They may never have thought this day was coming but millennials have now come of age. Starting their own families, embarking on their professional careers, establishing households and – paying bills.
The newest generation of energy consumers accounts for a large proportion of the energy economy and hold a lot of power.
Consumers aged 25-44 make up 37% of utilities customers and will account for 33% of the adult population by 2020. In fact 54% of respondents believe millennials will be the priority demographic for utility service and engagement between now and 2023 (Cognizant), and as a result what millennials want and how they behave will be critical to the evolution of the utilities sector.
Snapchat, Facebook and Pokémon Go are not the only reason young adults are glued to their phones, with tasks such as banking, and energy management carried out via mobile – daily.
Millennials are busy.
They want to be able to live life from one place: social media, photo apps, text messaging and portable browsing are all testament to that. This is likely to be the same of energy services and home management.
The Internet of Things (IoT) will result in 50 billion connected devices by 2020 so it is an exciting time for organisations and customers to change service and energy sector propositions to prepare for this.
Utility bills are a new concept to millennials
More than 46% of millennials have no formal system in place to remember to pay their bills on time, with 9% using email reminders and only 5% using mobile phone notifications. This creates a tremendous opportunity for all bill providers to create responsible bill paying habits.
More than 80% of 18-34 year-olds would like to log into their energy provider’s website with their social media credentials, and access billing information and updates, while 95% of millennials said they’d switch energy providers if they weren’t able to provide them with a seamless user experience.
This eagerness to embrace technology gives energy providers a new opportunity to sell their services to a much wider consumer group. If 36% of millennials have said they would change providers or buy electricity from someone else if given an easy option to. So before a better option is provided by a competitor, as yourself what are your plans to try and make them stay?
To discuss the range of Voice, SMS, Mobile & Web solutions that Esendex offer for use in the utilities sector, contact us today.
