ACTION PLAYBOOK:
Contact Your Utility Company
Step 1: Find the contact information for your utility company
Go to the website of the utility company that provides your natural gas service. This might also be the utility that provides your electricity - many companies do both.
Look for webpages like “contact us” or “customer service” to try to identify their:
Phone number
Email address (or “Contact Us” webform, if necessary)
Social media handles (preferably where they’re most active, otherwise your preferred channel).
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Not finding much on the official website? Here are a few more ideas:
Google “[Utility Name] corporate office headquarters.” You might find a new phone number or a physical mailing address. It’s always fair game to go old-school snail mail!
Google “[Utility Name] [Your Town] Chamber of Commerce.” Sometimes your local Chamber of Commerce posts additional phone numbers or runs a contact form.
Find the utility’s LinkedIn company profile and see if the “message” function is turned on. And follow them while you’re at it!
Step 2: Send a personalized email.
It might be tempting to sign your name to the bottom of a completely prewritten email, but a personalized email that sounds unique to you is much more compelling.
Use the issue-specific templates below to craft an email to your utility company. Note: If you can only find a “contact us” form, just send your email there!
Tips & reminders:
Customize the sections in brackets - or more if you’re up for it!
Save a copy of your email text to use as a phone script in the next step
Step 3: Make a call/leave a voicemail.
Next, call the number you found in Step 1, using your email from the previous step as a script.
If you find yourself navigating a robot-menu, listen for options to share customer feedback or speak to a customer service representative. You may even end up sitting on hold for a few minutes!
If you’re nervous, remember that utility companies have customer service divisions for a reason! It’s their job to take note of your very legitimate feedback. You can deliver a compelling message of climate accountability while still being kind and respectful to the representative on the line. When in doubt, remember your job is to convey your authentic concern – you do not need to be an expert.
Step 4: Tag them on social media.
Onward! Utility companies need a social license to operate, so they take note of what customers say in public. Plus, your post or comment might show up in someone else’s feed, planting a seed with a future advocate!
Use the template below to start a post, customizing it everywhere you can. Be sure to tag their handles! This could be a post on your feed, or a comment on one of the utility company’s recent posts.
Step 5: Multiply your impact.
Now that you’ve taken action, increase your impact by talking about it!
📲 For an easy option, start with a social media post. Start from scratch, or repost from Climate Changemakers (@theclimatevote) with your own commentary on Instagram, BlueSky, or LinkedIn. You can do this in writing, or better yet, in a quick selfie video. The algorithms love video.
Whether you’re drafting from scratch or reposting with commentary, here’s an effective message arc:
🤓 What did you learn: I just learned that [insert most interesting factoid].
❤️🔥 Why do you care: This is really [emotional adjective like ‘exciting’ or ‘worrying’] because [why do you feel that way].
✅ What did you do: I just contacted my utility company [name] about this, which was honestly way less intimidating and way more empowering than I thought it would be.
❓ Invitation/Call to Action: If any of my people in [places where this is relevant] want to do this with me, here’s a step-by-step playbook: https://www.climatechangemakers.org/preview-utility-companies
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Take this step to the next level by reaching out to a friend who lives somewhere the utility company needs a nudge.
To make it as easy as possible for your friend, you can even “ghostwrite” for them. Just do this playbook again as if you were your friend and deliver them a ready-to-send email, phone number to call, and social media post to amplify. The more people get involved, the stronger the public pressure. The more targeted the public pressure, the more likely we are to succeed.
Step 6: Report back and follow up.
If you haven’t heard back in a week, follow up! A friendly nudge, just checking in that they received your correspondence, is totally appropriate and often appreciated.
If you receive a response, please share it with advocacy@climatechangemakers.org. You can simply forward email responses or send a screenshot. This enables us to more accurately track our collective impact.
👎 Did they seem skeptical? Anything you learn from your utility company’s response is valuable—including barriers to action. We’re trying to grease the wheels for deploying climate solutions, so the more we know, the more effective we can become as connectors and advocates.
👍 Did you get an enthusiastic response? Awesome! In addition to forwarding to advocacy@climatechangemakers.org, consider sharing your response publicly in our epic Slack #wins-shoutouts channel — other changemakers will find it motivating, inspiring more action-taking!
And that’s it, playbook complete! Feel accomplished.
Thank you for taking action.
🎉 CUE CONFETTI by clicking COMPLETE! 🎉
Want more action?
Go to the current Action Plan
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