Introducing Self Meter Reading to improve customer satisfaction
Ebin Thomas
Account Executive at Anyline
It takes just a few clicks for customers to switch utility providers. The experience of each customer needs to be unique, based on their consumption and offer them the interactions they are looking for. For companies that need to limit churn to a minimum, there is a real need to move to a customer-centric business model. Digitization and the automation of data capture is at the core of this approach, and energy providers can benefit from self meter reading technology made available to their customers.
In this blog, we’ll answer the following questions:
- Why should utilities look out for enhancing their customer experience?
- Reasons for introducing self meter reading
- Rise and shine, OCR
- How can mobile meter scanning be integrated?
2. Reasons for introducing self meter reading
Self meter reading is a process in which customers are the one taking care of the capture of data from the meters they have at home. Basically, instead of having a utility worker coming at home every month, every quarter or every year, customers are recording their consumption and sending it over to their provider.
Many reasons exist for a move towards self meter reading. The most important include:
- Time savings – Reading meters is a tedious tax for workers as they move from one house to the next, writing and checking the information they collect. With self metering, companies save time, as do customers, as they don’t need to make appointments any longer for service.
- Redirecting resources – Without the need for mobile workers, utility companies are then able to handle many other tasks with those labor hours. That includes meeting more urgent service needs or meeting preventative maintenance requirements, both of which can enhance customer experience and ensure faster service when customers need it.
- Empowering customers – Customers like to be able to handle this task on their own, as it gives them more insight into their use. It is not a complex task and can be done quickly, but it certainly enhances the customer’s role in managing their utilities.
- Accuracy in invoicing – There are no complicated problems with invoicing using self metering. Customers can see what they are being charged and verify the accuracy of it. That means less cost and frustration to customers and utility companies in managing costly errors in invoicing.
The meter reading process has never been so easy and stress-free for both the customer and the energy provider.
4. How can Anyline be integrated?
Anyline offers exceptional solutions, including data capture technology that can be integrated into any utility company’s existing website and mobile app, allowing customers to easily use this technology. It helps to preserve resources for other needs the company has.
By integrating Anyline’s OCR technology, utility companies can not only save resources, but they can also guarantee easy use for their customers who already know how to use their smartphones for these tasks.
Anyline utility mobile meter reading technology integrates right into an app using Software Development Kit (SDK) solutions. It is fast and secure. It’s backed by hands-on support. It’s also available for common integration frameworks, including Xamarin, Flutter, React Native and Cordova.
You can find out if mobile meter reading is the right solution for you by downloading our Energy & Water Demo App to test its capabilities.
