Tag: energy

Market volatility, evolving regulations, and shifting consumer expectations are a catalyst to make energy providers to rethink how they operate. Rising energy costs, grid reliability concerns, and the push for sustainable energy sources add layers of complexity to an already challenging landscape. In this environment, data analytics in utilities has become a strategic imperative, enabling companies to optimize operations, mitigate risks, and enhance customer experiences. With a wealth of data at their disposal, utilities must harness the power of utility analytics to transform raw information into actionable intelligence. This is where Experian’s energy and utilities solutions come into play. With an unmatched data reach of more than 1.5 billion consumers and 201 million businesses, we are uniquely positioned to help energy and utility providers unlock greater potential within their organizations, whether that’s by boosting customer engagement, preventing fraud and verifying identities, or optimizing collections. Market Challenges Facing the Utilities Sector Utilities today face a series of economic, regulatory, and operational hurdles that demand innovative solutions. Regulatory and Compliance Pressures: Governments and regulatory bodies are tightening rules around emissions, sustainability, and grid reliability. Utilities must balance compliance with the need for cost efficiency. New carbon reduction mandates and reporting requirements force energy providers to adopt predictive modeling solutions that assess future demand and optimize energy distribution. Economic Uncertainty and Rising Costs: Inflation, fuel price fluctuations, and supply chain disruptions are impacting the cost of delivering energy. Utilities must find ways to improve financial forecasting and reduce inefficiencies—tasks well suited for advanced analytics solutions that optimize asset management and detect cost-saving opportunities. Grid Modernization and Infrastructure Investments: Aging infrastructure and increased energy demand require significant investments in modernization. Data-driven insights help utilities prioritize infrastructure upgrades, preventing costly failures and ensuring reliability. Predictive analytics models play a crucial role in identifying patterns that signal potential grid failures before they occur. Customer Expectations and Energy Transition: Consumers are more engaged than ever, demanding personalized service, real-time billing insights, and renewable energy options. Utilities must leverage advanced analytics to segment customer data, predict energy usage, and offer tailored solutions that align with shifting consumer preferences. Rising Fraud: Account takeover fraud, a form of identity theft where cybercriminals obtain credentials to online accounts, is on the rise in the utility sector. Pacific Gas and Electric Company reported over 26,000 reports of scam attempts in 2024 and has received over 1,700 reports of attempted scams in January 2025 alone. Utility and energy providers must leverage advanced fraud detection and identity verification tools to protect their customers and also their business. How Data Analytics Is Transforming the Utilities Industry Optimizing Revenue and Reducing Fraud Fraud and revenue leakage remain significant challenges. Utilities can use data and modeling to detect anomalies in energy usage, identify fraudulent accounts, and minimize losses. Experian’s predictive modeling solutions enable proactive fraud detection, ensuring financial stability for providers. Enhancing Demand Forecasting and Load Balancing With renewable energy sources fluctuating daily, accurate demand forecasting is critical. By leveraging utility analytics, providers can predict peak demand periods, optimize energy distribution, and reduce waste. Improving Credit Risk and Payment Management Economic uncertainty increases the risk of late or unpaid bills. Experian’s energy and utilities solutions help providers assess creditworthiness and develop more flexible payment plans, reducing bad debt while improving customer satisfaction. Why Experian? The Power of Data-Driven Decision Making Only Experian delivers a comprehensive suite of advanced analytics solutions that help utilities make smarter, faster, and more informed decisions. With more than 25 years of experience in the energy and utility industry, we are your partner of choice. Our predictive analytics models provide real-time risk assessment, fraud detection, and customer insights, ensuring utilities can confidently navigate today’s economic and regulatory challenges. In an industry defined by complexity and change, utilities that fail to leverage data analytics in utilities risk falling behind. From optimizing operations to enhancing customer engagement, the power of utility analytics is undeniable. Now is the time to act. Explore how Experian’s energy and utilities solutions can help your organization harness the power of advanced analytics to navigate market challenges and drive long-term success. Learn more Partner with our team

You walk into your home, flick the light switch, head to the fridge and grab a glass of cold water. Suddenly, you feel a chill and turn the thermostat up.  These habitual acts are basic, but fundamental to our lives. Unfortunately, not everyone has equal access to such luxuries. There is a substantial amount of people who are impacted by heavy energy burdens.   What is an energy burden?  An energy burden is the percentage of gross household income that goes towards energy costs. Two families can have similar energy bills, but different household incomes. Like many other industries, the utility sector is shifting its’ focus toward equitable outcomes and establishing and implementing effective efficiency programs.    Who do energy burdens impact?  Due to the energy burden, many communities of color have been historically underserved by energy efficiency and clean energy programs. The energy burden can also impact those who rent, have less efficient appliances or live in older homes.  