Country Energy Bill Re-design

In 2005/06 Country Energy – a major supplier of gas and electricity to rural and regional NSW – commissioned us to develop a new bill design. The redesign project was aimed at addressing the high number of late payments made by customers. Country Energy also wanted to streamline the payment instructions so that their preferred methods of receiving payment were followed.

We conducted three rounds of usability testing with Country Energy customers in the major regional centres of Bathurst, Queenbeayan and Port Macquarie. The findings from this testing provided invaluable information on which to develop the final bill design. We found that there was a need to simplify the metering information and graphs, and improve the navigation for customers so they could find their account number, the due date and the total amount due, and the contact information more easily.

The new Country Energy bill design, with its harmonious colour scheme, uncluttered base stationery and type hierarchy, and simplified presentation of electricity and natural gas meter information, clearly has the customer in mind. Key design and text components have been reordered so that customers can readily find and understand information that is important to them, such as the total due and when they have to pay.

Since the launch of the redesigned bill, Country Energy staff have reported a reduction in the number of customers making bill enquiries to their call centres, and a decrease in the number of overdue notices being sent to customers.