For utility companies, a website is more than just an information hub - it’s an essential service channel for customers to pay bills, report outages, and access critical updates. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), these online services must be accessible to individuals with disabilities, including those who use assistive technologies like screen readers or voice navigation tools.
Failing to meet ADA requirements doesn’t just risk lawsuits and regulatory penalties - it can also prevent customers from managing their utility accounts independently, damaging trust and creating unnecessary barriers. Utility companies should strive to meet the latest standards for accessibility so that all visitors to their websites can use them. At Inclind, we offer website accessibility services to ensure that your website not only complies with federal law but also vastly improves usability for your entire user base.
Our team of award-winning website designers and developers works with clients across many sectors, including public utilities. We specialize in building smart, secure websites that meet the latest guidelines for accessibility. We can perform an accessibility audit on your website and then update it to ensure that it is compliant. To learn more about our website design, development, and support services for utility companies, reach out today to talk to our team.
Does the ADA Apply to Websites?
Many Americans have a broad understanding of the Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA. It is the reason why sidewalks have curb cuts and ramps and why there are larger bathroom stalls in public restrooms. Making public accommodations and commercial facilities accessible with these types of changes is critical to eliminating discrimination against people with disabilities.
It is easy to comprehend how these types of physical modifications help people with disabilities. What many people may not realize is that the internet also presents accessibility issues. For this reason, the ADA requires websites to be accessible.
Web accessibility means that a website has certain features that make it possible for everyone to access the information, regardless of their abilities. While it may seem like an onerous requirement, it is an important way to achieve equal access. Think of it this way: if the average person uses the internet to pay their bills, shop for goods, or learn information, it is only fair that everyone can access this information.
Consider a person who is legally blind. They use a variety of adaptive tools, such as screen readers, to use the internet. They want to set up account access for their electric service. However, if the electric company’s website isn’t properly set up, its screen reader will not function, and the person will be unable to use the website for account access or any other purpose. This is a form of discrimination because it prevents people with certain disabilities from using the website. If a website isn’t accessible, then entire groups of people cannot use it.
Web accessibility is required under federal law and under the laws of many states. If your website isn’t accessible, then you could face legal consequences. This may include fines or even lawsuits. But even if you never face any legal ramifications for inaccessibility, it is still a good idea to build an accessible utility company website to better serve all of your customers.
At its core, web accessibility is about making small changes to your website that make it easier for everyone to use it. This means that more people will be able to use your website, which is a key goal in any digital strategy. It can often lead to greater success in achieving organizational growth goals.
For example, you might add an app that allows visitors to change the size of the text. This feature is helpful for people with limited vision. It can also help any older website users who may have trouble reading small text. Even if no one with a vision disability ever uses your website, it is still an incredibly useful feature to have.
At the end of the day, web accessibility is simply a good practice. It means complying with the law and reducing the risk of a lawsuit. It can also increase usability and organic visibility, which may result in greater profits.
Making Your Utility Company Website ADA Compliant
Under Title III of the ADA, any business that is open to the public must comply with the ADA. Title II of the ADA imposes the same requirement on state and local governments. Whether your utility company is public or private, it is subject to ADA requirements for accessibility.
The federal government does not have specific guidance about how a website should be made accessible. Instead, there is a more general rule that both businesses and government agencies must make their websites accessible to people with disabilities.
This lack of ADA standards can make it hard to know exactly what you should do to make your utility company website accessible. There are multiple technical standards that can be used for website accessibility guidance. This includes the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the Section 508 Standards. These technical standards include guidance that falls into four broad areas: perceivable, operable, understandable, and robust.
Perceivable
Perceivable means that both the information and the user interface components are presented in a way that users can perceive. This may include:
- Providing text alternatives for content that doesn’t include text so that it can be changed into other forms (such as captions for videos or alt text on images)
- Using audio descriptions or media alternatives for video content
- Creating content that can be presented in different ways without losing information or structure
- Allowing content to be changed to a different display orientation (i.e., from portrait to landscape)
- Avoiding the use of shape or color as the only visual way of conveying information
- Adding a stop or pause button for any content that auto-plays for more than 3 seconds
- Using high contrast colors (for example, black text on a white background instead of gray text on a light blue background)
- Giving the option to resize text or enhance contrast
- Allowing text to be resized up to 200% without loss of content or functionality.
