Educating customers an essential element of Columb

ATLANTA, March 21, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Columbia Water & Light has selected Apogee Interactive to provide new customer engagement technologies to its customers to help them understand how behaviors, appliances and thermostat settings can impact their energy bill.

The municipal utility serving Columbia, Mo., began this month implementing Apogee’s Energy Advisor Enterprise, which includes the Energy Forecaster and Bill Analysis applications along with personalized messages and alerts for customers. Columbia Water & Light chose Apogee because its solutions would be the most intuitive and easiest for customers to use, according to Jim Windsor, Assistance Director of Columbia Water & Light. The personalized video messaging for customers was also a key selling point, said Windsor.

“Many customers don’t understand how personnel decisions and weather impact their bill,” said Windsor.  “We believe the Apogee solution will engage customers and act as an extension of our energy efficiency and rebate programs.”

Columbia includes the University of Missouri and other colleges, which results in a customer base made up of many younger adults, some of whom are first-time utility customers. Columbia officials believe engaging their customers with new technologies is essential to delivering a positive customer experience and helping educate those customers. The customer engagement tools included in the Energy Advisor Enterprise will help direct customers to other efficiency and energy management programs and services when they go to their utility’s website, thus allowing the utility to save its advertising dollars previously spent to promote these programs or reallocate those funds to other communication needs.

Columbia’s customer service representatives will also be able to rely on Energy Advisor when customers call with questions about their energy usage.

“Our Energy Advisor has been helping hundreds of utilities for more than two decades, which gives us great insight to what customers need and expect from their utility,” said Susan Gilbert, President, and CEO of Apogee. “With our latest addition of proactive, personalized messaging, we look forward to helping Columbia Water & Light engage and educate their customers.” 

About Columbia Water & Light

Columbia Water & Light is the municipal utility governed by the City of Columbia, Mo. It was formed by voter approval in 1904. Since that time, the utility has been furnishing Columbians with low cost, reliable electricity and high quality water. Columbia Water & Light serves more than 49,000 customers.  

A bout Apogee Interactive

Apogee Interactive is the nation’s leading provider of customer engagement technology for utilities. Partnering with utilities since 1993, Apogee’s digital engagement platform delivers proactive, personalized communication to residential and commercial customers nationwide. Apogee’s proven SaaS platform enables more meaningful customer engagement, proven sustainable energy results, reduced operating costs, and improved program performance for utilities. For more information, please visit  www.apogee.net.  Follow us on Twitter at @apoweb and on Linkedin .

Apogee Contact: Karen Morris – 678-684-6801 – kmorris@apogee.net