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With real-world utility example: how Octopus Energy built customer service by design — and what leaders can learn
In today’s utilities landscape, customer experience (CX) isn’t just a “nice to have”. It’s one of the few true strategic differentiators in markets where price increases and service constraints are often unavoidable.
Companies that get CX right can build resilience into their brand, deepen customer trust and soften the impact of external pressures. But strong CX doesn’t come from slogans and awards alone — it requires purposeful investment in people, culture, technology and operational design.
One of the most talked-about examples in the UK is Octopus Energy, which positions its customer service as a core differentiator and backs that claim up with independent awards, high customer ratings and a clearly articulated approach to service delivery. (Octopus Energy)
Evidence That CX Matters: Awards, Rankings & Customer Voice
Octopus Energy regularly tops independent customer service rankings:
It has been a Which? Recommended Provider for multiple years — a consumer endorsement based on independent evaluation. (Octopus Energy)
It swept several categories in the Uswitch Energy Awards, including Best Customer Service and Overall Customer Satisfaction. (Octopus Energy)
Independent review sites and satisfaction surveys place Octopus consistently above competitors in customer satisfaction and trust. (Octopus Energy)
These recognitions align with thousands of actual customer testimonials describing prompt, helpful and human support, and where Octopus itself highlights stories from its own service teams and customers. (Octopus Energy)
What Octopus Says It Does Differently
The real story behind Octopus’s CX performance isn’t just award logos — it’s how the business has structured itself around customer support.
1. A Culture Built on Purpose and Ownership
A significant part of the Octopus model focuses on alignment around a shared mission — a sense of purpose that every employee connects to. According to independent analyses, this cultural alignment helps keep teams motivated and customer-focused, even as the organisation scales. (cxpartners.co.uk)
Leaders from Octopus have explained that customer responsiveness isn’t delegated to a siloed department — it’s embedded into marketing, product and operations. Teams listen to customer feedback directly and iterate quickly on what customers actually need. (Econsultancy)
2. Investment in Tools that Support People
Data and technology play a critical role. Octopus developed its own operating platform, Kraken, which underpins much of its customer service and operational systems. The platform gives service teams a real-time, connected view of customer accounts and interactions, reducing friction and context loss — a common issue in utility customer support. (Make It Human)
By having a unified system rather than dozens of disconnected legacy tools:
Agents see full customer history in one place
Teams can respond faster and more consistently
Customer interactions feel personalised rather than fragmented
This tech-first foundation helps Octopus scale service without losing continuity or quality.
3. Training and Empowerment of People
Beyond the tools, Octopus invests in its people:
Agents are empowered to make decisions, rather than following rigid scripts. This autonomy helps teams solve complex issues more efficiently and with empathy. (cxpartners.co.uk)
Leadership development and management skills are deliberately cultivated — third-party training programmes have been used to ensure consistency in how teams are led and supported. (Jarrold Training)
The combination of purpose, autonomy and practical support helps build service teams who are engaged and capable, rather than overwhelmed by complexity.
What the Broader Utility Sector Can Learn
Octopus Energy’s experience highlights several broader insights that utility leaders should consider:
CX Isn’t Just About Contact Resolution
Customers judge their utility not just on speed, but on whether they feel understood and supported. Tools that bring context to agents and enable consistent communication across channels matter deeply.
Tech Enables — People Deliver
Technology like unified CRM platforms and real-time dashboards help remove friction, but people still define experience quality. Investment in training, empowerment and culture is as important as the tech stack itself.
Measurement Must Be Independent
Third-party awards and consumer rankings — like those from Which? and Uswitch — provide valuable validation, but they only matter if they reflect consistent reality. Senior leaders should use a combination of internal metrics and independent benchmarks to monitor CX performance.
Expectations Are Higher Than Ever
Utilities can’t depend on historical inertia or price alone. Customers increasingly expect service experiences that feel fast, fair and human — especially when service interruptions or price rises occur.
The Investment and Trade-Offs Leaders Must Navigate
Prioritising CX is not free or automatic. It involves:
Pros
Increased trust and loyalty
Lower churn and complaint rates
Reputation resilience in tough markets
Cons
Upfront investment in systems and integration
Time and budget for people development
Cultural uplift and cross-functional alignment
Ongoing measurement and iteration
But as Octopus’s model shows, when organisations strategically commit to customer experience, the benefits can compound over time — even in sectors long seen as transactional or price-driven.
Conclusion: Customer Experience Is a Strategic Differentiator — When Delivered with Intent
Customer experience in utilities has emerged as a powerful lever not because it sounds good, but because it directly influences how customers feel treated when service and price pressures are real.
Real differentiators like Octopus Energy demonstrate that:
Culture matters
Tools and data matter
People matter
And above all, it’s what customers actually experience that counts
In a sector where products and prices can be similar, the experience of being a customer becomes one of the few areas where organisations can genuinely stand apart — if they are prepared to invest both in capability and in authenticity.
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