Utility experiences have long been defined by confusion, frustration, and a lack of transparency. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
With empathy and thoughtful design, we can give people the tools they need to take control of their energy use – one household at a time.
ustwo partnered with National Grid to rethink how energy customers in the Northeast USA engage with their usage, costs, and impact. At SXSW 2025, we reunited with Kelly Carney (formerly VP of Customer & Digital Experience at National Grid US) to reflect on what it takes to design meaningful change in one of the most complex, critical industries today.
Speakers:
- Kelly Carney, former VP, Customer & Digital Experience at National Grid US
- Dom Fisher, Design Leader formerly at ustwo
- Lexi Cherniavsky, Client Partner, ustwo (Moderator)
Key Takeaways
1. Empower customers with control.
To reach collective sustainability goals, individuals need tools that help them understand and manage their own energy usage. Real impact happens when you help customers understand their energy usage in a way that’s actionable, not abstract. That means giving people tools that feel intuitive and insights that are actually useful. As Kelly Carney put it:
“Anywhere we can help them to put more power, insights, and information in their hands... is going to be huge for them, but also for the entire community.”
Energy companies can’t tackle climate goals alone. But by putting customers in the driver’s seat – helping them track, manage, and improve their usage – there’s real opportunity for shared progress.
2. If things feel convoluted, go back to the essentials.
Most people engage with their energy provider when they need to understand their bill – and that moment matters. But over time, legacy systems and internal complexity have made even the basics feel unnecessarily difficult. Before you can introduce anything new, you have to make the core experience work. Dom Fisher explained:
“We had to set aside our assumptions about what it means to be an energy customer and really take the time to understand people. Once we did that, we focused on the basics – like understanding what the bill is, what needs to be paid, and why it costs that amount. We wanted to strip everything down to the essentials.”
A simple, strong foundation cleared space for everything else to work better. And the clarity paid off. After launching the redesigned experience, National Grid saw a 90% drop in calls to the contact centre, showing just how much confusion had plagued the old system.
3. Meet people where they are.
As Dom put it:
“If they don't know what their bill is, they don't know how to pay it – they're not going to be able to think about sustainability.”
Different customers have different needs. The team focused on accessibility, financial hardship, and edge cases where traditional design breaks down. The result was a more inclusive system that works better for everyone. Dom described the emotional and financial stakes many households face:
“People who can easily afford it each month don’t usually look at the details. But we spoke to customers who really struggled, and for them, every cent mattered.”
Lower-income households often have a very different relationship with energy – one shaped by stress, disconnection risks, and limited flexibility. Designing for that reality is essential if we want experiences that truly serve everyone.
4. Language matters.
It’s not always the technology that needs changing – it’s how we talk to people. The team took a hard look at customer communications and found language that was overly urgent, transactional, or even threatening. Kelly shared how National Grid rethought their tone of voice:
“No longer was it, ‘you owe us this.’ It's ‘we're worried about your bill’…We revamped all of our written communication... everything we were doing in the contact centers, online, everywhere.”
Sometimes, the most powerful form of innovation is changing how you make someone feel.
5. Design culture, not just a product.
Redesigning the logged-in experience and app was only part of the story. The biggest shift came from aligning internal teams, breaking down silos, and showing how customer experience drives business outcomes – from regulatory wins to revenue growth.
By investing in research, creating cross-functional alignment, and putting customer needs at the center, the team set the foundation for long-term transformation. As Kelly noted, the work had to go far beyond digital:
“This was really about reimagining the entire process. What does ‘good’ actually look like for us? What do customers want to see? And how do we make that vision holistic across the whole organisation? It’s not just about the tech or the digital products – it has to translate to the front office, to the people in the contact center, the back office where things might be queued or delayed, and to our account management team, who handle our high-touch commercial customers.”
Designing with empathy
While energy systems may be complex, the path forward is simple: meet people where they are, speak their language, and design with empathy at every level.
When customers feel informed, supported, and in control, they’re far more likely to care – not just about their bills, but about their broader energy use.
As this collaboration showed, meaningful transformation starts with the customer experience. Since launching these updates, National Grid has seen a 15% increase in online payments, a 35% rise in engagement with energy insights tools, and a 60% reduction in incident tickets — all pointing to a better, more user-centric experience.
When customer experience becomes a shared priority across teams, the ripple effects are powerful: improved satisfaction, stronger engagement, and real momentum toward sustainability.
For the full conversation, listen on SXSW.
Let’s keep the conversation going
At ustwo, we’re embracing the potential of digital experiences to help people build healthier habits and drive real impact.
Want to chat more about building human-centered energy experiences or designing for impact? Get in touch at hello@ustwo.com.