Customer service teams in utilities are under constant pressure. Agents are swamped with repetitive tasks, while customers sit through long waits and unresolved queries. And the truth is, a lot of that pressure comes from needless manual work.
A Microsoft study found that UK energy customers wait an average of 35 minutes to get through to someone. And in the worst cases, it’s 85 minutes. That’s 133 times slower than the industry’s recommended 20 seconds.
Additionally, forty-five seconds of introductions or gathering details at the start of every call might not sound like much, but it adds up to hours of lost time every day. Time agents could be spending fixing problems, not chasing admin.
If you’ve never considered customer service automation for utilities, now is the time to start.
In this article, I’ll share seven practical ways utilities can use automation to make customer service faster, leaner, and a lot less painful for everyone.
1. Automate the first 45 seconds of every call after the queue
The opening moments of a call are usually wasted. Customers are either hammering through clunky menu options or sitting in silence while the system decides where to send them.
Agents then spend another half a minute asking the same questions over and over – “What’s your account number? Can I take your postcode?” That’s dead time. And it’s expensive.
Natural dialog automation can do all of this before an agent even picks up. It asks why the customer is calling, verifies their identity, and sends them straight to the right team.
On average, it saves 35-45 seconds per call, which is worth over half a million pounds a year in a contact center that handles 150,000 calls a month. Customers prefer it too. They’d rather answer a couple of questions and be put straight through to someone who already has the context.
And for contact centers, natural dialog automation means faster routing, smoother handovers, and less frustration on both sides of the line.
It’s also one of the easier forms of utilities customer service automation to get started with. Shaving wasted time off the start of every call gives you quick wins, while opening the door to automating other parts of the service. Once you’ve tested the water, it’s far easier to build momentum and look at the bigger opportunities like routine task automation and smarter routing.
2. Let VoiceBots handle repetitive tasks
Most utility contact center are swamped with the same queries every day – meter readings, billing checks, password resets, FAQs.
Agents know the drill, but that doesn’t make it any less draining. It overloads the system and delays the very customers who can least afford to wait.
This is where VoiceBots can take a huge load off. OOWV, one of Germany’s largest water providers deployed a babelforce-powered voicebot that processed more than 15,000 readings automatically in just seven days. Customers could submit their data 24/7 without queuing, while agents were free to focus on the cases that really needed a human ear.
And the technology isn’t one-size-fits-all. Rules-based automation handles structured jobs like meter readings. But when the query isn’t so neat, generative AI can step in, pulling an answer straight from the help center and turning it into a natural response over the phone.
3. Improve routing with smarter integrations
Nothing annoys a customer more than fighting their way through a menu, being put on hold, and then being told they’re in the wrong place.
For agents, it’s just as frustrating. They pick up a call blind with no idea who’s on the line or why they’re calling. Then they need to gather the same information all over again.
Stadtwerke Hamm, a municipal utility in Germany, tackled this problem head-on. They modernised their phone system with babelforce, integrated their workflows, and introduced automated intent gathering.
Agents could see exactly who was calling and the reason for the call, and customers were routed to the right team from the start. The difference showed up quickly in customer satisfaction scores and in fewer delays across the board.
So, smarter routing means shorter queues, better use of agent time, and fewer misroutes dragging down the customer experience.
4. Combine automation with human input
The most effective automation supports people. Full containment has its place, but the real gains often come when automation and humans work together. A VoiceBot can gather details upfront, pass on context, and let the agent step in where empathy or judgement is needed.
That’s how EnBW, one of Germany’s largest energy providers has approached it. They handle around 150,000 calls every month, with 80% now involving automation in some way.
Sometimes the system resolves the call entirely, sometimes it collects information before handing over, and sometimes it simply identifies the reason for the call so the customer reaches the right person faster.
The impact has been significant. Average handling times are down by around 35 seconds per call, saving the business hundreds of thousands annually, while giving staff more time to focus on complex issues that genuinely need them.
5. Streamline queues with virtual callbacks
Customers hate waiting on hold. It’s frustrating, and in many cases, they end up abandoning the call altogether. For agents, this means the same issue will come back later, adding even more pressure to the queue.
Virtual callbacks solve this problem by letting customers keep their place in line without being tethered to the phone. Instead of listening to hold music, they can choose to be called back at a time that suits them.
With CRM integration for utilities, the system can even make sure their details and call context are ready when the agent picks up, so there’s no need to start the conversation from scratch.
For contact centers this means fewer abandoned calls, more predictable workloads for staff, and a smoother flow through the contact center. What was once a painful bottleneck becomes a more manageable, customer-friendly process.
6. Automate the admin behind every call
Every call generates a trail of admin – from ticket creation to updating records. It’s the kind of work that eats up valuable minutes and leaves agents spending as much time on wrap-up as they do on the conversation itself.
That’s why automatic ticketing makes such a difference. With tools like babelforce’s Zendesk integration, tickets are created and updated in real time. Caller details, query type, and background information are pre-filled before the agent even joins the call.
This translates into shorter wrap-up times, cleaner records, and far less wasted effort. Multiply those minutes saved across thousands of calls, and the impact on both productivity and morale is huge.
7. Make your voice channel as smart as an app
For many customers, the phone still feels like old tech – a last resort when digital channels fail. But with the right integrations, the voice channel can be every bit as smart and versatile as an app.
Generative AI is already changing the game here. Instead of relying on rigid scripts, a VoiceBot can pull answers straight from a help center and turn them into natural, conversational responses.
Add in smart integrations and the possibilities increase. You could have a phone line that routes a caller’s number accordingly, or a voice AI that can interact with physical tech like an EV charger to troubleshoot remotely.
For contact center operators, this means fewer escalations, fewer repeat contacts, and a customer journey that feels smarter from the very first “hello.” The phone channel becomes a proactive tool – a way to deliver real service at scale without losing the human touch.
From cost center to value driver
The point of automation is to get rid of the waste that slows agents down. Every meter reading handled by a VoiceBot, every ticket created automatically, every callback that replaces dead time adds up to faster service, less stress, and happier customers.
Take away the admin and the repetition, and agents finally get the breathing space to do the work that really matters like building trust and solving complex problems.
Customer service in utilities stops being a cost center that drags on resources and becomes a value driver that strengthens loyalty and efficiency at the same time.
For more examples of how utilities are making automation work in practice, take a look at babelforce’s new white paper, The State of Customer Service in the Utilities Sector.
