For both MRG and its customers, 2022 has been a turbulent year, marked by an energy crisis that has required the implementation of extraordinary measures. MRG has been able to adapt to these measures in record time, offering its customers all the necessary information and assistance in their procedures.

In addition, we have worked to create and improve digital communication spaces, such as the WhatsApp channel, which facilitate communication with end users, who are increasingly demanding efficiency and minimisation of the time required for their transactions; as well as the implementation of the communication platform with marketers (IOGAS), which better supports the messaging processes required by the regulations.

Customer service

During 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as the situations arising from this conflict, had major consequences on all international energy markets. This situation was passed on to all European consumers, both in terms of energy prices and increased security of supply risks.

During 2022, there was an increase of around 28% in the number of requests for home visits through the call centre channel for meter verification by customers

In this regard, Spain implemented several measures in record time, within the framework of the National Response Plan to the economic and social consequences of the war in Ukraine (Royal Decree-Law 6/2022), with special emphasis on those groups in a situation of energy vulnerability.

These measures include the following:

• Greater flexibility of contracts (RDL 6/2022, RDL11/2022, RDL18/2022 and its last publication RDL 20/2022, art.10).
• A new tariff of last resort for natural gas temporarily applicable to homeowners’ associations (RDL18/2022).
• Improving the information available to natural gas consumers on energy consumption and choice of supplier (RDL18/2022).

These changes have led to a feeling of unease among customers, who are concerned about their consumption and the cost this may entail for them.

In this regard, Madrileña Red de Gas has had to adapt in record time to provide a quality service to customers, guiding them in the effective use of consumption and facilitating both the arrangement of visits requested by customers who wantto know if their gas meter is measuring correctly, and the coordination of work in the field.

During 2022, there was an increase of around 28% in the number of requests for home visits through the call centre channel for meter verification by customers.

Likewise, MRG has had to address customers’ concerns about the consumption billed by their suppliers, requesting that these be supported by actual readings or readings provided by the customer, so that the billing of consumption is as accurate as possible.

It should be noted that MRG has focused on keeping customers informed at all times about their consumption and the obligations that the customer has as a gas user. Information has also been enhanced through our Virtual Office, where the customer can be autonomous both in requesting information, obtaining a response to it, and in the management of their supply point, and in parallel, the channels of contact with MRG have been optimized (such as WhatsApp), with the aim of facilitating the recording of readings by the customer, both numerically and with the support of a photograph of the meter.

We have also had to reinforce our support on the change of supplier, mainly focused on the change of contracts with deregulated market suppliers to regulated market suppliers.

In this regard, in 2022, 175,761 changes of supplier have been managed, compared to the 80,220 that were executed in 2021, representing an increase of 119%.

Call Contextualisation in the Call Center

Currently, we have a customer list with more than 850,000 mobile phones, which represents 92% of the customer database, which allows us to identify the customer who contacts MRG through the call center, from the phone we have on record.

In this sense, a logic has been implemented in our systems, which, after identifying the telephone, identifies the situation in which the supply point is, contextualizing this situation in the CRM that supports the call center through on-screen messages, helping the agent to guide the management of the possible request that the customer wishes to process, and to prevent any urgent issue that needs to be dealt with or extra information that the customer should have, in order to resolve situations pending completion, such as a scheduled Periodic Inspection, supply cut off due to anomalies in the installation, the pending delivery of a Proof of Correction of Anomalies, etc.

Broadly speaking:

In this logic, 45 possible scenarios have been parameterised, prioritising in this first phase, scenarios related to the process of Readings, Periodic Inspection, Commissioning and Household Operations related to supply interruption, identifying some context in 64% of the calls..

Engagement for request management

One of the most recurring questions among our customers is: “What about mine?”

One of our main challenges so far is to reduce the volume of callbacks we have in our call center, as well as the repeated requests for information coming in through any available channel.

This objective lies in promoting First Call Resolution through any channel, as well as keeping the customer sufficiently informed about the status of their supply point, as well as the procedures that are being processed.

In this regard, MRG has implemented an engagement system with more than 70 types of messages in the email, SMS and WhatsApp channels, corresponding to eight processes, mainly on the requests that come to us from the commercialisation companies.

The objective is to keep the customer always informed, providing value, both in terms of our own processes such as readings or periodic inspections, as well as the requests that MRG receives from the commercialization companies.

Among the communications, there are informative messages of great value to the customer, such as a personalized report of their consumption, to the possibility of modifying an appointment, seeing the technician’s photo or seeing his route until he arrives at the customer’s home.

With respect to requests from distributors, such as changes of ownership, changes of distributor, commissioning, cessation of supply, reopening after payment of debt, etc., MRG informs customers both on receipt of the request and on the execution or scheduling of the visit, allowing the rescheduling and completion of the visit, allowing customers to find out from their distributor what the distributor is doing on their behalf, avoiding fraud and unwanted requests.

With this improvement proposal, we have generally managed to increase information with the customer and manage their expectations, in order to answer in most cases the question “What about mine?”.

The objective is to keep the customer always informed, providing value, both in terms of our own processes such as readings or periodic inspections, as well as the requests that MRG receives from the commercialization companies

Despite a 21% increase in the number of Call Centre contacts, we have managed to maintain our customer satisfaction rating (CSAT) at 7.6 and Google My Business at 4.0 with over 8,800 reviews

 

Loyalty: a tense year in the energy sector

At the national level, and particularly in Madrid, our customers have not been unaware of the global energy context. The uncertainty of supply, high prices, the contribution of natural gas to electricity generation, regulatory and normative changes, or the geopolitical situation of Spain with its main importers, has generated concern and unease.

Faced with this situation, at Madrileña Red de Gas, we have made a great effort to keep our customers at the center of our attention.

Despite a 21% increase in the number of Call Centre contacts, we have managed to maintain our customer satisfaction rating (CSAT) at 7.6 and Google My Business at 4.0 with over 8,800 reviews.

And what have we done during 2022 to achieve this?

• We have given our customers advice on how to save gas without having to make large investments, providing them with a decalogue of 10 ideas, together with a video tutorial, and informing them through communications to customers and the website.
• A total of 65,000 customers, of whom we have not had a real meter reading for more than a year, have provided it to us thanks to our information campaigns to comply with regulations, to be able to bill for real consumption, and to avoid estimates.
• We have processed more than 175,000 changes of supplier (+218%), compared to 80,000 in 2021, mainly to regulated suppliers with Tariffs of Last Resort, maintaining the deadlines and quality of service.
• We have made more than 57,000 field visits.
• We have optimized our WhatsApp customer service channel, offering a premium channel for customer service and customer experience.
• We have carried out more than 57,000 meter revisions, changing the meter 11% of the time, mainly due to faults.

WhatsApp channel

MRG has implemented the WhatsApp channel since 2019, being one of the pioneering companies in the gas sector to have customer service through this channel.
Following the pandemic, and taking into account the strong growth of WhatsApp usage among the population, especially among non-digital people, we see that the time has come to upgrade the platform, optimizing not only navigation and the customer journey, but also the operation of the tool, with more powerful automation and a better valued customer experience.

In this sense, with this new version of WhatsApp implemented in the last quarter of 2022, we have managed to automate 57% of the conversations, the star process being the meter reading registration, providing a photograph of the meter (74% of the conversations received are related to this process).

Through the use of Artificial Intelligence with natural language and an OCR processing of counter photographs, we have reduced from 40% to 16% the percentage of
conversations that require passing to the Agent Group to receive personalized attention.

We have also improved our customer experience rating, with a CSAT of 8.89 (previously 6.1) and an NPS of 60.41 (previously 52.6).

Considered as MRG’s channel of excellence, together with the Virtual Office, due to its level of automation, agility and customer appreciation, various initiatives are being carried out to promote it, such as its promotion via QR on estate signs or the option to divert to WhatsApp in the locutions when calling by telephone.

