From Communication to Connection: Turning Everyday Messages Into Trust

Part 5 of KUBRA’s 2026 Utility Customer Experience Blog Series

By and large, utility communication with customers throughout the billing and payment journey is working. According to most customers, bill delivery, payment reminders, confirmations, and account updates are landing in their preferred channels, whether that’s email, snail mail, or text. 

But at KUBRA, we like to dig a bit deeper. And when we did, we found a significant gap in visibility, understanding, and accessibility when communication shifted from routine information to helping customers navigate financial difficulty. The existence of assistance programs and flexible payment options is not enough. Customers have to know about them, understand them, and be able to access them when needed if they are actually going to help people.

This gap creates an opportunity for utilities to move beyond simply delivering information to more proactive, relevant communication that helps customers take action.

Utilities Are Getting the Communication Basics Right

What’s promising is that customers generally rate utility communications positively:

• 71% say message clarity is effective or very effective.
• 68% say the timing of communications is effective or very effective.
• 70% say the channels used are effective or very effective.

These results speak to the strong foundation utilities have built for communicating routine billing and payment information to their customers. Communication is happening; that’s not the current challenge most utility companies face. It’s what’s being communicated outside of routine bills, reminders, and account updates that isn’t necessarily meeting the needs of all customer segments. As evidenced by the significant drop-off in the effectiveness of assistance program communications, with only 50% saying they are effective or very effective.

Assistance Isn't Reaching Everyone Who Needs It

Even the best assistance programs are only effective if customers know about them, and this is where the gap lies. 58% of customers who may need assistance programs are either unaware of them or unable to access them. This means the programs are actually useless for the majority of customers who need them, creating a disconnect between having assistance available and customers actually benefiting from it.

The obstacles vary but include not knowing which programs exist, whether they qualify, or where to begin the application process. When information is difficult to find or separated from the billing and payment experience, it can add friction to an already stressful moment. But when assistance is more visible and easier to understand, it can help customers identify their options before payment challenges escalate.

This allows utilities to treat awareness and accessibility as part of the assistance experience itself.

Flexibility Has To Be Visible To Create Value

Only 47% of customers agree they have flexibility in how and when they pay their bills, even though 63% say those same bills are predictable. Predictability, it turns out, isn't the same as flexibility, and customers can tell the difference. 

The gap seems to come down to awareness: just 43% say they can easily access assistance programs, and 50% believe payment options help reduce financial stress when they know about them. There's an appetite for more, too. 37% see value in newer options like installment plans or BNPL, suggesting the door is open even if customers aren't yet familiar with what's on the other side. 

The problem isn't the flexibility itself. It's that offering it is only half the job. Customers still need to understand what's available to them and how to actually use it. That's where communication comes in: connecting customers with payment options, assistance programs, installment plans, and due-date flexibility that may already be right in front of them, unused. 

Reach Customers at the Moments That Matter

Standalone assistance communication isn’t nearly as effective as communication that’s connected to what is happening in the customer's journey. When delivered with an unusually high bill, missed payment, past-due balance, or failed payment, it reaches customers when the information is actually relevant to them.

Additional messaging can be included within bills, payment reminders, digital account experiences, and other customer communications to shift communication from broad awareness toward timely support. This approach prevents customers from having to search for help by including assistance support options within the interactions they are already having. 

When utilities proactively reach out to customers to alleviate payment challenges, they stop them from progressing to late payments, additional support contacts, or collections activity.

Make Communication More Relevant, Not Just More Frequent

One thing that’s critical for utilities to keep in mind is that more communication doesn't necessarily create a better experience if the information isn't relevant to the customer's situation. Broad, one-size-fits-all messaging lacks personalization and makes important assistance information easier to overlook.

The ability to consolidate customer signals and account context can help utilities determine which information is useful to which customers, and when, in the channels they already use and prefer.

The opportunity is to move from generic outreach toward communication that feels timely, useful, and connected to what the customer is experiencing.

Move From Reactive Reminders to Proactive Support

Reaching customers at the right moment is only half the equation. What that message actually says matters just as much. Traditional billing communications often tell customers what has already happened: a bill is due, a payment was missed, or a balance is outstanding.

Proactive communication pairs those notifications with information that helps customers decide what to do next. For instance, a past-due reminder that highlights available payment or assistance options, rather than simply repeating the amount owed, is much more helpful to customers and more likely to result in their bill being paid. Or a failed payment notification that also provides immediate next steps or another payment option.

This approach makes communications part of the customer support experience rather than simply a mechanism for delivering account information.

Connect Communications, Billing, Payments, and Support

Despite the tendency for billing, payments, communications, and assistance to be managed by different systems, customers experience their utility as one relationship. Those siloed systems often lead to disconnected experiences where customers have to search across emails, websites, portals, and support channels just to understand their options.

When communications, billing information, payment options, preferences, and support are integrated into a more connected digital experience, it’s easier for customers to move from receiving information to taking action. This unified customer experience platform also helps utilities tailor communications based on customer preferences and relevant account activity.

The end result is a more frictionless path from the information customers seek to understanding their support options and taking action.

Platforms like KUBRA MyHQ+™ show what this looks like in practice, bringing billing, payments, preferences, and notifications into a single portal so customers get a single, connected experience rather than a fragmented one. 

Better Communication Can Build Trust

KUBRA's research confirmed two things about communication. By and large, utilities are doing a good job: 83% of customers feel informed, in control, or confident when managing and paying their utility bills, while only 17% experience stress, frustration, or confusion. This reinforces the importance of effective communication, especially in times of financial difficulty, when clear communication and reassurance can matter most.

When customers know what options are available and what to do next, it helps them feel like they have more control of the experience. Utilities can use communication as a tool not only to deliver information, but also to demonstrate that support is available when circumstances change. By making assistance visible, timely, and easy to act on, it can help turn a potentially stressful customer interaction into an opportunity to strengthen confidence and trust.

This is the fifth post in KUBRA’s 2026 Utility Customer Experience Blog Series, based on original research from our white papers, The Utility Billing and Payment Journey: Identifying Where Customer Friction Still Exists and From Transactions to Trust: The Future of Utility Billing & Payments.

Read the research