CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Starting this month, ComEd residential customers can expect to see their billing information presented in a format that’s easier to read and understand. The new design is the result of feedback ComEd solicited from its customers to ultimately produce a billing statement designed by and for its customers.
“We value our customers and their feedback,” said Val Jensen, senior vice president of Customer Operations, ComEd. “Customers told us they wanted a bill that was easier to understand and read, and we delivered on that. We are transforming the business to enhance our customers’ experience, and redesigning the billing statement is part of this effort.”
According to ComEd, the new bill design will help customers understand their energy usage, so they can take steps to better manage their electric bills. Customers can expect for the information on the new statement to be organized in order of importance, with summarized usage and charges on the front, contact information and messages on the back, and color-coded sections throughout, making it easy to find the information most important to them.
ComEd’s journey to collect feedback began in May 2013. Customers provided suggestions to ComEd through a variety of crowdsourcing channels including Facebook, ComEd’s online “Bill Builder” tool, focus groups, and surveys. Through this feedback, customers indicated the features they need and want in their electric bills. For instance, comments revealed that the bill summary and amount due were most important, followed by usage information and meter details. In addition, customers indicated they wanted to better understand supply charges versus delivery charges.
Also, to generate new and innovative bill designs, ComEd partnered with crowdSPRING, an online marketplace for creative services, to launch a global competition with a community of designers. The designers were tasked with incorporating feedback from ComEd customers on bill improvements to create and submit a mock-up of a redesigned bill. More than 280 designs were submitted, and in September, ComEd selected the top three designs that best resembled the details customers said they want most.
ComEd continued to gather customer suggestions on the three designs to refine the mock-ups based on this feedback and produce the final billing statement, which went through additional testing with residential customers to ensure it met expectations.
ComEd will continue to ask for and incorporate customer feedback in other areas that can improve the service customers receive from ComEd. Customers are also invited to post their opinion of the new bill design on ComEd’s Facebook page or at ComEd.com/TestKitchen.
Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), the nation’s leading competitive energy provider, with approximately 6.6 million customers. ComEd provides service to approximately 3.8 million customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state’s population.
