Vermont Business Magazine An increase in power outage information along with higher price satisfaction are the top drivers of the sixth consecutive year of improved customer satisfaction with residential electric utility companies, according to the JDPower 2017 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study,released today. Green Mountain power scored second highest in the East region for utilities its size.
"Green Mountain Power is excited to announce it has achieved the second highest score for mid-sized utilities in the East Region in JDPower’s 2017 electric utility residential customer satisfaction study. Companies in the midsize utility segment serve between 100,000 and 499,999 residential customers. Last year GMP achieved the top score in the study, demonstrating continued excellence,"said Kristin Carlson, GMPVice President Strategic & External Affairs.
"The report’s findings come directly from customers and reinforces what we hear from them everyday.Customer satisfaction is up, communication regarding outages, storms and system reliability are fast and effective, and technology is helping improve the customer experience even more with information going mobile.
"We are honored to receive a high ranking two years in a row, and are energized to continue our work to deliver clean, cost-effective and reliable power for customers as we partner on personalized energy transformation," she said.
“The utility industry has begun to fully understand the importance of customer satisfaction over the past several years, and now many have dedicated leaders and teams focused on improving the customer experience,” saidJohn Hazen, senior director of the energy practice at J.D. Power. “A challenge we continue to see, however, is that the pace of implementing satisfaction improvements at utilities can be slower than in other industries.”
Overall satisfaction averages 719 (on a 1,000-point scale) in 2017, a 39-point improvement from 2016. A 39-point increase in the power quality & reliability factor (767) and a 48-point increase in the price factor (659) are key contributors to the year-over-year improvement in overall satisfaction. Price satisfaction increases, as customers provide their utility with higher ratings for ease of understanding pricing, total monthly cost and fairness of pricing.
The study finds that more utility customers (66% vs. 59% in 2016) are getting critical information during a power outage, such as the cause of the outage, number of customers affected and estimates on when power will be restored. Overall satisfaction among customers who receive outage information is much higher than among those who do not receive such information (716 vs. 683, respectively).
Following are some of the key findings of the study:
- Customers believe their utility infrastructure is being updated: A larger percentage of customers in 2017 believe their utility is focused on improving the infrastructure to improve safety and reliability, compared with 2016 (68% vs. 63%, respectively).
- Electronic bill-pay is increasing: Utility messaging to encourage customers to move away from paying their bill with a check by mail has helped reduce mail payments by 3 percentage points year over year (17% vs. 20%, respectively).
- Paperless communications on the rise: Less than half (43%) of customers recall communications from their utility; however, the source of communications is changing across the industry. Year over year, paper bill insert recall has decreased to 33% from 36%, while there has been an increase in the number of customers going directly to the utility website (15% vs. 12% in 2016) and those who receive emails from their utility (25% vs. 21% in 2016).
- Website access is going mobile: More than one-third (35%) of customers are now accessing their utility’s website either by a mobile phone or by a tablet, which is a 15% increase from 2016.
Study Rankings
The Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study ranks midsize, large and cooperative utility companies in four geographic regions: East, Midwest, South and West. Companies in the midsize utility segment serve between 100,000 and 499,999 residential customers, while companies in the large utility segment serve 500,000 or more residential customers.
East Region
PPL Electric Utilitiesranks highest among large utilities in the East region for the sixth consecutive year, with a score of 739.Con Edison(735) ranks second, followed byPSE&G(727) andCentral Maine Power(720).
Among midsize utilities in the East region,Penn Powerranks highest with a score of 709.Green Mountain Power(707) ranks second, whileRochester Gas & Electric(704) ranks third andMet-Ed(701) ranks fourth.
Midwest Region
MidAmerican Energyranks highest in the large utility segment in the Midwest region for the 10th consecutive year, with a score of 742.DTE EnergyandOhio Edisontie for second (728 each), whileXcel Energy-Midwest(723) ranks fourth.
In the midsize utility segment in the Midwest region,Kentucky Utilitiesranks highest for the second consecutive year, with a score of 761.Louisville Gas & Electric(743) ranks second, followed byOtter Tail Power Company(734) in third andLincoln Electric System(725) in fourth.
South Region
Georgia Powerranks highest in the large utility segment in the South region with a score of 761.Florida Power & Light(757) ranks second, followed byAlabama Power(749) in third andEntergy Louisiana(745) in fourth.
EPBranks highest in the midsize utility segment in the South region for the second consecutive year, with a score of 761.Entergy Mississippi(757) ranks second, followed byGulf Power(749) in third andJEA(747) in fourth.
West Region
Salt River Project(SRP)ranks highest in the large utility segment in the West region for the 16th consecutive year, with a score of 775.SMUD(750) ranks second, followed byPortland General Electric(746) in third andSouthern California Edison(727) in fourth.
Clark Public Utilitiesranks highest in the midsize utility segment in the West region for the 10th consecutive year, with a score of 776.Idaho Power(743) ranks second, followedSeattle City Light(741) in third andColorado Springs Utilities(740) in fourth.
Cooperatives Segment
SECO Energyranks highest in the cooperatives segment with a score of 789.NOVEC(788) ranks second, followed bySawnee EMC(786) in third andSouthern Maryland Electric Cooperative(SMECO) andWalton EMCrank fourthin a tie (783 each).
The Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study,now in its 19th year, measures customer satisfaction with electric utility companies by examining six factors: power quality & reliability; price; billing & payment; corporate citizenship; communications; and customer service. The study is based on responses from 99,145 online interviews conducted from July 2016 through May 2017 among residential customers of the 138 largest electric utility brands across the United States, which collectively represent more than 98 million households.
J.D. Poweris a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. These capabilities enable J.D. Power to help its clients drive customer satisfaction, growth and profitability. Established in 1968, J.D. Power is headquartered in Costa Mesa, Calif., and has offices serving North/South America, Asia Pacific and Europe. J.D. Power is a portfolio company of XIO Group, a global alternative investments and private equity firm headquartered in London, and is led by its four founders: Athene Li, Joseph Pacini, Murphy Qiao and Carsten Geyer.
COSTA MESA, Calif.: 12 July 2017—www.jdpower.comFor more information about the Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study, visithttp://www.jdpower.com/resource/us-electric-utility-residential-customer-satisfaction-study.