POWERGRAMS

Company's satisfaction score second-highest in the South Alabama Power is second in the South in the J.D. Power 2015 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study, charting one of the nation's highest scores. "It takes all 6,800 employees' commitment to excellence for Alabama Power to consistently receive recognition from customer satisfaction studies," said Customer Services Vice President Bob Weaver. "We are continuing our focus on working together as a team to keep the customer at the center of all we do." Alabama Power's score for utilities serving at least 500,000 residential customers would have placed first in the East or Midwest regions. "Utility companies are doing a better job at the fundamentals – minimizing service interruptions, communicating with customers and improving customer service," said John Hazen, senior director of the energy practice at J.D. Power. "Proactive communication during power outages remains a challenge, suggesting that utilities should focus on improving in this area." The study, now in its 17th year, measures customer satisfaction by examining six factors: power quality and reliability; price; billing and payment; corporate citizenship; communications; and customer service. Satisfaction is calculated on a 1,000-point scale. Oklahoma Gas & Electric took first place in the South, scoring 710 points, followed by Alabama Power (707), Georgia Power (705), CPS Energy (700), Entergy Arkansas (692), Dominion Virginia Power (684) and Entergy Louisiana (682). "There is no doubt we are well on our way to ensuring loyal customers for a lifetime," said Weaver. "At the end of the day, it is our customers who benefit from our employees' emphasis on providing superior customer service." Overall satisfaction for utilities averaged 668 points in 2015, a 21-point improvement from 2014, said Hazen. A 33-point increase in communications (625) and a 35-point improvement in price (595) are key contributors to the year-over-year improvement. The study found that utility companies are providing critical information during power outages, such as the cause of the outage, the number of customers impacted and more accurate estimates on restorations. However, proactive communications (when a utility calls, emails or sends a text message) are only reaching 7.3 percent of customers. The 2015 study is based on responses from 102,525 online interviews conducted from July 2014 through May 2015 among residential customers of the 140 largest electric utilities, which collectively serve about 100 million households. Headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., J.D. Power is a global marketing information services company providing performance improvement, social media and customer satisfaction insights and solutions. HONORS 3 J.D. Power and Associates ranks Alabama Power second for residential customer service among large utilities.

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