I don’t have a lot of interaction with my energy provider. I get my energy, I pay my bill and that’s it. I switched a couple of months ago because another provider had a better financial offer and would organise the switch for me (no hassle, love it). Yep, great, done, and I never looked back.

But last week I received an email from my energy provider Simply Energy, saying: ‘Anouk, last week you spent $24, find out why’. I can’t remember ever reading any emails from my provider (unless it’s the bill) but this one showed me a quick and easy to read table with interesting info: my total spend last week, my total spend last quarter and an estimated total spend on the upcoming quarter… plus a link to ‘my portal’.

I got curious.

1 mouse-click and there I was: in my personal tracker, showing me how much I spend on energy every day. Call me naïve, but I had no idea they could read this… Another mouse-click, and I am looking at a table showing my usage on July 27, every 30 minutes! So much detail, really interesting stuff!

‘Transparency’ comes to mind. I like that. It feels like some sort of ‘proof’ that you’re not being conned by your supplier because let’s face it, they can pretty much charge us anything they want…(but if any energy providers are reading this please don’t).

But it’s more than just proof, it’s also an eye opener. It’s great to see how your usage varies during the day and to learn about the changes between weekends and weekdays. Energy becomes more tangible and it can even be quite confronting… why did we use that much electricity when we were asleep last Tuesday? Did I forget to turn out the light that night (again)?

So far. So good. Simply Energy used technical and digital possibilities to provide me with an easy and insightful look into my energy usage. This resulted in me being engaged by a company I had hardly ever payed attention to before.

But this is where Simply Energy loses me. After setting a budget, I am back on my own again. I think this is a missed opportunity. With all the interesting data that they possess, are there not more ways to keep me engaged now they’ve got me in?

Based on my current usage profile … what can I do? How can I save?

Knowing I am a family of 4 with 2 young kids, what would make sense? What can little kids do (how to involve and engage them)? Can I get a look at what other customers do; can we exchange facts and tips? What kind of incentives can help keeping me involved? And so on!

Although I love the gesture, I fear Simple Energy has tried to close the gap between them and their customers with a bridge too…short.

Dear Simple Energy, be swift and get out there to find out what online support your customers need and appreciate, and enthuse them to use the data availabler so they can make a lasting difference in their energy usage. It’ll be a great way to connect I promise.

Curious to hear more interesting stuff on the topic of ‘Closing the Gap’? Listen to our Closing the Gap Podcast series, published through CMO Magazine. It’s an 11-part weekly series where we chat to CMOs and some great thought leaders about how to better market to consumers during the digital transformation.