To better serve our existing residents and in anticipation of a sharp growth in district heating systems across the UK, Insite Energy have made further investment in our customer service by opening a new call centre in Peterborough.
Insite Energy is already one of the heat network sector’s largest and longest-established metering & billing, and payment providers. Our investment in people and digital systems has strengthened our ability to support future growth. If required, we can double capacity within three years.
In its first quarter of operation, service quality at the Peterborough call centre increased by 60% and complaints dropped by 30%. Call waiting times averaged just 90 seconds. By comparison, large energy companies often report waits of ten minutes or more. Some smaller companies average nearly half an hour per call, according to Competition & Markets Authority research. Government regulatory body Ofgem generally deems anything below five minutes to be acceptable. The contact centre also has optimised opening hours, with calls being received from 8.00am to 7.00pm Monday to Fridays, and until 4.00pm on Saturdays.
Driving heat network growth across the UK
Heat networks form a crucial part of the Government’s strategy to reach net zero emissions by 2050. To meet these targets, the Committee on Climate Change estimates heat networks should account for around 18% of UK heating, with around 2% of UK buildings being heated by communal systems in 2018.
Furthermore, the Government recently announced £40 million of additional heat network funding, together with new measures to give greater protection to end-users, designed to remove barriers for the industry to grow. We expect demand for low-carbon district heating systems to increase. We also expect greater demand for metering & billing services that meet stricter transparency requirements.
Heat providers and suppliers – from housing associations and local authorities, to developers, contractors, managing agents and private landlords – want a metering, billing and payment company that can offer a proven track record of great customer service, hassle-free heat network operation and lower costs. We’re able to do that with a proper dedicated, state-of-the-art call centre that is at the heart of everything we do.
Building a customer-first call centre culture
We’re investing in our staff, as well as technology. Peterborough is a great location as it’s a hub for customer contact centres, meaning there is a skilled local workforce to draw from. We’re offering a lot of benefits and amenities, and building the right company culture so that we can attract good people that want to stay with us for a long time.
To deliver improved customer services to residential customers and clients, Insite have also made significant investments in our backend. We have embedded two new software packages – Big Change and Gentrack Velocity – into our day-to-day operations. Big Change is an all-in-one mobile workforce and job management software tool, designed to enhance productivity by removing the need for manual planning and paper job forms, and introducing live tracking of engineer vehicles. Gentrack is a powerful billing and customer engagement platform, with whom we have collaborated to tailor their system to deliver first-class resident and client billing services specific to the needs of the heat network industry.
Insite is focusing on people, technology, and systems that provide not only excellent customer service, but also data security, regulatory compliance, and empathy. It’s an exciting time to be with Insite Energy.
