How to Improve Key Account Engagement Without the Extra Effort

For many utilities, engagement with commercial and industrial (C&I) customers often means doing more. More calls, more emails, and more meetings. But more engagement doesn’t always mean better engagement and can actually lead to your key accounts getting overwhelmed and checking out. True engagement is about quality over quantity. It doesn’t have to be more work. It’s about sending the right message, to the right customer, at the right time.  

Why Are C&I Customers Unengaged?

Key accounts are vital to utility portfolios—they have huge energy savings potential, yet many of them are unaware and unengaged. How come? One of the biggest reasons is their data is not easily accessible. They need to ask their account manager to see their usage or savings reports, and they don’t have access to any real-time data to know how they’re performing day to day. Because C&I customers have to wait for their data, the insights usually come too late to be useful to change their habits. Additionally, programs are often one size fits all and not customized to unique business needs. This leads to reactive engagement. Key account managers hear from their customers after a problem occurs, so they’re not able to address it before the bill comes out. The result is frustrated customers and missed opportunities for savings and better relationships.  

Simple Engagement is Most Effective

The engagement strategies with the most impact are simple and proactive. C&I customers don’t need another meeting. They need timely, actionable insights they can use right away. This could look like:  

• Alerting them about high usage before the bill comes out to help address wasted energy in real time. 
• Show customers what they saved in both dollars and energy to reinforce the value of the programs they’re participating in. 
• Help customers understand how the weather might have impacted demand and higher bills.

When utilities get it right, the results are clear. A C&I customer at a municipal utility in the Southwest saw a 35% decrease in energy consumption when they had access to their usage reports. Similarly, a C&I customer at an IOU in the Southeast reduced their energy bills by $10-15K a month. 

Visibility for Utilities, Proactivity for Customers

Key account managers want to know which of their customers have the most potential for savings, which customers have the highest usage, and who they should prioritize reaching out to. They’re looking to be a trusted energy advisor but often lack the tools needed to be effective.  

C&I customers, on the other hand, want their utility to keep them in the know. According to Escalent, key accounts who received actionable recommendations upon service are more likely to recommend enhanced utility products and programs to other businesses. And there’s ROI on better engagement. The same study showed that when key account managers are seen as trusted advisors, 41% of key accounts say the utility is a “great product provider,” and 60% of the key accounts who believe their utility is a great provider also use energy efficiency and consumption management programs. Being proactive builds trust, and trust leads to adoption—it’s a win-win for everyone. 

Brillion Does It Better

Brillion helps utilities turn engagement into action without extra effort, allowing your utility to become a trusted energy advisor. Our platform delivers: 

• Real-time energy intelligence through intuitive, branded interfaces
• Visualization of consumption trends with demand density heat maps
• Comprehensive rate analysis and comparison capabilities
• Automated daily reporting with proactive anomaly detection
• Weather data correlation with energy usage patterns
• Sub-meter monitoring with asset-specific insights

Unlike other customer portals, Brillion is designed specifically for utility key account managers and delivered through your utility’s brand. It supports both key account managers and customers’ needs in one integrated platform, strengthening your role as a trusted energy advisor. 

With Brillion, utilities can move from reactive to proactive engagement without the extra effort—delivering the right message to the right customer at the right time. 

Ready to enhance your C&I customer engagement?