Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) can be notoriously difficult for electricity providers to engage – they represent a wide variety of business types; they typically do not have staff dedicated to managing their energy usage; and programs haven’t historically been tailored to their needs, which means the customer relationship often hasn’t been developed.

To better understand this important, but often overlooked customer segment and help electricity providers and other industry stakeholders develop strategies that more effectively address their needs, the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC) recently conducted the “Understanding the SMB Landscape: New Needs and Concerns” research.

Based on an online survey of 750 energy decision-makers at businesses with fewer than 500 employees, the new report explored SMB customers’ satisfaction with their providers, their participation in energy efficiency programs, frequency of reviewing energy usage data, barriers to participation in programs and offers, interest in electrification and more.

In this month’s blog, we share three key findings related to small businesses and their relationships with their electricity providers:

1. SMB customers are relatively satisfied with their electricity providers.

In the “Customer Satisfaction and the Smart Grid” report, published in February of this year, we asked residential customers whether they were satisfied with their providers, and they rated their satisfaction 7.4 on a 10-point scale. However, SMB customers are notably more satisfied (8.2 out of 10) with their providers, which may be somewhat surprising given the noted difficulties in engaging this customer segment. SMB customers that consider electricity to be a major business expense are even more satisfied than the mean, with these customers rating their satisfaction an 8.4 out of 10.

2. They want providers to focus on renewables and new rate options.

The new survey also asked the SMB respondents whether their electricity providers should be focusing more on several different areas, including reducing carbon emissions and investing more in the electric grid. While respondents noted a wide variety of areas in their responses, only four percent stated that there is nothing more needed from their providers. However, a few areas rose to the top, including “providing more renewable energy” (39 percent), “helping businesses understand which energy-saving options are best for them” (37 percent) and “offering more rate options” (36 percent).

3. They expect more reliable and affordable electricity from grid modernization.

Finally, respondents were asked about the benefits that they expect from their electricity providers’ grid modernization initiatives, and the most mentioned benefit was “more reliable electricity” at 37 percent. Additionally, SMBs expect grid modernization to stabilize electricity costs (33 percent) and lead to cheaper electricity costs (31 percent), while others noted improvements in air quality (30 percent) and ensuring that “clean energy is accessible to everyone” (27 percent). Only one percent of respondents stated that they do not expect any benefits from their electricity providers’ grid modernization initiatives.

While SMBs have the reputation of being difficult to engage, the new research suggests that they have positive views of their electricity providers and are generally supportive of their initiatives around grid modernization, renewable energy and more. By developing messaging, outreach and programs based on the needs and concerns of this customer segment, electricity providers will likely find many of these businesses to be engaged partners on the road to a smarter energy future.

To learn more about the energy-related interests and concerns of America’s small and medium-sized businesses, access our latest report here.