Customer service in the Utility industry is undoubtedly transforming. Check out this recent post from Sierra Energy Group analyst Christopher Purdue: http://www.intelligentutility.com/article/10/08/old-fashioned-customer-service-smart-grid-world

Here at Nuance, we're seeing it first hand too. I was talking with one our Utilities customers the other day, and he pretty much summed it all up when he said: "We have customers now, not just bill payers..." 

There is one other channel that Chris doesn't touch on that deserves focus though: the self-service IVR.

Yes, we anticipate more complex calls to agents, however given the expense of staffing and possible explosion in wait times as more and more customers queue up with questions, well-designed IVRs will become essential to good customer service.  Think FAQs. Think open-ended speech recognition that route callers to the best trained agent pool. Think proactive notifications that will anticipate customers' questions and push relevant and timely information out to them before they call. 

There are a lot of opportunities where (not-so-old-fashioned) customer service automation can help Utilities deliver a great customer experience.  We're glad to be part of the discussion.