ComEd Mobile Customer Service Tools Recognized as Among Best in Industry by J.D. Power and Associates

CHICAGO, Oct. 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- ComEd is cited as an industry best practice for its mobile customer service tools, according to a recent report by J.D. Power and Associates. ComEd was one of only two utilities nationwide profiled in the report for its best practices in mobile customer interaction, including ComEd's interactive online outage map, two-way text messaging, smartphone apps, and mobile-enabled website.

J.D. Power's "Customer Impact Report: Mobile Customer Interaction," reveals more customers are using mobile tools to communicate with their utility company. The report says 7 percent of electric utility customers surveyed between July 2011 and June 2012 say they used their smartphone or tablet to email or go online to do business with their utility – even during a time period when most utilities did not have mobile-friendly tools. The report also notes that satisfaction scores are clearly higher among customers who use mobile channels than among customers who use email, traditional website, or none of the online channels.

"ComEd was one of the first utilities to deploy text messaging to its customers," the report states. "ComEd has developed its mobile program in conjunction with its social media strategy and, as the landscape for communications channels continues to evolve and change, has positioned itself to meet customer needs in the future."

"We understand the changing needs of our customers, and we see the value in giving them the choice of communicating with us how, when and where they want," said Val Jensen, senior vice president, Customer Operations, ComEd. "These new technologies provide better and faster information to our customers, and are all part of ComEd's efforts to deliver a premier customer experience."

To date, more than 90,000 customers have signed up for ComEd's text messaging service. Also, customers have completed nearly 14,000 downloads of the smart phone app, and the mobile-enabled website generates more than 800,000 annual visits. ComEd was also the first utility to offer customers the option of reporting an outage through Facebook.

To download the free mobile app, customers can visit ComEd.com/app or search "ComEd" in their smartphone's application store. To sign up for two-way texting, please visit ComEd.com.

Commonwealth Edison Company (ComEd) is a unit of Chicago-based Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), the nation's leading competitive energy provider, with approximately 6.6 million customers. ComEd provides service to approximately 3.8 million customers across northern Illinois, or 70 percent of the state's population.

SOURCE ComEd