Customer satisfaction

Stedin customer convenience overall

We express customer convenience in the Customer Effort Score. The Customer Effort Score in 2021 matched our ambition: 75% of customers report experiencing ease or considerable ease. In particular, customers are positive about smart meter installation and about our approach to remedying failures. Our fitters have a significant bearing on customer experience. Friendliness and expertise are terms that frequently crop up in customer feedback.

In terms of lack of ease, 14% of customers report high-effort or very high-effort service experiences. Although this means that we exactly reached the target, the result is not yet in line with our ambition: we want to be below 10%. The main cause driving this score is information provision and the long lead time of connections. Our customers feel that we are not keeping them sufficiently updated about the status and any changes affecting previously made agreements. 

Customer convenience for connections

For many customers, the time at which they make an appointment for work to be carried out determines whether they have a low-effort or high-effort experience. Clarity is key. If an appointment is made quickly, customers know where they stand and experience a low-effort interaction. Any delay or difficulty in making an appointment is experienced as a high-effort interaction by customers.

Steps were taken in 2021 to address this need for clarity in relation to connections. This would involve us significantly improving the lead time and scheduling of work to complete connections following acceptance of a quotation. For that purpose, we launched a pilot scheme in the middle of the year which saw us scheduling work appointments with customers as soon as they accepted the quotation for reinforcing and downgrading connections. Customers rated this way of working highly, giving a customer effort score for December of 68% (compared to 36% in January 2021). As a result of the peak in requests for the removal of gas connections, accompanied by reinforcement of the electrical connection, we closed the year with an average Customer Effort Score of 58%. That means we barely failed to achieve our target of at least 59% for the year.

The Customer High-Effort score improved from 35% in January 2021 to 19% in December 2021. Our objective was to record an average score of no more than 31% in 2021. We closed the year with an average score of 28%, meaning we achieved our objective.

Low customer effort and completion time for connections for low-use consumers within 18 weeks

Increased number of requests for reinforcing and downgrading low-use connections

An electrical connection needs to be reinforced if, for instance, a customer installs a large array of solar panels. The number of requests for reinforcing and downgrading connections for low-use consumers rose by 23% in 2021 to 19,207 (2020: 14,730). As that demanded a more effective way of working, we began a schedule of robotisation and automation of all repetitive operations in the process in 2021. This enabled us to successfully complete 35.7% of this type of connections within four weeks in 2021 (2020: 14.5%).

The improvements we made are also reflected in the other products for low-use consumers, such as moving, installation and removal of connections. Overall, a lead time of 18 weeks was achieved for 90.3% of connections for low-use consumers. We therefore achieved our target of 90% for 2021.

Increased number of requests for reinforcing and downgrading heavy-use connections

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on SMEs and the hospitality sector is reflected in the number of reinforcement requests from heavy-use customers. The increase matching the number of requests from low-use consumers that we expected failed to materialise. While the number of requests remained fairly constant, the percentage of sustainability-driven reinforcements rose. Having accounted for roughly a quarter of all requests in 2020, this category represented just over a third of requests in 2021. Making a tool available online that shows the costs of a reinforcement for customers on an individual basis enabled us to prevent many unnecessary requests.

Customer convenience smart meters

85% of all customers reported a low-effort experience from smart meter installation; by contrast, 6% reported a high-effort experience. The percentage of customers who experienced a low-effort service interaction remained the same as in 2020, while the number of customers experiencing a high-effort service interaction rose by 1%.

Encouraging active use

Customers are informed in different ways about the features of the smart meters and energy consumption managers. Once the smart meter has been installed, customers receive an email in which we draw their attention to the website of Milieu Centraal highlighting energy consumption managers. Stedin’s website also contains information on how to gain insight into energy consumption. We explain in detail the benefits of energy consumption managers on the ‘Smart meter and how to save energy’ page.

Customer convenience when fixing problems in meter cupboards

82% of customers reported a low-effort experience when a problem in their meter cupboard was fixed; 9% reported a high-effort experience. Both targets were therefore achieved. 

Here, too, our fitters have a major bearing on the convenience that customers experience. Customers are very positive in particular about the speed with which our fitters fix any problems. The contact with the Central Outage Desk also contributes significantly to a low-effort experience.

Enduris customer convenience

In 2020, Enduris began carrying out the same Customer Effort surveys as Stedin. Enduris surveys customer convenience, measured in terms of low-effort or high- effort experiences, in relation to the installation, modification or removal of a connection, the smart meter and fixing problems in the meter cupboard. In 2021, Enduris received good ratings for customer convenience and, with scores of 80% for low effort and 9% for high effort, is well above the target. At Enduris, the work performed by fitters and the outage desk also have a positive impact on the customer effort experience.

With regard to the installation, modification or removal of a connection in 2021, 66% of customers reported a low-effort experience and 19% reported a high-effort experience. A downward trend can be observed as regards the customer effort experience. This is mainly attributable to the large amount of work as a result of the energy transition. They survey shows that an aftercare phone call has a positive impact on the customer effort experience. Enduris made significant advances last year as regards connecting heavy-use customers, with connections to 100% of heavy-use customers being completed on time (within 18 weeks or on the customer’s preferred date). This has resulted in a very high customer satisfaction rating, averaging an 8 or more.