Intense competition in the utility industry has escalated the need for utilities to improve performance and enhance services in order to strengthen existing customer loyalty and attract new customers. Competitive pressures and demands for specialized services are compelling utilities to implement new and more innovative customer service programs.

Demand for customer care technology is growing in certain areas and stabilizing in others. What is driving this growing and renewed demand? This report but that a combination of factors is driving the demand that includes a renewed focus on the core utility business, preparation for the reporting requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and a desire by utilities for systems that are easier to use, offer improved functionality, integrate with other software applications, handle more complex rating structures, and offer multiple commodity billing.

This report examines a number of questions that arise from this trend: How is the drive toward improving customer satisfaction impacting the utility industry nationwide? What criteria define well-performing customer service programs and set it apart from its peers? Exactly how much control do utilities actually have over customer satisfaction?

This report offers an industry analysis and case studies that address these questions as well as other metrics related to utility customer satisfaction. Energy Business Reports interviewed industry experts and conducted research to reach its conclusions and offer recommendations on customer satisfaction issues. The report also draws information from a J.D. Power and Associates survey conducted in 2005 that has been influential in terms of ranking utilities’ performance standards and establishing the importance of customer satisfaction throughout the utility industry.



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Publication Date: September 2006
Publisher: Energy Business Reports