Welcome to The Top of The Cliff…

Response to the recent Chartwell webinar on how to recognize early stage financial stress in customers, has encouraged the development of this special resource page. Our purpose is to expand the dialog around early identification and the use of advanced technology and behavioral science-driven intervention to augment existing arrears/collections processes.

Enjoy the videos and articles, and stay tuned and check back to see what’s new as we continue to build out the library.

The Webinar

For U.S. energy utilities, customer bad debt has become a persistent and costly problem.
Discover how U.S. utilities are reducing bad debt with AI and behavioral science—identifying financial hardship early and improving collections without added risk.
Learn how to change payment behavior and save customers from drowning in debt.

  • Improved customer engagement
  • Proactively support vulnerable customers
  • Improve cashflow
  • Know your customer debt types

(1 hour webinar)

Shorts

Articles

Why Utility Debt Keeps Rising Even with Mature Collections

U.S. utility arrears have surged by 40% since 2023, now totaling around $25 billion.

Predict Before You Chase: A New Model for Managing Arrears

Most utilities know when a customer is already in arrears. The harder question is whether they can see which customers are heading there before the debt becomes significant enough to say so.

The Moment that Changes Everything: The Missed Payment

The fork in the road. Most utilities are only looking at one path.

From Collections to Prevention: What Leading Utilities Are Doing Differently

The previous four articles in this series have described the problem, the moment that matters, the psychology behind disengagement, and the model that makes earlier intervention possible. The question this final article must answer is harder: What does the shift actually look like when a utility makes it?

Why Customers in Hardship Go Quiet and What It Takes to Reach Them

The gap between struggling and seeking help is widening. If the problem were simply awareness, that gap would be closing.

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