According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of August, 2022, 23.1% of U.S. adults lived in households that were unable to pay an energy bill in the last 12 months. Additionally, The American Council for Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEE) found that low-income Black, Hispanic and Native American households face dramatically higher energy burdens than average. How can Experian be a partner for energy equity?   As the “Consumer’s Bureau,” Experian is deeply committed to putting consumers’ best interests first as we make key decisions to support our clients. Like the energy industry, Experian wants to lessen the energy burden for underserved and low-income communities. This is a business of critical consequence, and we are focused on helping our clients accelerate progress and equity within the communities they serve. As we navigate along this inclusion journey together, we can assist with three core areas:  Measure and track: Understand geographies and audience segments containing the largest opportunities for inclusion within the communities you serve. Benchmark and track progress towards your internal diversity and inclusion goals. Determine who qualifies for energy efficiency programs by getting a more accurate view of the communities you serve. Include and reach: By incorporating supplementary data sources, we can help you identify and reach underserved consumers and small business owners who are often excluded from the traditional credit ecosystem. Inform and empower: Develop and educate vulnerable populations, offering the tools and support needed to advance their financial health journey. Enabling your consumers to obtain the assistance they need.  By leveraging our leading data assets, businesses can obtain a more holistic consumer view to drive better outcomes and opportunities while making smarter decisions and minimizing risk. With accurate data you can effectively prioritize field work, get correct assessment of household income, increase productivity of field personnel, and improve field collection rates. We care about doing the right thing and are here to ensure you meet your energy efficiency and equity goals. Together, we can make a positive impact on our communities and consumers.    To learn more about how Experian is helping the utility industry drive inclusion and bring equity to energy, visit us or request a call. Access the infographic Energy Burden Research. Aceee.org. (2022). Household Pulse Survey. Census.gov. (2022). Low-Income Households, Communities of Color Face High Energy. Aceee.org. (2022). Experian and Oliver Wyman find expanded data and advanced analytics can improve access to credit. Experian plc. (2022).

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has facilitated an increase in information collection among consumers and organizations, creating a prosperous climate for cybercriminals. As businesses and customers adjust to the “new normal,” hackers are honing in on their targets and finding new, more sophisticated ways to access their sensitive data. As part of our recently launched Q&A perspective series, Michael Bruemmer, Experian’s Vice President of Data Breach Resolution and Consumer Protection, provided insight on emerging fraud schemes related to the COVID-19 vaccines and how increased use of digital home technologies could lead to an upsurge in identity theft and ransomware attacks. Check out what he had to say: Q: How did Experian determine the top data breach trends for 2021? MB: As part of our initiative to help organizations prevent data breaches and protect their information, we release an annual Data Breach Forecast. Prior to the launch of the report, we analyze market and consumer trends. We then come up with a list of potential predictions based off the current climate and opportunities for data breaches that may arise in the coming year. Closer to publication, we pick the top five ‘trends’ and craft our supporting rationale. Q: When it comes to data, what is the most immediate threat to organizations today? MB: Most data breaches that we service have a root cause in employee errors – and working remotely intensifies this issue. Often, it’s through negligence; clicking on a phishing link, reusing a common password for multiple accounts, not using two-factor authentication, etc. Organizations must continue to educate their employees to be more aware of the dangers of an internal breach and the steps they can take to prevent it. Q: How should an organization begin to put together a comprehensive threat and response review? MB: Organizations that excel in cybersecurity often are backed by executives that make comprehensive threats and response reviews a top corporate priority. When the rest of the organization sees higher-ups emphasizing the importance of fraud prevention, it’s easier to invest time and money in threat assessments and data breach preparedness. Q: What fraud schemes should consumers be looking out for? MB: The two top fraud schemes that consumers should be wary of are scams related to the COVID-19 vaccine rollout and home devices being held for ransom. Fraudsters have been leveraging social media to spread harmful false rumors and misinformation about the vaccines, their effectiveness and the distribution process. These mistruths can bring harm to supply chains and delay government response efforts. And while ransomware attacks aren’t new, they are getting smarter and easier with people working, going to school and hosting gatherings entirely on their connected devices. With control over home devices, doors, windows, and security systems, cybercriminals have the potential to hold an entire house hostage in exchange for money or information. For more insight on how to safeguard your organization and consumers from emerging fraud threats, watch our Experian Symposium Series event on-demand and download our 2021 Data Breach Industry Forecast. Watch now Access forecast About Our Expert: Michael Bruemmer, Experian VP of Data Breach Resolution and Consumer Protection, North America Michael manages Experian’s dedicated Data Breach Resolution and Consumer Protection group, which aims to help businesses better prepare for a data breach and mitigate associated consumer risks following breach incidents. With over 25 years in the industry, he has guided organizations of all sizes and sectors through pre-breach response planning and delivery.

