CenterPoint Energy has a legacy of doing great things for and with our customers.
Our Customers
Our commitment to customer service and going above and beyond for those in the communities we serve is a significant part of who we are as a company. Best-in-class customer service, technology and continuous improvement continue to be core elements of our strategy.
We are recognized as an industry leader nationally in both our electric and gas utilities in the areas of customer satisfaction, brand trust, outage restoration and helping our customers save energy. These results have been achieved through a range of investments we have made in our technology, employees and our communities.
New investments will help us to address an expanded range of customer-driven needs. We are confident in our ability to further leverage our award-winning, artificial intelligence-enabled customer interaction platform. This innovation has been pivotal, improving customer experiences and reducing operating expenses.
We have developed self-service processes for bill payment, account setup and proactive outage notification, which have enabled most customer transactions to be resolved through our digital channels. Our entire customer engagement philosophy is based on being easy to do business with by reducing customer effort when interacting with CenterPoint Energy. Whether delivering service through our Contact Centers, processing and making payment arrangements, in Credit and Collections, or settling or recouping damages through our Claims team, we put the customer at the center of everything we do.
Customer expectations will continue to be a catalyst for where we will invest in the future. Today’s expectations are being driven by a residential adoption of connected devices, advanced commercial manufacturing, storm resiliency and carbon-reduction aspirations. Our response is robust and designed to meet these needs over the coming years.
- Power Alert Service alerts notify customers of an outage at their home or business, its restoration progress and when the electricity comes back on. CenterPoint Energy recently launched the Power Alert Service electric outage notification system to customers in our southwestern Indiana electric territory.
- Outage Tracker shows real-time electric outages in our service area.
- The My Account self-service web tool allows customers to manage their natural gas service account and view electric usage online.
Contact Center’s Commitment to Service
Just as our field employees continue to be out on the front lines providing safe and reliable electricity and natural gas to our customers, our Contact Center agents also have a critical role in supporting our customers’ energy needs. With a reassuring voice, they support electric, natural gas and Home Service Plus customers across our service territory.
“Our goal is to provide an exceptional customer experience through focused technology investments centered around customers’ preferences for interaction and information.” – Gregg Knight, Executive Vice President, Customer Transformation and Business Services.
Responding to COVID-19
In response to COVID-19, CenterPoint Energy implemented additional measures to protect the safety and health of customers, employees and contractors, as well as to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including:
- Continuing to implement comprehensive plans and processes to help provide safe, reliable energy delivery to electricity and natural gas customers.
- Supporting customers who needed payment assistance, arrangements or extensions.
- Temporarily suspending natural gas service disconnections for nonpayment.
We implemented enhanced safety measures for customers and field employees, including:
- Equipping employees with hand sanitizer in their vehicles, as well as latex gloves and shoe covers;
- Directing field employees to attempt to resolve service issues without entering homes or businesses;
- Following social distancing guidelines and wearing protective equipment if entering customers’ homes and businesses to provide service; and
- Increasing cleaning and disinfecting frequency of facilities and vehicles.
CenterPoint Energy Takes First Place for 2021-2022 American Customer Satisfaction Index
CenterPoint Energy came in first place nationally in the 2021-2022 American Customer Satisfaction Index® (ACSI) study of investor-owned utilities. ACSI is a national economic indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of products and services available to household consumers in the United States. CenterPoint Energy has ranked among the top two utilities nationally in the study since 2015, also holding the top spot in 2018 and 2019.