Utilities invest significant time and resources into developing programs that make a real difference for customers. Whether it’s electrification incentives, EV charging rebates, demand response programs, or clean energy initiatives, these offerings are designed to improve affordability, reliability, and sustainability.
But even the best programs can’t create impact if customers don’t know they exist.
For many utilities and Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs), the biggest challenge isn’t creating valuable programs—it’s building the awareness that drives participation.
Awareness Isn’t Built Overnight
Brand awareness is rarely the result of a single campaign or announcement. It’s built through repeated, recognizable interactions over time: a familiar name at a community event, a helpful email that arrives when it’s relevant, consistent messaging across digital channels, and communications that reinforce the same identity and purpose.
Every customer touchpoint either strengthens recognition or misses an opportunity to build it.
Research highlights just how significant this challenge can be. In California, for example, 81% of residents don’t know what a Community Choice Aggregator (CCA) is. While that statistic is specific to CCAs, the broader lesson applies across the utility industry: customers can’t engage with programs they don’t recognize or understand.
The Participation Gap Starts With an Awareness Gap
Low participation is often treated as a program problem when it’s actually a communications problem.
Utilities frequently offer valuable incentives and services, but customers may never hear about them, may not understand how they work, or may not recognize why they’re relevant.
Closing that gap requires more than sending another email or posting on social media. It requires building a consistent presence across the channels customers already use while communicating in language that connects program benefits to what matters most: saving money, improving reliability, simplifying everyday decisions, and supporting their communities.
When messaging is clear and consistent, awareness grows. As awareness grows, trust follows. And trusted organizations are far more likely to see customers take action.
Consistency Builds Recognition—and Recognition Builds Trust
Many utilities are already doing meaningful work behind the scenes. They’re investing in customer programs, forming community partnerships, and finding new ways to serve the people who depend on them.
The opportunity is making sure those efforts are communicated with the same level of intention.
When messaging, branding, and customer communications work together across every channel, customers begin to recognize the organization behind the programs. Over time, that recognition becomes familiarity, familiarity becomes trust, and trust leads to higher engagement and participation.
Turning Awareness Into Action
Building awareness isn’t about being louder. It’s about being more recognizable, more consistent, and more relevant wherever customers interact with your organization.
At REACH, we help utilities and CCAs develop awareness strategies that connect communications across channels, strengthen brand voice, and make customer programs easier to discover and understand.
Because the programs that create the greatest impact aren’t simply the ones that exist—they’re the ones customers recognize, trust, and choose to use.
