Identifying and Meeting Customer Expectations Around Utility Commitment to the Environment

On Earth Day it’s natural to feel a bit pensive—caught between hope for the planet’s future and concern over the challenges we still face. It’s a moment to reflect on the beauty and resilience of the natural world but also to think about what we can do to sustain and better it.

As custodians of energy and infrastructure, utilities are at the heart of the transition to cleaner, more resilient systems in pursuit of a sustainable future. Earth Day serves as a reminder that every investment in renewable energy, grid modernization and energy efficiency is not just a business decision but a commitment to the health of our planet and communities.

​The acceleration of the energy transition has been unfolding over the past two decades (do I dare say at an unstoppable pace?), marked by significant strides in clean energy adoption and infrastructure modernization. Too often, however, utility companies struggle with how to communicate about their environmental efforts—unsure of what to say, when to say it or whom their message should target.

Customer Perception of Utilities’ Dedication to the Environment Has Stalled

While 2024 was a year of recovery for all core index scores and nearly all contributing factors within our Cogent Syndicated Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement: Residential™ study, scores for the Environmental Dedication Index, which comprises customer ratings of utility actions to build strong environmental stewardship, didn’t budge.

In the first quarter of 2025, the Environmental Dedication Index score remains stubbornly where it was a year ago: 656 (on a 1,000-point scale). Stability can be a good thing, but this is the lowest score the index has seen in the 10-plus years we’ve been fielding this Cogent Syndicated residential study—the index has gained back none of the losses it saw between 2022 and 2024.

Environmental Dedication Is Now a Fundamental Expectation for Utility Customers

Recent Cogent Syndicated research found that Environmental Dedication is no longer a primary differentiator in Brand Trust, but that doesn’t mean it has lost relevance. On the contrary, it has become an expected standard—a baseline. Customers assume their utility is taking steps to reduce emissions, support renewable energy and operate responsibly, just like they assume their utility is taking steps to improve reliability and streamline customer interactions.

The stagnation of the Environmental Dedication Index following a steady two-year decline suggests customers are increasingly skeptical of their utility provider’s commitment to sustainable practices and supporting a clean environment.

Customer Expectations and Awareness of Utility Environmental Efforts Vary

According to our research, environmental stewardship is most important to customers in the West and least important to customers in the East and South. Traditionally, Western utilities also see the highest Environmental Dedication scores, but in the first quarter of 2025, Southern utilities took that title by a mere half a point.

Customers in the West are still more likely to report awareness of utility efforts to limit the environmental impact of operations and projects that produce or use green/renewable energy—and that awareness is important as it correlates with a 100-point Environmental Dedication Index scoring boost.

How to Understand and Meet Customer Expectations of Utility Environmental Dedication

This Earth Day, Escalent is pleased to recognize the utilities below for earning high marks from their customers for their environmental stewardship.

Utility	Environmental Dedication Index
Georgia Power	730
Salt River Project	724
Seattle City Light	724
OUC	723
Cascade Natural Gas	721
Snohomish County PUD	718
Florida City Gas Company	715
TECO Peoples Gas	714
LADWP	714
Con Edison	713
Puget Sound Energy	712
SMUD	710
Columbia Gas – South	710
Xcel Energy – Midwest	709
TECO Tampa Electric	708

While there’s not an easy button for increasing Environmental Dedication Index scores, utilities in the top decile share some traits:

1) Higher-scoring utilities wear their Environmental Dedication on their virtual sleeves.

Several utilities scoring in the top decile in the Environmental Dedication Index, including Georgia Power, Seattle City Light and Snohomish PUD, outline their plans and efforts online with the title “environmental stewardship.” OUC identifies “sustainability goals,” while Con Edison highlights its efforts in a “clean energy commitment” section.

2) Higher-scoring utilities communicate about their environmental efforts more often.

Customers of the top-decile-scoring Environmental Dedication utilities report higher recall of utility messages focused on renewable/green energy, ways the utility is supporting a clean environment, and the utility’s commitment to carbon neutrality or clean energy.

3) Higher-scoring utilities offer programs that let customers help the environment.

These utilities also do a good job letting customers know about those offerings—as a group, these utilities have 8% higher scores for the perception that their voluntary offerings help the environment.

Note: Not all higher-scoring utilities share all three traits and some lower-scoring utilities are doing some of these things—again, if I had an easy button, I’d be hand-delivering it to all our subscribing clients. What’s important here is for your utility to be loud and proud of its commitment to environmental stewardship so customers know (instead of question or doubt) what your utility is doing to build a cleaner, more sustainable future.

Finding the Right Blend of Environmental Communication for Your Utility Customers

Industrywide, we see differences in Environmental Dedication Index scoring, awareness and the causes customers want to see their utilities support when we segment by age, household income and other demographics. And these differences can vary greatly from utility to utility.

Our Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement: Residential study is a dynamic tool that gives subscribers the flexibility to explore their own customer data in depth. Clients can sort results by age, demographics and more to uncover key insights into environmental perceptions, values and goals, along with communication preferences and message recall. Many utilities integrate these findings with custom research to shape targeted campaigns and test messaging strategies for greater impact.

To learn more about how our Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement: Residential study can help your utility identify and leverage actionable insights that drive tangible results, fill out the form below to talk with one of our energy industry experts today.

 

---

Want to learn more? Let’s connect.

---