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How is digital identity powering utilities innovation?

The energy and utilities sector, like other critical infrastructure industries, has been slow to digitise. However, rising customer expectations, tighter regulations, and increasingly sophisticated fraud are driving urgent change. As competition intensifies and consumers become more willing to switch providers for better service or pricing, pressure is mounting on customer journeys, support teams, and back-office operations.  

Digital identity platforms offer a trusted solution to key challenges in the utilities sector while delivering seamless digital experiences, ensuring compliance, and protecting revenue. Platforms like itsme enable secure user verification and frictionless access to services, helping reduce fraud, streamline onboarding, and boost retention. Customers can register, log in, sign contracts, update details, and access their portals easily, while providers benefit from lower fraud losses, reduced support costs, and stronger digital engagement. 

This blog explores how digital identity can support the modernisation and digitisation of Europe’s utilities sector, improving security, efficiency, and the overall customer experience. 

Prevent utility service fraud and optimise collections

Utilities often lose revenue to fake sign-ups, deliberate non-payment, and identity fraud. Criminals rotate identities to avoid detection and debt collection, and basic client onboarding and identity checks leave the sector especially vulnerable. 

A common fraud technique is account takeover (ATO) fraud, whereby cybercriminals hijack customer accounts to steal refunds or payments from utility companies. These outgoing payments (e.g. refunded overpayments, security deposits, damage claims settlements, energy efficiency bonuses, disaster recovery support, etc.) create valuable opportunities for fraudsters looking to exploit the system for financial gain.  

Synthetic identity fraud is also a growing threat to the utilities sector, enabling bad actors to open accounts and access services without ever intending to pay. They create fake identities using a mix of real and fabricated data, often harvested through data breaches or automated bot attacks. Losses from synthetic identity fraud have surged past $35 billion globally in 2023. This threat is further accelerated by generative AI, which can produce increasingly convincing false credentials and fake documents using publicly available data to extract personal data from real users. GenAI can even be used to create deepfake videos with fabricated gestures and speech patterns to impersonate customers.  

Another common form of fraud in the utilities sector involves creating "Mickey Mouse accounts", whereby fake or obviously invalid names (like Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck) are used to quickly register for services online. Fraudsters use those names to test vulnerabilities in onboarding processes, exploit billing loopholes, or evade detection by customer service teams.

Digital identity platforms can significantly raise the barrier for fraudsters who deliberately steal services, helping utilities to strengthen customer verification. Integrating secure identity verification into the onboarding process enables automated utility onboarding with fast, reliable KYC that blocks synthetic identities and “Mickey Mouse” accounts. By ensuring that only verified individuals can access and manage accounts, providers can strengthen security and build greater trust with their customers. 

Linking each customer to a verified ID enforces a one-account-per-person policy, eliminating duplicates and improving debt traceability. Additionally, verified identity data also enables providers to match outstanding balances across accounts, supporting more effective debt recovery and ultimately lowering financial risk. 

Last but not least, digital identity platforms help safeguard customer portals by enabling multifactor, passwordless authentication. This significantly reduces the risk of identity fraud and account takeovers.

Protect your organisation from fraud with verified digital identity from itsme 

Modernise customer experience and support in utilities

In a worldwide survey of 800 C-level executives from the utilities sector, 37% of utility providers cited optimising customer experience as a top driver for adopting enterprise software systems. The same survey showed that customer experience and optimisation emerged as leading focus areas for deploying emerging technologies, confirming that CX is no longer a nice-to-have for utilities, but a competitive necessity. 

The energy sector, however, faces mounting pressure to digitise customer-facing operations. Many providers still rely on manual processes to onboard customers or process contract changes, leaving room for human error and inefficiencies. As energy prices rise, these risks become more costly, undermining revenue in an already margin-sensitive industry. 

At the same time, customer experience (CX) is becoming a decisive factor in market competition. The utilities sector, encompassing services like water, gas, and energy, is highlighted as having the lowest customer experience scores, with energy customers facing average wait times of 35 minutes, and up to 1 hour 25 minutes in extreme cases.  

Poor digital CX doesn’t just block new sign-ups; it frustrates existing users and erodes brand loyalty. Consumers expect to switch providers or update their account information online within minutes, with interactions that are simple, informative, and responsive. They also want the option to speak to a representative when needed, and seamless two-way communication throughout their entire customer journey. 

Digital identity platforms improve customer experience by simplifying onboarding and everyday access. New customers can quickly and securely sign up or switch providers online without lengthy paperwork. With automated KYC, onboarding no longer depends on office hours or phone queues, allowing digital operations to scale with confidence. This streamlined access reduces frustration, cuts down on support requests, and allows customer service teams to focus on more complex issues. Meanwhile, existing users benefit from fast, passwordless logins to manage their accounts.

Utility provider Eneco illustrates this. In 2023, the Dutch-Belgian energy provider integrated itsme into its MyEneco portal to improve both security and usability. Previously, customers logged in with a username and password, offering little assurance that the person making changes was the legitimate account holder. Requests to change payment plans, addresses, or invoice preferences could take days to process and often required manual follow-up from customer service.

Using itsme, Eneco’s customers can now verify their identity in seconds and make changes directly, reducing administrative bottlenecks and freeing up support staff. The result is fewer service tickets, lower operational costs, and greater trust in the online experience. The trusted login method also helps keep phishers and fraudsters at bay, reinforcing Eneco’s reputation for secure, customer-first digital service. 

