J.D. Power and Associates Reports: Overall Satisfaction With Electric Utility Providers Increases Substantially Among Business Customers

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Business customers of electric utility providers are considerably more satisfied in 2010, compared with 2009, due to marked improvements in corporate citizenship and power quality and reliability, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study(SM) released today.

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The study is based on interviews with representatives of more than 16,000 U.S. businesses that spend between $500 and $50,000 monthly on electricity.  More than 90 utility brands serving a total of more than 11.7 million business customers are included in the study. Overall customer satisfaction is measured by examining six factors: power quality and reliability; billing and payment; corporate citizenship; price; communications; and customer service.  

Overall satisfaction averages 646 on a 1,000-point scale in 2010—an increase of 29 points from 2009. Each of the factors included in the study has increased from 2009, with the largest gains occurring in the corporate citizenship factor (which increases by 31 points) and the power quality and reliability factor (which improves by 29 points).

"Electric utilities are doing a particularly good job of raising awareness of their new conservation and efficiency programs, which resonates with cost-conscious business customers," said Alan Destribats, vice president of the energy utility practice at J.D. Power and Associates.

The study finds that business customers increasingly rely on their utility Web sites for information, with 46 percent of customers who say they use their utility Web site in 2010, compared with 38 percent in 2009. In addition, those business customers who visited the utility's Web site one or more times are considerably more satisfied overall (673, on average) than customers who never visited the utility's Web site (625, on average).

The study also finds that utilities may be able to mitigate low satisfaction levels due to outages by providing comprehensive outage information. Among business customers who called their utility to report an outage, those who received four or more pieces of outage information are nearly as satisfied overall as those who never experienced an outage.

"By proactively communicating about corporate citizenship initiatives and power outage information, electric utilities are providing additional value to their business customers, to which those customers are responding positively," said Destribats. "As utility Web site usage continues to grow among business customers, Web sites will become an increasingly important tool in these communication efforts."

Within each geographic region included in the study, utility providers are classified into one of two segments: large (serving 85,000 or more business customers) and midsize (serving between 29,000 and 84,999 business customers). Rankings within each region and segment are as follows:

East Region

PPL Electric Utilities ranks highest among large electric utility providers in the East Region. Among midsize electric utilities in the East Region, Duquesne Light ranks highest.

Midwest Region

In the Midwest Region, KCP&L ranks highest among large electric utilities, while Kentucky Utilities ranks highest among midsize brands.

South Region

Progress Energy Carolinas ranks highest among large utilities in the South Region and receives an award for a second consecutive year. Among midsize electric utilities in the South Region, Austin Energy and CPS Energy rank highest, in a tie.

West Region

Salt River Project ranks highest among large electric utilities in the West Region, while Sacramento Municipal Utility District ranks highest among midsize electric utility providers.

The 2010 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 16,630 online interviews among business customers of the 97 largest utility brands across the United States. The study was fielded from April to June 2009 and September to December 2009. For more information on electric utility ratings, please visit JDPower.com.

    
    
    Customer Satisfaction Index Scores
    (Based on a 1,000-point scale)
    
    East Region: Large Segment
    PPL Electric Utilities                  667
    Public Service Electric and Gas         645
    NSTAR Electric                          638
    Appalachian Power                       636
    Jersey Central Power & Light            622
    East Region Large Segment Average       621
    PECO Energy                             614
    Allegheny Power                         611
    Con Edison Company of New York          611
    Connecticut Light and Power             609
    National Grid                           605
    Baltimore Gas and Electric              603
    New York State Electric & Gas           603
    Long Island Power Authority             601
    
    East Region: Midsize Segment
    Duquesne Light                          652
    Penelec                                 650
    Rochester Gas & Electric                645
    Central Maine Power                     642
    Public Service of New Hampshire         628
    East Region Midsize Segment Average     628
    Delmarva Power                          623
    Pepco                                   618
    Atlantic City Electric                  615
    Met-Ed                                  609
    Included in the study, but not ranked due to small sample size are: 
     Central Hudson Gas & Electric; Orange & Rockland; and United Illuminating. 
    
