Helen: Making Energy Understandable and Customer-Centric

Source: Helen

Over the past few years, one of Helen’s key content goals has been to make energy more engaging and easier to understand – ultimately lowering the threshold for customers to grasp the topic in the long term. Energy-related themes, such as energy efficiency and electricity consumption, are often perceived as complex and distant, which can lead to uncertainty or worry among customers. We’ve addressed this challenge by developing comprehensive content that supports energy-saving efforts, along with a multichannel communication strategy tailored to different audiences and platforms. Our messages also reach wider audiences through paid advertising, helping increase awareness of energy-saving practices among both current and potential customers.

Our aim has been to make it easier for customers to understand their own energy use and support them in managing their consumption more effectively. We have published clear and concrete energy-saving tips on our website and in content articles that explain, for example, the structure of electricity pricing, the effects of consumption, and the impact of everyday choices. These contents are shared as part of our customer communication through newsletters, lifecycle emails, social media, and our website.

A core part of our energy efficiency work is our digital service Oma Helen, which provides customers with a detailed, real-time view of their electricity usage, down to the hour. The service includes a range of features that support understanding and decision-making: it displays up-to-date electricity price information, personal consumption trends, and even a nationwide snapshot of the current electricity situation. For instance, we notify users when electricity consumption in Finland is moderate and production is sufficient, so they can use electricity more freely. Push notifications also alert users when electricity is unusually expensive or affordable.

Our approach is rooted in the idea that when customers better understand their energy use and how the electricity market works, they are empowered to make more sustainable choices – and feel more in control of their daily lives. Our communications and services combine practical guidance with visualized data, helping energy feel less complicated and abstract, and more accessible and manageable.

These efforts have been part of our continuous development of customer communications and have been implemented gradually over the past years. The impact of these actions is measured through various indicators, such as the number of active users of the digital service, message open and click-through rates, and customer satisfaction surveys.

”This is very handy, clear and informative. This helps tremendously in following spot prices”
Customer feedback on Oma Helen, 13.11.2024.
”Loads of good data eg, estimates on consumption, comparisons vs. last month etc. Best App so far.”
Customer feedback on Oma Helen, 30.11.2024.