The ongoing COVID-19 crisis and the associated rise in online transactions have made it more important than ever to keep customer information accurate and company databases up to date. By ensuring your organization’s data quality, you can allocate resources more effectively, minimize costs and safely serve your customers. As part of our recently launched Q&A perspective series, Suzanne Pomposello, Experian’s Strategic Account Director for CEM vertical markets, and William Palmer, Senior Sales Engineer, provided insight on how utility providers can manage and maintain accurate client data during system migrations and modernizations, achieve a single customer view and implement an operational data quality program. Check out what they had to say: Q: What are the best practices for effective data quality management that utility providers should follow? SP: To ensure data quality, we advise starting with a detailed understanding of the data your organization is currently maintaining and how new data entering your systems is being utilized. Conducting a baseline assessment and being able to properly validate the accuracy of your data is key to identifying areas that require cleansing and enrichment. Once you know what improvements and corrections need to be made, you can establish a strategy that will empower your organization to unlock the full potential of your data. Q: How does Experian help clients improve their data hygiene? SP: Experian has over 30 years of expertise in data cleansing, which is tapped to help clients deploy tactics and strategies to ensure an acceptable level of data integrity. First, we obtain a complete picture of each organizations objectives and challenges. We then assess the quality of their data and identify sources that require remediation. Armed with insight, we work alongside organizations to develop a phased action plan to standardize and enhance their data. Our data management solutions satisfy a wide range of needs and can be consumed in real-time, bulk and batch form. Q: Are there any protection regulations to be aware of when obtaining updated data? WP: Unlike Experian’s regulated divisions, most Experian Data Quality data elements are not burdened by complex regulations and restrictions. Our focus is on organizations’ main customer data points (e.g., address, email address and phone). We reference this data against unregulated source systems to validate, append and complete customer profiles. Experian’s data quality management tools can serve as a foundation for many regulatory, compliance and governance requirements, including, Metro 2 reporting, TCPA and CCPA. Q: Are demos of Experian’s data management solutions available? If so, where can they be accessed? WP: Yes, you can visit our website to view product functionality clips and recorded demonstrations. Additionally, we welcome the opportunity to explore our comprehensive data quality management tools via tests and live demonstrations using actual client data to gain a better understanding of how our solutions can be used to improve operational efficiency and the customer experience. For more insight on how to cleanse, standardize, and enhance your data to make sure you get the most out of your information, watch our Experian Symposium Series event on-demand. Watch now Learn more About Our Experts: Suzanne Pomposello, Strategic Account Director, Experian Data Quality, North America Suzanne manages the energy vertical for Experian’s Data Quality division, supporting North America. She brings innovative solutions to her clients by leveraging technology to deliver accurate and validated contact data that is fit for purpose. William Palmer, Senior Sales Engineer, Experian Data Quality, North America William is a Senior Sales Engineer for Experian’s Data Quality division, supporting North America. As an expert in the data quality space, he advises utility clients on strategies for immediate and long-term data hygiene practices, migrations and reporting accuracy.

New challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic have made it imperative for utility providers to adapt strategies and processes that preserve positive customer relationships while continuing to collect delinquent balances during an unpredictable and unprecedented time. As part of our ongoing Q&A perspective series, Beth Bayer, Experian’s Vice President of Energy Sales, and Danielle Grigaliunas, Product Manager of Collection Solutions, discuss the changing collections landscape and how the utility industry can best adapt. Check out what they had to say: Q: How are the COVID-19 crisis and today’s economic environment impacting consumer behavior? Particularly as it relates to delinquencies and payments? BB: Typically, when we experience recessions, delinquency goes up. In this recession, delinquency is declining. Stimulus money and increased unemployment benefits, coupled with stay at home orders, appear to be leading to more dollars available for consumers to repay obligations and debts. Another factor is related to special accommodations, forbearances, and payment holidays or extensions, that provide consumers with flexible options in making their regularly scheduled payments. Once an accommodation is granted, the lender or bank puts a code on the account when it’s reported to the bureaus and the account does not continue to age. Q: As a result of the pandemic, many regulatory bodies are recommending or imposing changes to involuntary disconnect policies. How can utility providers effectively collect, even if they can’t disconnect? BB: The public utility commissions in many areas have suspended disconnects due to non-payment, further increasing balances, delinquency and delaying final bill generation. Without the fear of being disconnected for non-payment in some regions of the country, customers are not paying delinquent utility bills. Utility providers should continue to provide payment reminders and delinquency notices and offer payment plans in exchange for partial payments to continue to engage customers. Identifying which customers can pay and are actively paying other creditors and institutions helps prioritize proactive outreach. Q: For utility providers who offer in-house collection services, what strategies and credit data do you find most valuable? DG: Current and accurate data is key when looking to provide stronger and more strategic collections. This data is built into efficient scoring models to articulate which debts are most collectible and how much money will be recovered from each consumer. Without the overlay of credit data, it’s harder for utility providers to predict how consumers prioritize utility debt during times of economic stress. By better understanding the current state of the consumer, utility providers can focus on consumers who are most likely to pay. Investing in monitoring solutions allows utility providers to receive notifications when their consumers are beginning to cure and pay off other obligations and take a more proactive approach. Q: What are the best methods for utility providers to reach collection consumers? What do they need to know as they begin to utilize omnichannel communications? DG: Regular data hygiene checks and skipping are the first line of defense in collections. Confirming contact information is correct and up to date throughout the entire consumer lifecycle helps to establish a strong relationship. Those who are successful in collections invest in omnichannel messaging and self-service payment options, so consumers have a choice on how they’d like to settle their obligations. Q: What current collection trends/challenges are we seeing within the utility space? BB: Utility providers do not traditionally report active customer payments and delinquencies to the credit bureaus. Anecdotally, our utility partners tell us that delinquencies are up and balances are growing. Many customers know that they cannot currently be disconnected if they fall behind on their utility payments and are using this opportunity to prioritize other debts. We also know that some utilities have reduced collection activities during the pandemic due to office closures and have cut back on communication efforts. Additionally, we’re hearing from some of our utility partners that collections and recoveries of final billed or charged-off accounts are increasing, despite many agencies closing and limited to no collection activities occurring. We assume this is because these balances are typically reported to the credit reporting agencies, triggering a payment and interest in clearing that balance first. Constant communication, flexibility, and empathizing with your customers by offering payment plans and accommodations will lead to an increase in dollars collected. DG: There’s been a large misunderstanding that because utility providers can’t disconnect, they can’t attempt to collect. The success of collections has been seen within first parties, as they are still maintaining strong relationships by reaching out at optical times and remaining top-of-mind with consumers. The utility industry needs to take a proactive approach to ensure they are focusing on the right consumers through the right channels at the right time. Credit data that matches the consumer’s credit health (i.e. credit usage and payments) is needed insight when trying to understand a consumer’s overall financial standing. For more insight on how to enhance your collection processes and capabilities, watch our Experian Symposium Series event on-demand. Watch now About our Experts: Beth Bayer, Vice President of Sales, Experian Energy, North America Beth leads the Energy Vertical at Experian, supporting regulated, deregulated and alternative energy companies throughout the United States. She strives to bring innovative solutions to her clients by leveraging technology, data and advanced analytics across the customer lifecycle, from credit risk and identity verification through collections. Danielle Grigaliunas, Product Manager of Collections Solutions, Experian Consumer Information Services, North America Danielle has dedicated her career to the collections space and has spent the last five years with Experian, enhancing and developing collections solutions for various industries and debt stages. Danielle’s focus is ensuring that clients have efficient, compliant and innovative collection and contact strategies.