Avangrid Launches New Educational Tool to Simplify Billing for Utility Customers
Rolls out animated bill explainer videos in Connecticut, Maine, and New York
Part of Avangrid’s creative effort to make billing more transparent and detail all customer charges
NYSEG/RG&E video HERE; Central Maine Power video HERE; United Illuminating video HERE
ORANGE, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#CustomerService–Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE: AGR), a leading sustainable energy company and a member of the Iberdrola Group, announced today that it is enhancing customer service at several of its electric and natural gas utilities by launching bill explainer videos. This new educational tool will be available for customers of United Illuminating (UI) in Connecticut, Central Maine Power (CMP) in Maine, and New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) and Rochester Gas and Electric (RG&E) in New York.
“Customer education is an important facet of how we serve our more than 3.3 million electric and natural gas customers across the northeast,” said Pedro Azagra, Avangrid CEO. “We understand that energy bills can be frustratingly complex with supply and delivery charges, taxes, and public policy costs. Our new bill explainer videos will clarify all of this so that our customers can review their monthly bills and feel empowered to make informed choices about their energy use.”
In Connecticut, the new bill explainer video is a customer education resource to break down the newly redesigned UI electric bill, which launched in February 2024 following four years of collaboration between UI’s Customer Service Team and the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) Office of Education, Outreach, & Enforcement (EOE). The video explains the four components of the UI electric bill: Supply, which encompasses UI’s payments to electricity generating companies for the energy they produce; Transmission, which pays for the interstate network of high-voltage electric lines carrying electricity from generating facilities to UI’s distribution network; Local Delivery, which funds UI’s poles, wires, substations, and workforce; and Public Benefits, which encompass the costs of public policy programs that state policymakers require UI to implement.
In Maine, CMP launched its first-ever animated bill explainer video last year on digital, web, and social platforms. Having already received 45,000 views, the video is the beginning of a multi-video series that addresses some of the most frequently asked questions CMP receives in a new, innovative and approachable way. In our first video, we explore the different parts of a customer’s power bill, like electric supply, delivery, and public policy charges and how these pieces come together to make up one number each month.
New York’s new bill explainer video is a customer education resource to illustrate the components of NYSEG and RG&E’s electric and gas bills. The video explains the components of NYSEG and RG&E’s electric and gas bills: Supply, which clarifies the companies’ costs from electricity generating companies for the energy they produce and fluctuates because of global market conditions; Local Delivery, which funds the companies’ infrastructure, grid, meters, and part of the cost of delivery of service; Also under Delivery are public policy charges – NYSEG and RG&E are required to collect these charges from customers to assist New York state in meeting clean energy goals.
About Avangrid: Avangrid, Inc. (NYSE: AGR) aspires to be the leading sustainable energy company in the United States. Headquartered in Orange, CT with approximately $44 billion in assets and operations in 24 U.S. states, Avangrid has two primary lines of business: networks and renewables. Through its networks business, Avangrid owns and operates eight electric and natural gas utilities, serving more than 3.3 million customers in New York and New England. Through its renewables business, Avangrid owns and operates a portfolio of renewable energy generation facilities across the United States. Avangrid employs approximately 8,000 people and has been recognized by JUST Capital in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 as one of the JUST 100 companies – a ranking of America’s best corporate citizens. In 2024, Avangrid ranked first among utilities and 12 overall. The company supports the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals and was named among the World’s Most Ethical Companies in 2024 for the sixth consecutive year by the Ethisphere Institute. Avangrid is a member of the group of companies controlled by Iberdrola, S.A. For more information, visit www.avangrid.com.
Contacts
Sarah Warren
sarah.warren@avangrid.com
585-794-9253