Readings

Madrileña Red de Gas has reduced the number of customers without a real reading in one year to 3.25% of its distributed customers.

As seen above, in addition to the attempt to physically read the meter every month/two months, depending on the type of customer, and offering tools such as the Virtual Office to send a photograph of the meter, Madrileña Red de Gas provides end customers with more resources that facilitate the recording of at least one real reading per year, sending WhatsApp reminders of the obligation, coinciding with the reading route, to customers in a situation of non-compliance, for having more than 12 months without a real meter reading, and facilitating the sending of a photo of the meter in this WhatsApp.

This measure has been possible thanks to the effort to update customer mobile phone number data, and improvements in the automatic tools for reading the digits of the photo counter. Demonstrating innovation in the sector in terms of the resource used.

The end customer values the measure positively because he understands that it avoids the estimation of readings.

We promote customer autonomy

With the aim of enhancing the autonomy of customers when it comes to facilitating the reading of their meter to MRG, in addition to optimising digital channels such as the Virtual Office or WhatsApp, help and guidance has been reinforced through the call center channel, indicating to customers who contact MRG through this channel how they can facilitate future readings through our digital channels (information on the platforms, specific sections, necessary information, etc.), achieving both a decrease in readings registered through the call center and an increase in readings registered through other channels.

As can be seen in the chart, the Virtual Office is the channel most chosen to facilitate readings by the customer, with the highest percentage in the case of the Virtual Office without login.

In addition, 6,714 customers facilitated reading via WhatsApp in December, surpassing IVR and Call Centre.

Decrease in the ratio of measurement differences

Without forgetting the emission control actions of the transporter and primary distributor, this exercise is carried out, once again, in a project focused on more than 108,000 customers with anomalous consumption and/or more than 12 months without a real reading. The aim is to physically check the meters of these customers, allowing visits to be scheduled in advance with the end customer.

In an energy and economic environment with abnormally high gas prices, this action has enabled Madrileña Red de Gas to detect 5.53% of cases of meters with an incident (fraud or breakdown), which were causing billing that was lower than actual consumption. In the future, this will reduce the distributor’s shrinkage ratio.

Once again, it is important to emphasize the communication with the end customer in order to ensure the success of the visit to the meter and the convenience for the user.

Domiciliary Operations

The year 2022 was notable for the large volume of field operations resulting from the proactivity of Madrileña Red de Gas and the concern of customers about the increase in their bills, requesting meter revisions. A total of 57,659 field visits were made, with an effectiveness rate of 76%, of which 11% of the customers visited had their meters replaced, mainly due to incidents.

10.57% of the appointment changes in 2021 were home-based operations, however, the large volume of proactive field operations has raised this percentage to 33.47% in 2022, with 18,830 appointment changes.

This year, the Call Center agents have made 71.74% of the appointments on the agenda, with a decrease compared to 2021, when the percentage was 88%

This year, the Call Center agents have made 71.74% of the appointments on the agenda, with a decrease compared to 2021, when the percentage was 88%

Customers have become more autonomous from their Virtual Office profile, changing almost 22% of the appointments in the schedule on their own, compared to just over 10% in previous years.

With regard to the ordinary operations of cut-offs, terminations and reopenings, there has been a slight decrease in the number of successful cut-offs and terminations at the request of the customer compared to 2021.

Likewise, the year closed with a 1% non-compliance rate of scheduled appointments in the field, slightly higher than in 2021 (closed at 0.6%) due to the large volume of nonroutine operations in the field.

If we look at the CES and CSAT indices, 2022 remains in line with 2021, repeating an annual average of 6.4 in CES and 6.8 in CSAT, although there has been a lot more work in the field.

On the other hand, it should be noted that, in IRC maintenance, of the 745 repair jobs carried out in 2022, in none of the cases did they exceed 72 hours to provide gas, the average being 24 hours.

