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J.D. Power and Associates Reports:
Customer Satisfaction Improves, Despite Electricity and Gas Price Increases

Scottish and Southern Energy Ranks Highest in Customer Satisfaction among Electricity Suppliers; British Gas Ranks Highest among Gas Suppliers

LONDON: 1 November 2005 — Utility providers have overcome the adverse impact of price increases to improve overall customer satisfaction, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2005 UK Electricity and Gas Supplier Customer Satisfaction Study^SM released today.

The study finds that by improving areas such as billing and payment and meter reading, satisfaction has increased among both electricity and gas consumers.

Despite well publicised price increases, one fifth of customers remain unaware of whether their supplier had increased prices in the past 12 months. Forty three per cent of customers said that their electricity provider had increased prices, while 48 per cent thought their gas charges had gone up. The average spent monthly for electricity increased by 5 per cent to £33.21, while expenditures on gas rose to £31.85—an increase of 7 per cent.

"One option utilities have offered customers to cap the cost of their energy supply is fixed price contracts that allow customers to pay a premium to guarantee that prices will not rise over a specified period of time," said Gunda Lapski, director of UK utilities studies at J.D. Power and Associates. "However, thus far, customers have not been heavily tempted by these contracts, which is a sign that utility customers don't yet feel overly concerned about increasing prices."

Approximately 20 per cent of electricity and gas customers said they were interested in such fixed-price contracts, with one-half of those interested prepared to change suppliers accordingly. Equally, more than one-half of those interested would be discouraged from signing up if faced with a penalty for early termination.

The study also finds that personal visits to customers remains the most effective way of getting people to change their electricity and gas supplier. Personal calls have been declining as a method of sales contact over the years, amounting to 42 per cent in the electricity industry and 47 per cent in the gas industry. Meanwhile, telephone sales calls have increased to 48 per cent for electricity and 42 per cent for gas. Nineteen per cent of electricity customers and 18 per cent of gas customers have changed suppliers as a result of a personal visit.

Scottish and Southern Energy ranks highest among electricity suppliers with an index score of 732 on a 1,000-point scale. Scottish and Southern Energy receives the highest ratings in power quality and reliability, price and value, billing and payment, meter reading, and customer service. EDF Energy is ranked second at 723 points and receives high ratings on image.

British Gas ranks highest among gas suppliers with an index score of 760 points. British Gas scores well on image and meter reading and shares high ratings with Scottish and Southern Energy on price and value. Scottish and Southern Energy is ranked second at 745 points with high ratings on customer service.

The 2005 UK Electricity and Gas Customer Satisfaction Study is based on 2,609 interviews with domestic electricity customers and 2,031 interviews with domestic gas customers throughout the UK.

About J.D. Power and Associates
The European headquarters of J.D. Power and Associates is located in Guildford, UK. With world headquarters in Westlake Village, California, U.S.A., J.D. Power and Associates is an ISO 9001-registered global marketing information services firm operating in key business sectors including market research, forecasting, consulting, training and customer satisfaction. The firm's quality and satisfaction measurements are based on responses from millions of consumers annually. J.D. Power and Associates is a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

About The McGraw-Hill Companies
Founded in 1888, The McGraw-Hill Companies is a leading global information services provider meeting worldwide needs in the financial services, education and business information markets through leading brands such as Standard & Poor's, McGraw-Hill Education and BusinessWeek. The Corporation has more than 300 offices in 40 countries. Sales in 2004 were $5.3 billion. Additional information is available at http://www.mcgraw-hill.com.

No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the information in this release without the express prior written consent of J.D. Power and Associates. www.jdpower.com

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