    Midwest Region: Large Segment
    KCP&L                                   673
    Xcel Energy-Midwest                     666
    Alliant Energy                          663
    We Energies                             662
    AEP Ohio                                648
    AmerenUE                                635
    Duke Energy - Midwest                   633
    Detroit Edison                          632
    Midwest Region Large Segment Average    632
    Ohio Edison                             616
    Consumers Energy                        610
    ComEd                                   607
    Ameren Illinois Utilities               595
    
    Midwest Region: Midsize Segment
    Kentucky Utilities                      710
    MidAmerican Energy                      702
    Wisconsin Public Service                698
    Omaha Public Power District             683
    Indianapolis Power & Light              671
    Indiana Michigan Power                  655
    Midwest Region Midsize Segment Average  653
    Louisville Gas and Electric             651
    Westar Energy                           650
    The Illuminating Company                608
    Dayton Power & Light                    605
    NIPSCO                                  566
    Included in the study, but not ranked due to small sample size are: 
     Kentucky Power and Toledo Edison.
    
    South Region: Large Segment
    Progress Energy Carolinas               704
    Alabama Power                           688
    South Carolina Electric & Gas           688
    Duke Energy - Carolinas                 684
    Georgia Power                           669
    South Region Large Segment Average      662
    Entergy Louisiana                       647
    Florida Power & Light                   647
    Dominion Virginia Power                 636
    Progress Energy Florida                 622
    Entergy Arkansas                        619
    
    South Region: Midsize Segment
    Austin Energy                           682
    CPS Energy                              682
    Orlando Utilities Commission            677
    JEA                                     668
    Tampa Electric                          668
    Entergy Texas                           662
    South Region Midsize Segment Average    662
    Gulf Power                              656
    Oklahoma Gas and Electric               656
    Memphis Light, Gas & Water              573
    Included in the study, but not ranked due to small sample size are: 
     Entergy Mississippi; Mississippi Power; Nashville Electric; Public 
     Service Co. of Oklahoma; Santee Cooper; Southwestern Electric Power;
     and Xcel Energy-South.
    
    West Region: Large Segment
    Salt River Project                      686
    Pacific Power                           684
    Portland General Electric               678
    Southern California Edison              673
    APS                                     669
    San Diego Gas & Electric                663
    L.A. Dept. of Water and Power           659
    West Region Large Segment Average       658
    Puget Sound Energy                      647
    Xcel Energy-West                        646
    Pacific Gas and Electric                644
    NV Energy                               636
    Rocky Mountain Power                    630
    
    West Region: Midsize Segment
    Sacramento Municipal Utility District   706
    Tucson Electric Power                   688
    West Region Midsize Segment Average     664
    Seattle City Light                      658
    Avista                                  650
    PNM                                     633
    NorthWestern Energy                     632
    Included in the study, but not ranked due to small sample size are:
     El Paso Electric; Idaho Power; and Snohomish County PUD.
    

About J.D. Power and Associates

Headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., J.D. Power and Associates is a global marketing information services company operating in key business sectors including market research, forecasting, performance improvement, Web intelligence and customer satisfaction.  The company's quality and satisfaction measurements are based on responses from millions of consumers annually.  For more information on 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, Platts, Capital IQ, J.D. Power and Associates, McGraw-Hill Construction and Aviation Week. The Corporation has more than 280 offices in 40 countries. Sales in 2008 were $6.4 billion. Additional information is available at www.mcgraw-hill.com. 

Media Relations Contacts:

Jeff Perlman; Brandware Public Relations: Westlake Village, Calif.; (818) 317-3070; [email protected]

John Tews; J.D. Power and Associates; Troy, Mich.; (248) 312-4119; [email protected]

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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Al Destribats

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SOURCE J.D. Power and Associates