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Westlake Village, CA
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Angela Bianchi
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J.D. Power and Associates Reports:
Satisfaction of Business Customers with Electric Utilities Continues to Climb to a New High Due to Improvements in Customer Care
CPS Energy, E.ON U.S, MidAmerican Energy, PPL Electric Utilities and Sacramento Municipal Utility District Lead Regional Business Customer Satisfaction Rankings
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif.: 21 February 2008 — Continuing a steady upward trend since 2004, business customer satisfaction with electric utility providers has reached record high levels, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction StudySM released today. The study’s nationwide customer satisfaction index has increased from 690 points on a 1,000-point scale in 2007 to 697 in 2008.
The study is based on interviews with representatives of more than 13,500 U.S. businesses that spend between $500 and $50,000 monthly on electricity. Overall customer satisfaction is measured through six factors: power quality and reliability; customer service; company image; billing and payment; price; and communications. Businesses served by the 58 largest electric utilities in the United States report improvements in four of the six factors in 2008, with customer service and billing and payment factors registering the largest increases. Ratings for power quality and reliability and communications factors have also increased, while company image and price ratings have remained flat.
“Across the industry, utilities have made substantial gains in customer service and billing,” said Alan Destribats, vice president of the energy utility practice at J.D. Power and Associates. “For example, providing a wide variety of payment options, giving customers electronic copies of billing statements and making customer service available 24 hours a day through utility Web sites are all particularly satisfying to business customers.”
East Region
PPL Electric Utilities is the highest-ranking electric utility in the East Region with an overall customer satisfaction index score of 710. PPL has ranked highest in the region for seven of the past nine years. Other strong performers are Public Service Electric and Gas, FirstEnergy–East, Allegheny Power and Con Edison.
Midwest Region
For a second consecutive year, E.ON U.S. and MidAmerican Energy rank highest in a tie in the Midwest Region, each with an overall score of 728. Other utilities in the region with strong performances include Aquila, Consumers Energy and Xcel Energy–Midwest.
South Region
CPS Energy improves by 40 points and ranks highest with a score of 748. 2008 marks the first time that CPS Energy has ranked highest in the region. Other utilities with strong performances in the South Region include South Carolina Electric & Gas, Southern Company, Progress Energy and Tampa Electric.
West Region
Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) ranks highest in the West Region for a second consecutive year, achieving a score of 777. Other utilities performing particularly well in the region include L.A. Department of Water and Power, Salt River Project, Pacific Gas and Electric and Portland General Electric.
“Sacramento Municipal Utility District not only ranks highest in the West Region, but also earns the highest score of all the utility companies in the 2008 study, improving by 15 points since 2007,” said Destribats. “In addition, SMUD leads the study in several key performance areas, with business customers reporting particularly high rates of outage call-backs, receipt of electronic billing statements, contact with members of the utility’s senior management and awareness of SMUD’s energy conservation and efficiency programs.”
The study results include the following key findings:- Business customers report experiencing slightly fewer outages in the 2008 study (5.7, on average) compared with the 2007 study (5.8). The average length of power outages decreased from 8.8 hours in the 2007 study to 7.9 hours in the 2008 study.
- The percentage of businesses that report visiting their utility’s Web site in the past 12 months has increased from 37 percent in the 2007 study to 52 percent in the 2008 study. In addition, the number of businesses that typically pay their bill online has increased from 12 percent to 14 percent within the past year.
- Approximately 37 percent of business customers report being aware of their utility’s energy conservation and efficiency programs. Customer awareness of a utility’s community outreach or conservation activities raised overall satisfaction by as much as 108 index points in the 2008 study.
About J.D. Power and Associates
Headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., J.D. Power and Associates is a global marketing information services firm operating in key business sectors including market research, forecasting, performance improvement, training and customer satisfaction. The firm’s quality and satisfaction measurements are based on responses from millions of consumers annually. For more information on boat ratings, car reviews and ratings, car insurance, health insurance, cell phone ratings, and more, please visit JDPower.com. 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 (NYSE: MHP) 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, BusinessWeek and J.D. Power and Associates. The Corporation has more than 280 offices in 40 countries. Sales in 2007 were $6.8 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/corporate
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What does J.D. Power and Associates do?J.D. Power and Associates' research, consulting, and performance improvement services are used by a variety of industries to improve product quality and customer satisfaction. The firm's research is based solely on responses from millions of consumers and business customers worldwide. Product and service rankings that result from this research reflect the opinions of consumers and business customers-not the opinion of J.D. Power and Associates. Rankings are derived from nationally syndicated studies that serve as industry benchmarks for measuring and tracking quality and customer satisfaction. J.D. Power and Associates conducts the research, publicly announces the results, and then offers analysis based on consumer feedback to product and service providers to help them improve their businesses.
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