Energy burden, the percentage of household income spent on energy costs, is more than just a financial metric—it’s a window into the struggles many utility customers face daily. High energy burden disproportionately affects low-income households, leading to difficult trade-offs between energy bills and essential needs like food, healthcare, and education. For utility companies, addressing energy burden isn’t just a matter of social responsibility—it’s directly tied to customer satisfaction (CSAT) and engagement. High-burden households often demonstrate significantly different behaviors, such as increased call center usage and web activity, signaling their search for relief and solutions. These behaviors offer invaluable insights into their needs and pain points, presenting utilities with an opportunity to intervene and improve not only customer satisfaction but also operational efficiency.
By understanding the correlation between energy burden, engagement patterns, and CSAT scores, utilities can unlock targeted strategies that reduce stress for high-burden customers while fostering loyalty and long-term satisfaction.
To showcase this in action, BlastPoint’s real-world analysis reveals the interplay between these factors and highlights how tailored solutions can deliver impactful results.
Insights from the Data: Patterns in High-Burden Customer Behavior
BlastPoint conducted a comprehensive analysis for a community-owned utility to gain a deeper understanding of customer satisfaction (CSAT) levels for more effective planning and targeting. The analysis identified six distinct CSAT customer segments, offering valuable insights into how to connect with the right customers at the optimal time with tailored messaging. Among these segments, BlastPoint highlighted a targeted group that displayed significant patterns, particularly within households experiencing the highest energy burden (Named this segment as “Relief Seekers”):
- Higher Engagement: These households make more frequent calls to the call center and exhibit significantly higher web activity, such as logins and digital actions, compared to other customer segments.

- Low Enrollment in automatic payment: Despite their heightened engagement, fewer than 1% of these customers utilize automatic payment options, compared to an average of 16.48% across all customer segments.
- Correlation Between Energy Burden and Engagement: Customers with higher energy burdens often engage more with their utility providers as they seek relief and support, highlighting the importance of targeted communication and assistance programs.
- Propensity Overlap: High energy burden households often overlap with zip codes showing the highest propensity for call center interactions, further emphasizing their need for direct support.

*This analysis was part of a larger study to understand customer satisfaction (CSAT) levels for planning and targeting purposes. BlastPoint segmented utility customers into six distinct groups based on factors like age, bill amount, and engagement with payment assistance.
Addressing the Needs of High-Burden Customers
Customers in this segment often experience lower satisfaction due to financial strain and service accessibility challenges. However, they also represent the greatest opportunity for improvement. By addressing their pain points with focused solutions, utilities can enhance satisfaction while improving operational efficiency.
- Focus Messaging on Relieving Pain Points:
Communication should directly address the challenges high-burden customers face. Messaging should highlight assistance programs, payment flexibility options, and energy-saving tips that can help alleviate their financial strain. - Refer to Self-Service Channels:
Empower high-burden customers by encouraging the use of self-service options. These customers make four times as many calls to the call center as other segments, representing an opportunity to redirect them toward digital tools and resources that provide immediate support while reducing operational costs. - Promote Automatic Payment Options:
With less than 1% of high-burden customers enrolled in automatic payment, utilities should promote the benefits of automatic payment options. Simplified enrollment processes and educational campaigns can help remove barriers to adoption, providing financial stability and reducing missed payments. - Enhance Digital Engagement:
Since high-burden customers show significant web activity, utilities should ensure their websites and apps are user-friendly and offer features like bill tracking, usage monitoring, and assistance program applications. - Tailor Assistance Programs:
By analyzing the overlap of high energy burden and call center propensity, utilities can proactively target the hardest-hit zip codes with customized assistance programs.
Proven Success Stories
Energy Efficiency:
An electric utility serving western Pennsylvania utilized BlastPoint’s Customer Intelligence Platform to enhance customer awareness of energy efficiency programs. By harnessing customer segmentation insights, email campaigns yielded enrollments 16% higher than industry benchmarks while engagement rates exceeded 300%! Discover how BlastPoint can help your utility achieve similar success
Call Center Call Reduction:
American Electric Power (AEP), a major electric utility serving the Midwest and South through its seven subsidiaries, launched a new digital assistant on its website. Utilizing BlastPoint’s data-driven insights, AEP achieved click-through rates (CTR) 30% above customer service industry benchmarks within less than 2 months from launch! Discover how BlastPoint can help your utility achieve similar success
The Road Ahead: Reducing Energy Burden
Utilities have a critical role in helping communities tackle energy burden. By identifying and supporting customers who are most at risk, utilities can create meaningful change. The combination of tailored outreach, digital engagement, and energy efficiency programs offers a path to reducing energy costs while enhancing customer satisfaction.

BlastPoint’s data-driven platform equips utilities with the tools and insights needed to take meaningful action. Through advanced customer segmentation, propensity modeling, and behavior analysis, BlastPoint helps utilities identify high-burden households, understand their unique needs, and deliver targeted solutions that drive real results. From automating personalized outreach to optimizing program enrollment strategies, BlastPoint enables utilities to foster deeper connections with their customers while achieving operational efficiencies and measurable ROI. By leveraging BlastPoint’s platform, utilities can transform data into actionable strategies that not only alleviate financial strain for vulnerable households but also enhance satisfaction and loyalty across all customer segments.
Is your utility ready to take the next step in addressing energy burden? Discover how BlastPoint’s data-driven solutions can help you better understand and engage your customers. Contact us today to learn more.