Broadly, to make a website perceivable, it should include text alternatives, options for time-based media, the ability to be adaptable, and web content that is distinguishable.
Operable
Operable means that both user interface components and navigation are operable. This may include:
- Making all functionality operable through a keyboard (instead of exclusively through a mouse, such as by allowing users to hit enter to “click” on a button).
- Making sure that timing is not an essential part of an event or activity presented by the content (i.e., a user has to click quickly to access the content)
- Giving the option to pause, stop, or hide moving, blinking, scrolling, or auto-updating information
- Warning users of time-outs due to inactivity
- Giving the ability to disable motion animation that is triggered by interaction
- Using titles for all pages that describe that page’s topic or purpose, plus adding headings and labels
- Making sure that the purpose of a link can be identified from the link text alone
- Meeting the minimum size for targets for pointer inputs (i.e., not having tiny buttons that may be hard to click.
The operability of a website includes making sure that it is keyboard accessible, that users have enough time to access the content, avoiding content that could trigger seizures or physical reactions, ensuring that the content is navigable, and making sure that people have options for inputting information.
Understandable
Understandable means that the information and operation of the user interface must be understandable. This includes:
- The language of each page can be determined using a program
- Offering a way to identify specific definitions of words or phrases that are used in an unusual way
- Providing a way to identify abbreviations
- Offering supplemental content for text that requires more advanced reading levels
- Providing a way to identify the pronunciation of words when it is necessary for context and understanding
- Using consistent navigational mechanisms
- Identifying input errors for users
- Including labels or instructions when content requires user input
- Ensuring that any authentication processes are accessible (i.e, offering to read aloud a sequence of letters and numbers as an alternative to reading them)
Broadly, this category is designed to ensure that websites are readable and predictable. It also includes guidance on offering assistance on anything that a user must input (such as information into a form).
Robust
Robust means that the content can be interpreted by awide variety of user agents, such as assistive technologies. Essentially, this means making sure that the content can be programmatically determined.
Basic Ways To Improve Accessibility For Your Utility Company Website
These technical guidelines are incredibly technical. For the average person, it may not be clear what can be done to make a website accessible. These are some examples of common ways to implement web accessibility:
- Enable keyboard navigation so that a user can tab between spaces on a form (for example) or hit enter to input information
- Use descriptive text for links, such as a button that says “Log In” instead of “Click Here.”
- Choose accessible fonts. For example, a basic font like Arial is easier to decipher than a cursive font.
- Use alt text for images. If you use a graphic to convey information, make sure that the text is included in alt text or a caption so that users can access it.
- Provide transcripts for any audio and/or video content.
Keep in mind that even if you never face any legal peril for an inaccessible website, these practices make good sense from a business perspective. Many people strongly prefer clean, easy-to-navigate websites - and implementing web accessibility guidelines will make your website very user-friendly. Implementing these changes can take time and technical skill, but it will ultimately result in a far better website.
Inclind offers accessibility audits to help utility companies and other clients determine what their websites might need to comply with the ADA. Once we have identified areas to improve, we can implement changes to increase accessibility and improve both design and functionality. Our team can even do custom integrations to add tools that make your website accessible and user-friendly.
Make Your Utility Site More Accessible With Inclind
Web accessibility is a legal obligation, but it also represents a chance to change your website for the better. Having an accessible utility company website means that more customers will be able to use your website to pay their bills, get customer service, and learn about their options. Inclind can help you figure out where your website can improve in terms of accessibility, and then make those changes for you.
Inclind helps utility companies and other clients build smart, effective websites. We offer a comprehensive suite of web development and design services, including accessibility audits, support and maintenance, site redesigns, and conversion optimization. Our goal is to help you develop a smart digital strategy with a focus on long-term, sustainable growth.
We're available if you’d like to learn more about our accessibility compliance and other website development services for utility companies. You can fill out our online contact form, call us at 800-604-8139, or hit the live chat button to talk to one of our experts about your website.