Press Releases
02/26/2024
Avangrid’s Customer Experience and Digital Center of Excellence Leading the Way
Avangrid’s Customer Experience and Digital Center of Excellence Leading the Way
Recognized for cultural transformation and digital excellence
ORANGE, Conn. — February 26, 2024 — Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE: AGR), a leading sustainable energy company and member of the Iberdrola Group, announced today that is has earned the Cultural Transformation Award from the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC) for developing the company’s Customer Experience and Digital Center of Excellence. This recognition is part of SECC’s 2024 Best Practice Awards, which highlight innovative ways that electricity providers are improving customer experience and engagement and recognize best practices within the industry.
The Customer Experience and Digital Center of Excellence is a dedicated cross-functional unit that consolidates customer experience strategy, digital product development, marketing, research, and end-to-end journey redesign. This ensures a seamless and consistent experience across all touchpoints, from the mobile app to energy management tools and core operational customer experience improvements. By placing customer and employee needs at the heart of this transformation, Avangrid fosters a deeper understanding and culture of continuous improvement.
“Our customers are interacting with us through digital channels now more than ever,” said Pedro Azagra, Avangrid CEO. “By developing our Customer Experience and Digital Center of Excellence, we work more efficiently and at a greater scale to increase customer satisfaction. It has better positioned us to leverage opportunities from new technologies, and to anticipate and react to challenges such as those created from climate change. We’re extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished and look forward to continuing our progress.”
Since its formation last year, Avangrid’s Customer Experience and Digital Center of Excellence has achieved numerous successes, including increasing customer satisfaction, reducing hold times for customer calls, driving adoption of new digital services and products, and improving the end-to-end customer and employee journey.
“We know true innovation starts with our customers,” said Craig Paterson, senior director of customer experience and digital transformation at Avangrid. “That's why our Customer Experience and Digital Center of Excellence isn't just about creating solutions, it's about forging partnerships built on deep understanding. By actively listening and stepping into our customers' shoes, we're not just solving problems, we're uncovering opportunities to deliver experiences that delight. We're honored by this award, but it's just the beginning. Our team is energized to continue pushing boundaries, collaborating with business areas, stimulating innovation, and creating intuitive solutions that surpass best-in-class and redefine the very meaning of a positive utility experience.”
SECC’s Best Practices Awards, now in their seventh year, recognize leadership from electricity providers in the United States and Canada in the transition to a smarter, more consumer-focused energy ecosystem. The awards highlight programs, technologies and strategies that have proven to deliver significant benefits for residential and/or small business utility customers.
More information on the winners and runners-up for each category can be found in the 2024 Best Practices Guide. In addition, the six winners will be featured throughout the year in webinars, case studies and other content at www.smartenergycc.org.
About Avangrid: Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE: AGR) aspires to be the leading sustainable energy company in the United States. Headquartered in Orange, CT with approximately $44 billion in assets and operations in 24 U.S. states, Avangrid has two primary lines of business: networks and renewables. Through its networks business, Avangrid owns and operates eight electric and natural gas utilities, serving more than 3.3 million customers in New York and New England. Through its renewables business, Avangrid owns and operates a portfolio of renewable energy generation facilities across the United States. Avangrid employs approximately 8,000 people and has been recognized by JUST Capital in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 as one of the JUST 100 companies – a ranking of America’s best corporate citizens. In 2024, Avangrid ranked first among utilities and 12 overall. The company supports the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals and was named among the World’s Most Ethical Companies in 2024 for the sixth consecutive year by the Ethisphere Institute. Avangrid is a member of the group of companies controlled by Iberdrola, S.A. For more information, visit www.avangrid.com.
About Iberdrola: Iberdrola is one of the world's biggest energy companies and a leader in renewables, spearheading the energy transition to a low carbon economy. The group supplies energy to almost 100 million people in dozens of countries. With a focus on renewable energy, smart networks and smart solutions for customers, Iberdrola’s main markets include Europe (Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, France, Germany, Italy and Greece), the United States, Brazil, Mexico and Australia. The company is also present in growth markets such as Japan, Taiwan, Ireland, Sweden and Poland, among others.
With a workforce of nearly 40,000 and assets in excess of €141.7 billion, across the world, Iberdrola helps to support 400,000 jobs across its supply chain, with annual procurement of €12.2 billion. A benchmark in the fight against climate change, Iberdrola has invested more than €130 billion over the past two decades to help build a sustainable energy model, based on sound environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles.