POWERGRAMS

As the owner of 20 McDonald's restaurants in Alabama, CLP Corp. knows a thing or two about customer service. So when the CLP president praises the customer service his company receives from Alabama Power, it is high praise, indeed. "We are very pleased with the customer service we get from Alabama Power," Jim Black said. "I have one place to go if I have an issue or need, and it gets handled." CLP is one of thousands of general business customers who ranked Alabama Power the best among its peers in the 2014 Customer Value Benchmark study. Alabama Power took the overall No. 1 ranking and was No. 1 in both Large Business and General Business. What amounts to "customer service" can take many forms. When CLP was considering whether it wanted to go all- electric with its McDonald's, Black said Alabama Power employees helped make the assessment from a maintenance and reliability standpoint. "We were looking at M&R costs on gas versus electric, and Robert helped us evaluate the utility costs over time," Black said of Market Specialist Robert Smith, who works with CLP and other business customers. "Customer service is a promise that goes hand in hand with sales," Smith said. "If we respond to customers' issues in a timely manner and resolve their problems, that will lead to customer satisfaction. If, and when, that customer opens another location or has questions regarding their existing locations, they already know we will be there with them." Smith said businesses may have good or bad relationships with any number of their vendors, but Alabama Power should always fall in the "great" category without exception because of the necessity of the service the company provides. "We are all about building long-term trust and credibility," Smith said. "When we demonstrate to our customers we are there for them when they have a need, or just a question, we see that trust and credibility increase." Smith works closely with Alabama Power employees at the division and local levels to meet the needs of customers. Because they have a relationship with him, Smith said customers will call when they have a power outage, a pole needs replacing or other problems arise. That's fine, Smith said, because he and account managers know who to go to within Alabama Power to quickly come to a customer's aid. It is at the division level where the rubber meets the road at the individual business locations, he said. CLP has restaurants in metro Birmingham as well as in the Anniston, Oxford and Gadsden areas. Black said he likes being able to call Smith if there is an outage at any of the restaurants and have the confidence Smith will have service restored quickly. He said Smith regularly shares new technologies and usage tips to help save CLP money. . "When you are like us and you have multiple locations over a large geographic area, it's super important when you have that one stop you can go to," Black said. It's a sentiment that is, no doubt, repeated throughout Alabama Power's service territory that helped earn the top spot in the General Business rankings. Account managers take time to understand the different businesses they work with so they can help them use electricity in a cost-effective manner. Marketing Support Director Bill Jones said it's important that employees become allies that help businesses succeed. "Servicing our customers doesn't stop at the pole or the meter," Jones said. "Customer service is more like a partnership with that business to help them perform better and grow." Southern Company and all of its operating companies finished in the upper quartile for the 13th straight year of the CVB study. The annual study ranks Southern Company, its four operating companies and 16 peer companies based on customer interviews and survey data. The overall score and ranking is based on a straight average of the scores for each company on the Residential, General Business and Large Business customer segments. By Mike Tomberlin CLP is lovin' it! CUSTOMER SERVICE 4 A L A B A M A P OW E R E M P LOY E ES TA K E C A R E O F M C D O N A L D ' S

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