Digitise operations and eliminate bureaucracies in utilities

For many utility providers, the identity verification process still feels frustratingly manual. Customers are often asked to upload ID photos via email or fill out long forms with basic information they've already shared elsewhere. In some cases, they’re even asked to send photos of their ID cards to customer service—a process not only inconvenient but also non-compliant with EU privacy regulations. 

This outdated approach creates friction at every stage of the customer journey, leading to abandoned sign-up flows. It consequently overwhelms customer service teams with identity-related queries. On the provider side, manual processes slow operations and increase overhead and exposure to fraud. As expectations for digital convenience rise, fuelled by the commoditisation of the utilities sector and fierce competition, these inefficiencies are becoming increasingly intolerable. 

Digital transformation is therefore increasingly seen as a key lever for growth and operational efficiency in the energy and utilities sector. Between 2020 and 2021, the share of revenue allocated to digital initiatives rose from 30% to 38.4%. In parallel, more than a quarter (26%) of power and utilities providers have already integrated 5G technology into their strategic planning, signaling a clear shift toward advanced digital capabilities. 

Digital identity technology is a key enabler of digital transformation in the utilities sector, fundamentally changing how providers engage with customers. Platforms like itsme replace outdated verification methods and repetitive form-filling with a secure and and reusable digital ID. This allows customers to onboard, access their accounts, and update personal details remotely without visiting service centres or sending sensitive documents by email.

By enabling secure self-service by default, digital identity solutions reduce administrative overhead, strengthen compliance, and empower utilities providers to meet rising expectations for fast, intuitive digital experiences. 

Discover how digital ID can accelerate your digital transformation. Speak with an expert. 

Help utilities protect margins

In today’s commoditised energy market, price alone no longer secures customer loyalty. Many consumers switch providers each year in search of better deals and smoother digital experiences, often using comparison sites. In Belgium alone, over one million households switch providers annually, expecting the entire process to take just minutes with minimal admin. Providers that can’t deliver that level of convenience risk losing both new and existing customers. 

At the same time, utilities operate on thin margins and face mounting pressure from fraud, manual errors, and inefficient processes. Friction during onboarding—such as form-fill mistakes, identity verification issues, and duplicate records—leads to high drop-off rates, increased support costs, and slower recovery in collections. According to a 2024 report, UK customer service teams waste an average of 2.8 days resolving avoidable issues, contributing to an £85 billion annual burden. 

Digital identity platforms like itsme help utilities protect their margins through:  

  • Clean, verified data: itsme ensures each customer’s identity is verified during onboarding — eliminating typos, fake names, and duplicate accounts. The result is better data quality, fewer costly mistakes, and less barriers to entry for new clients.  

  • Lower operational costs: By automating KYC and enabling secure access to customer portals, digital identity reduces the number of support tickets and identity-related customer service calls. Fewer manual interventions mean lower overhead in support and collections teams. 

  • Improved conversion rates: Frictionless and trusted onboarding drives higher completion rates. Customers are more likely to follow through when verification is fast, secure and familiar. 

  • Better debt recovery: With one verified identity per account, energy providers can match unpaid bills to real individuals, making it harder for intentional non-payers to commit fraud through fake accounts. 

Protect your bottom line with the help of verified digital ID 

Facilitating utility sector regulatory compliance

With regulations tightening across the EU, energy providers must modernise how they manage identity and personal data. PSD2/3, eIDAS 2.0, and GDPR are reshaping how companies verify users, store information, and conduct remote transactions. In this landscape, embedding a trusted, reusable digital identity into the customer journey is not just about compliance, but about building trust and staying competitive. 

Many energy and utility providers still rely on outdated identity checks, like email verification or unsecured online forms, despite handling large volumes of sensitive customer data. These methods frustrate users and increase exposure to data breaches and regulatory penalties. According to IBM, the average cost of a data breach in the energy and utilities sector reached $4.72 million in 2022. Additionally, almost 90% of the world’s leading energy companies experienced a third-party data breach in 2023. 

Beyond the legal risks, non-compliance can erode customer trust. Consumers expect their data to be handled securely and transparently, and failure to meet these expectations damages reputation and brand loyalty. This is especially costly in an industry where switching providers is as simple as filling out a comparison site form. 

Digital identity platforms offer a future-proof way to meet rising regulatory demands. Fully compliant with eIDAS and GDPR, itsme enables providers to verify identities instantly, reduce data handling risks, replace insecure methods like email-based ID checks, and support legally binding actions with qualified electronic signatures. These capabilities also simplify audits and reporting, helping avoid fines and reputational damage. 

This is especially important as EU-wide regulations like eIDAS continue to expand in scope. The regulation mandates accepting Qualified Electronic IDs (QeIDs) across both public and private services, directly impacting how energy and utility providers onboard and interact with users. National laws, such as Belgium’s National Register Law, further reinforce the need for compliant identity handling, making trusted digital identity solutions not just beneficial, but essential. 

Curious about the potential use cases of digital identity in your team?

Conclusion  

Energy and utility providers must balance growth with risk, all while navigating strict compliance requirements, rising customer expectations, and more intelligent fraudsters. With digital identity platforms, they can verify customer identities with certainty, prevent fraud, and stay ahead of regulatory demands. Secure, seamless onboarding and login experiences help protect margins, reduce operational costs, and deliver compliant, customer-first digital services.

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