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Electric Utilities' Good Deeds Pay off during Pandemic, J.D. Power Finds

Dec. 18, 2020
Open, frequent communication about policies and assistance programs has proven to be key in maintaining high customer satisfaction.

Overall, electric utility residential customer satisfaction for the industry is high, especially for customers that are aware of payment deferment and other good deeds offered by their utility during the pandemic, according to the recently released J.D. Power 2020 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study.

Open and frequent communication about policies and assistance programs has proven to be key in maintaining high customer satisfaction, especially during the pandemic. Satisfaction among customers who are aware of assistance programs during the pandemic is 795 (on a 1000-point scale) versus 719 among those customers who were not aware.

"These satisfaction scores are evidence that kindness and being a good corporate citizen during challenging times is worth all the effort and communication that goes with it," said John Hazen, managing director of utilities intelligence at J.D. Power. "A challenge will come in 2021 as electric utility providers go back to business as usual and continue collections and shut-offs. The way to maintain higher satisfaction will be to continue to communicate when these changes will occur and provide excellent service."

Study results

  • East Large Segment: PPL Electric Utilities (for a ninth consecutive year)
  • East Midsize Segment: Rochester Gas & Electric
  • Midwest Large Segment: MidAmerican Energy (for a 13th consecutive year)
  • Midwest Midsize Segment: Kentucky Utilities (for a fifth consecutive year)
  • South Large Segment: Florida Power & Light
  • South Midsize Segment: EPB (for a fifth consecutive year)
  • West Large Segment: SRP (for a 19th consecutive year)
  • West Midsize Segment: Clark Public Utilities (for a 13th consecutive year)
  • Cooperatives Segment: Sawnee EMC

The rank charts for each segment are available here.

The 2020 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 96,546 online interviews conducted from January through November 2020 among residential customers of the 143 largest electric utility brands across the United States, which represent more than 102 million households.

For more information about the Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study, visit here.

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