Stronger Messaging and a Sharper Value Proposition Drive Recovery of Brand Trust for Utilities

LIVONIA, Mich., July 01, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A new Cogent Syndicated report from Escalent finds that, for the first time since 2021, midyear utility Brand Trust has improved. As utilities work to strengthen their reputations and sharpen their communication efforts, the industry’s Brand Trust Index has risen 17 points, reaching 697 on a 1,000-point scale.

Those are some of the latest findings of the 2025 Cogent Syndicated Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement™: Residential study, which tracks the performance of 148 gas, electric and combination utilities to identify brand and customer experience opportunities and trends in the industry. The report is published semiannually by Escalent, a top data analytics and advisory firm with extensive energy, utility and brand experience.

Electric and combination utilities, which saw the sharpest post-COVID-19 Brand Trust declines, led the comeback, with natural gas utilities also showing strong improvement. “It’s encouraging to see the positive momentum in Brand Trust that began in late 2024 continuing into this year,” said Suzanne Haggerty, director of syndicated research with the Energy team at Escalent. “This upward trend puts utilities in a stronger position to maintain customer confidence as seasonal summer bills and midyear rate increases take effect.”

Driving the Brand Trust rebound are 40 top-performing utilities that significantly outperform the industry average, earning recognition as Escalent’s 2025 Most Trusted Brands.

Although the industry as a whole has increased its investment in communication this year, the 2025 Most Trusted Brands have gone even further. Their Communications Intensity Index—a metric reflecting per-customer communication spending—is 17% higher than the industry average, fueled by greater customer recall of distinct utility messages delivered across multiple channels.

Notably, the 2025 Most Trusted Brands are successfully reinforcing their value proposition, with customers rating them 7% above average for offering reasonable rates for the services they provide—an aspect of Brand Trust that declined sharply in 2022 and 2023 and has proven challenging to recover.

“The utility value proposition continues to evolve,” said Haggerty. “It’s not just about the bill amount. Value encompasses improved reliability, opportunities for savings, better customer service, ease of doing business, and the utility’s active role in supporting the community—delivering a broader sense of fairness and value that customers recognize and appreciate.”

Escalent is pleased to name these 40 utilities as our 2025 Most Trusted Brands.

* Utilities named as Most Trusted Brands have Brand Trust Index scores in the top decile of the industry, the top score within their respective benchmark segment, or a Brand Trust Index score within 20 points of the top benchmark segment score and above the industry average.

The following tables reflect regional peer benchmark Brand Trust scores among the 148 utilities surveyed. These scores reflect the level of trust customers have with each utility.

About the Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement™: Residential study

Escalent conducted surveys among 61,086 residential electric, natural gas and combination utility customers of the 148 largest US utility companies (based on residential customer counts). The sample design uses a combination of quotas and weighting based on US census data to ensure a demographically balanced sample of each evaluated utility’s customers based on age, gender, income, race and ethnicity. Utilities within the same region and of the same type (e.g., electric-only providers) are given equal weight to balance the influence of each utility’s customers on survey results. The Brand Trust index score is a composite based upon consumer ratings across six factors. Escalent will supply the exact wording of any survey question upon request.

For more information on the full report, click here.

About Escalent

Escalent is an award-winning data analytics and advisory firm that helps clients understand human and market behaviors to navigate disruption and business transformation. As catalysts of progress for more than 40 years, our strategies guide the world’s leading brands. We accelerate growth by creating a seamless flow between primary, secondary, syndicated, and internal business data, providing consulting and advisory services from insights through implementation. Based on a profound understanding of what drives human beings and markets, we identify actions that build brands, enhance customer experiences, inspire product innovation and boost business productivity. Visit escalent.co to see how we are helping shape the brands that are reshaping the world.

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