Customer Experience Award
Celebrating utilities that have gone above and beyond to deliver outstanding customer experience and engagement over the past year, through initiatives that exceed regulatory requirements and bring tangible benefits to customers.
Customer Experience Award
Celebrating utilities that have gone above and beyond to deliver outstanding customer experience and engagement over the past year, through initiatives that exceed regulatory requirements and bring tangible benefits to customers.
Cadent and Cogna
Improved Lettering and Notifications
Cadent's Lettering App and Customer Comms Hub ensure residents affected by gas mains upgrade projects receive the right information, at the right time, through letters, SMS, and email. Automated property matching identifies every household in scope and enables messages to be targeted at specific addresses or groups. The applications go beyond the GSOP13 (advance notification) requirement: they keep customers updated when works are delayed, extended, or rescheduled, so no one is left guessing.
E.ON Next
Customer Experience
With energy prices and financial vulnerability at record highs, E.ON Next made customer experience a strategic differentiator, giving customers a compelling reason to stay. The business reshaped its approach around customer insight, proactive support, and digital-first engagement. Initiatives included an innovative energy app, a redesigned digital billing journey, targeted vulnerability programmes, complaint reduction measures, and frontline-led service families. Together, these changes removed friction, strengthened support, and enabled colleagues to resolve issues more effectively. As a result, E.ON Next continues to exceed performance targets, delivering record digital engagement, significantly reduced complaints, best-ever customer satisfaction scores and, ultimately, continued trust and loyalty.
Everflow
Making utilities simple with AI assistance
Everflow is redefining what customer experience looks like in the utilities sector by moving beyond reactive service to deliver proactive, technology-enabled support that helps businesses save time, money and resources. Over the past year, we have invested in AI-powered customer support, smarter digital services, proactive leak detection and tailored water-efficiency programmes that simplify utilities management while improving sustainability for customers. These initiatives have reduced response times, increased customer satisfaction and delivered measurable environmental and financial benefits for thousands of businesses. By combining innovative technology with exceptional people, Everflow continues to set new standards for customer experience within UK utilities.
Lanes Group and Southern Water
Transforming the Wastewater Customer Journey
Over the past year, Lanes Group and Southern Water have transformed the wastewater customer journey through a combination of digital innovation, operational redesign and a renewed focus on human service. Following mobilisation of two major AMP8 contracts, Lanes introduced a bespoke BigChange work-order platform, real-time job tracking, automated omnichannel updates and access to real agents when customers need support most. Alongside more than 400 purpose-built vehicles and a customer advocacy programme, these changes have improved speed of response by 65%, SLA compliance by 15% and customer satisfaction by 18%, helping Southern Water rise four places in Wastewater C-MeX.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) Distribution and Accenture
Customer Transformation - Contact Reimagined
SSEN serves four million customers across some of the UK's most remote and weather-exposed communities. As climate volatility grows, customers' expectations are rising faster than legacy systems could keep pace. SSEN partnered with Accenture to close that gap, migrating to a resilient, cloud-based omnichannel platform that transformed how customers access support, including through the critical 105 power cut helpline. The result: SSEN's highest-ever customer satisfaction score of 9.05/10 on Ofgem's Broad Measure. This is not a technology story. It is a story of putting customers back at the heart of a network they depend on.
Scottish Water/Efficient Service Delivery (ESD)
Glenfarg Water Treatment Works - Community Partnership Programme
Scottish Water’s £120 million upgrade investment in the Glenfarg Water Treatment Works is setting a new benchmark for customer experience. Through continuous engagement and creating meaningful local benefits, Scottish Water and delivery partner ESD have transformed the relationship between a major construction project and its host community. Resident-led improvements, including regular community meetings, school engagement, road safety and winter maintenance, biodiversity presentations, red squirrel bridges and beaver translocation show how feedback has shaped delivery, creating lasting benefits for local people and the environment while maintaining trust and supporting a resilient water supply for 179,000 customers.
SP Energy Networks
SPT Customer Liaison Team
Recognised as the highest-performing Transmission Owner by customers for two consecutive years, the ScottishPower Transmission Customer Liaison Team has transformed the connections experience during one of the most significant periods of change in the energy sector. Through proactive customer support, investment in five additional Customer Liaison Officers and the launch of the innovative IConn pre-application tool, the team has removed barriers, simplified complex industry reform and reduced customer waiting times by up to five months. Supporting more than 200 projects with their enquiries and consistently delivering outstanding service, the team has created a faster, more transparent and customer-focused connections journey.
Wave
Making every customer interaction count
Wave is an award-winning water retailer, putting customer excellence at the heart of everything we do. Serving non-household customers across the UK, we’ve worked to create a seamless, accessible, personalised customer experience that makes doing business easier. Through innovative ways of communicating, proactive support and genuine choice in how customers engage with us, we respond to the needs of organisations of every size and sector. Going beyond regulatory expectations, our customer-centred approach has delivered measurable improvements in satisfaction, engagement and service performance. We never stand still, and we’re committed to raising the bar for customer experience across the water market.