customer-centric strategy, they can transform frustration into clarity, empowering customers to pay with confidence, and reduce operational costs.

About this article

EY Americas
EY Americas
Multidisciplinary professional services organization
Related topics
Energy and resources
Power and utilities
Digital

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