This year we have closed complaints within the deadline, with 98% being closed within one day

Periodic Inspection

The year 2022 has been a year in which the achievements of 2021 in Periodic Inspection have been continued, again meeting our goals and implementing improvements that allow us to improve this trend.

Since the beginning of the campaign, the volume of inspections carried out has been above the Budget, ending the year with a 98% success rate and a leakage of 0.18%.

This translates into 15,050 inspections above the target and a non-compliance rate of less than 1%.

One of the main challenges this year has been to include the Periodic Industrial Inspection in the ordinary process, giving more visibility and traceability to this process, laying the foundations for improving the quality of these inspections.

Another challenge has been to consolidate our schedules to offer the necessary availability to allow customers to change their appointment without affecting the success of the Periodic Inspections. In 2022, we had 13.92% of appointment changes, which means 31,615 changes, almost 5,000 more than last year. MRG thus consolidates the value added for our customers with the agenda.

In addition to increasing the ease of changing appointments, adapting to customer needs, one of the keys to the results continues to be the continuous communication with our customers through the different channels provided. These communications have been in continuous change, adapting to customer demands as observed in complaints, reviews and surveys.

One of the main consequences of this flow of communications with the customer is that the number of proofs of correction of anomalies received before issuing the cut-off notice has increased to 83%.

This year we have closed complaints within the deadline, with 98% being closed within one day.

In the field, we have had a quality control rate of around 99% throughout the year, with no alarming cases detected.

To conclude, the most objective summary of the year can be the score given to us by our customers in the surveys, which remain above 8 throughout the year.

Marketers

The future of communications between distributors and retailers has arrived. At the end of 2021, madrileña Red de Gas launched IOGas, a new messaging exchange platform with retailers, applying the guidelines of the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC) in terms of formats and validations, but applying new technologies that enhance the user experience and improve customer service.

For MRG, what is really important is to share information in real time between marketers and distributors, with the main objective of providing exceptional customer service.

With this new system, it is possible to reduce operation times in the field such as reopenings or registrations, or to increase First Call Resolution in Call Centers and increase customer satisfaction.

In addition, a system has been developed in line with the latest technological innovations and focused on user experience:

• Operational control
  IOGas is designed to control operations in an agile and intuitive way: to know in real time through dashboards and customized views the requests sent, rejected, in flight, etc., as well as to have total traceability of the processes and to allow the programming of alerts according to the user’s needs.
• Real-time validations
  In any request, validations are carried out online, checking in real time both the validation of formats and the information of the supply point in the distributor’s systems, which allows for instant correction of errors and avoids rejections.
• Integration and access facilities
  IOGas has an API for online integration with the marketers’ own systems, so that any system can connect quickly, easily and securely with IOGas. It also offers the option of exchanging files via SFTP.

  In addition to the integration options, it has a friendly and intuitive user interface, accessible via web, responsive for access from any device, and requires little training.

  After more than a year in operation, it connects more than 100 marketers, is accessed daily by more than 600 users, and has handled nearly 2 million requests in 2022.

Satisfaction questionnaire for marketers

During the year 2022, a Customer Experience study was carried out for our stakeholder group “Marketing companies”, with the aim of finding out and establishing a precise measurement of the perception and assessment of the activities directly related to them.

A total of 67 interviews are carried out, belonging to 20 contacts from 9 companies, considering 8 types of services and/or processes provided.

As a general result, it can be seen that the perceived level of service quality of some of the processes has decreased compared to previous surveys.

It should be mentioned that these results, in turn, have been conditioned by the difficulty in obtaining the information of the contact persons to whom the surveys should be directed, because although the starting population was similar to that of previous surveys, the sample of results obtained has been lower (67 interviews with 20 contacts of 9 gas trading companies), and, consequently, and in our opinion less representative.

The report has collected individualized opinions from the contacts who have participated in the surveys that contain valuable information on details and peculiarities of our operations that are susceptible to improvement.