For utilities working to improve their customer experience, it is easy to focus first on digital channels. Mobile apps, online accounts, alerts, and self-service tools all matter for their cost-saving, real-time appeal. But as Jeffrey Daigle from E Source emphasized at IUCX in Tampa this April, the contact center remains one of the most important places where CX becomes real.
When customers call a utility, it's rarely because they have extra time on their hands. They need help, answers and reassurance for more nuanced issues, issues that digital channels alone can't manage gracefully. That makes the contact center far more than an operational function. It's your front line—a trust builder, and, in many cases, the channel that defines how customers feel about their utility.
That point came through clearly at a joint IUCX workshop featuring Daigle, E Source's VP of customer experience and innovation, and Eileen Lomoriello, director of customer engagement at Central Hudson.
Like many utilities, Central Hudson faced serious contact center pressures in early 2025. Service levels were under strain. Handle times were long. Wait times were frustrating. IVR containment had room to improve. On top of that, New York state law added urgency by mandating that all customer service calls be handled within the state by midyear.
This was not a situation that called for theory alone. It called for practical action.
Working side by side, E Source helped build a stabilization and optimization plan for Central Hudson grounded in real operating conditions. That involved going back to the basics to better understand how the operation worked, then building the right structure and governance to help it thrive. As part of that process, E Source supported IVR assessment and enhancement, helped evaluate processes and systems, and contributed to the stand-up of a first-party customer service outsourcer in New York on a fast timeline.
"We had an outstanding matrixed team -- members of E Source along with folks from our IT group from all across Central Hudson's business where we needed support," Lomoriello said. "We moved this really quickly," she added, in terms of establishing a Long Island-based outsourced contact center by the end of May, meeting the state compliance deadline.
What stands out in this story is not just the actions taken. It is the way the work was done.
This was not a case of generating recommendations and walking away. It was a true "talk the talk, walk the walk" partnership. E Source worked with Central Hudson to understand what supervisors were seeing, find the sources of agents' struggles, and understand the impacts on the customer experience. The effort focused on the everyday realities that often make the biggest difference: coaching, training, quality assurance, queue management, clearer communications, and smarter ways to reduce unnecessary call volume.
Digital self-service also played an important supporting role. Central Hudson pursued IVR improvements, streamlined payment routing, simplified authentication, improved menu design, and expanded proactive billing and payment alerts. Those changes were not positioned as a replacement for live service. They were part of a broader strategy to make service easier, faster, and more convenient across channels.
And the results were meaningful. By the end of the year, Central Hudson had:
- Improved service level by 41 percent
- Reduced total average handle time from 28:54 to 15:19
- Increased first call resolution
- Improved IVR containment from 38 percent to 44 percent
- Dramatically reduced the longest wait times: The share of calls answered in under 30 seconds rose from 50.7 percent in March to 87.7 percent in December
- Increased web and mobile usage by 5 percent
Just as importantly, the utility built broader organizational awareness around contact center performance and successfully stood up its in-state customer service operation in time to meet the state deadline.
There is a bigger lesson here for utilities.
Customer experience strategy cannot live only in the app, on the website, or in a brand promise. It must show up where customers most need help. For many utilities, that still means the call center. A well-run contact center can reduce friction, improve trust, support digital adoption, and create better outcomes for both customers and employees. A struggling one can undo a lot of good work elsewhere.
