Utility leaders are not strangers to difficult customer reactions. Complaints come with the territory—rates, outages, billing, communication. At times, customers are frustrated, even angry. That is not new.

What is changing, however, is the intensity—and the speed—with which reactions can escalate.

To understand this shift, it helps to separate two emotions that are often treated as the same thing: anger and outrage. They are not the same, and the difference matters.

Anger is built. Outrage is triggered.

Anger tends to develop over time.

It is usually the result of accumulated experiences—some small, some more significant:

• a billing issue that took too long to resolve
• an outage that felt poorly communicated

• and a growing sense that “things are not as good as they used to be.”

In this sense, anger is not about a single moment; it is the culmination of many moments.

Outrage, on the other hand, is immediate.

It is tied to a specific event that feels unreasonable, unfair, or out of touch.

For example:

• a decision that appears to conflict with community expectations
• spending that feels difficult to justify from a customer’s perspective
• a rate increase that feels out of step with customers’ realities

• and a workplace incident that raises questions about safety and oversight.

Outrage does not build slowly—it ignites quickly.

The escalation most organizations miss

Long before anger or outrage appear, something else is happening.

Customers begin with concerns.

If those concerns are not addressed, they turn into worries.
Left unresolved, those worries evolve into being upset.
And over time—or with enough reinforcement—that upset becomes anger.

There is an important shift along this path.

When customers have concerns or worries, they often take some responsibility—
they ask questions, seek clarification, and try to understand.

But once they become upset or angry, that changes. The focus shifts from understanding the issue… to finding someone or an organization to blame.

That is a very different dynamic.

Why this matters now

In today’s environment, customers are not just evaluating utilities on performance. They are evaluating them on perception. And perception is shaped as much by what customers believe
as by what utilities actually deliver; this is where anger and outrage intersect.

Anger creates a condition where customers are more sensitive and more skeptical.
Outrage provides the moment that confirms their belief that something is wrong.

When both are present, reactions become stronger, more visible, and harder to manage. Not because performance has collapsed— but because perception has shifted.

A final thought

When customers are angry or outraged, the organization is in a reactive mode—responding, explaining, and managing the situation. That is necessary, and that is what is expected.

But it is also limiting.

It’s the difference between being a firefighter and a fire prevention officer. One responds after something ignites. The other works to reduce the conditions that allow it to happen.

Utilities are very capable firefighters.

Fire prevention requires something different— a deliberate focus on listening, understanding, and acting earlier.

Because when customers become angry or outraged, the cost is not just emotional—it is operational. Time, attention, and resources are used to react. And often, at a scale that could have been reduced.

Listening to concerns and understanding worries is what good customer engagement is all about. It is one of the most practical ways to reduce escalation—and the cost that comes with it.

A thoughtful, consistent approach to gathering customer feedback, opinions, and wisdom
helps shift an organization from reacting to issues…to getting ahead of them.

Let’s Connect to discuss your customer engagement needs.

Another article that could be of interest: The Secure and At-Risk Customer Perception Gap