BOULDER, CO — (Marketwired) — 10/09/13 — The E Source Gap and Priority Benchmark 2013, which is celebrating its fifth year, again identified reliability as what large business customers consider the most important utility attribute. This annual survey seeks to identify the top priorities for outstanding customer service to utility key accounts, and to gauge how close utilities get to meeting those expectations. The results are based on survey responses from more than 1,000 US large business customers of 18 utilities.
Top honors in large business customer satisfaction went to:
1. City of Palo Alto Utilities
2. Florida Power & Light Co.
3. Silicon Valley Power
These three utilities have consistently received high marks in each year of the study. They–ve also demonstrated continued refinement by consistently improving their scores in important areas.
City of Palo Alto Utilities– top rating in the study reflects its superb delivery in a number of key areas. Its scores for satisfaction with the utility–s account management team as well as with the utility itself were at or near the top of the field. The utility–s emergency communications ratings — having climbed steadily over the past four years — were among the best. “Our goal is to provide outstanding value and reliable service. Our key account representatives work hard to deliver personalized assistance to their customers and to add value to their businesses,” says Utilities Director Valerie Fong. “So it–s very gratifying to see that our customers feel that we–re achieving our goal.”
Florida Power & Light Co.–s large business customers gave both the utility and its account management team high scores across the board. Account managers earned especially high scores for integrity, and the utility excelled in terms of providing reliable power and communicating well during emergencies.
Silicon Valley Power ranked highly in areas related to the business relationships it has with customers. The sense that the utility is trustworthy has climbed steadily over the five years that E Source has conducted this study. It–s now Silicon Valley Power–s second strongest attribute, after delivering reliable power.
“In the five years that we–ve conducted the Large Business Gap and Priority Benchmark, we–ve been able to positively influence customer satisfaction trends and warn utilities before important areas slip too far,” says Chad Garrett, manager of E Source Customer Experience and Marketing Services. “We take pride in helping utilities focus on the areas that will have the largest impact on large business customer satisfaction.”
Market Research Manager Rachel Cooper explains, “Three service items are consistently rated by customers as the most important things for utilities to deliver: reliable energy, keeping prices down, and emergency communications. Having a utility that–s trustworthy is also extremely important for these customers, and it–s been shown to be a primary driver of customer satisfaction.”
Across the industry, utilities are furthest from meeting customer expectations when it comes to working to keep energy prices down and effectively communicating about emergencies. For more information, please visit .
For 25 years, E Source has been providing unbiased, objective research and advisory services to over 300 utilities and large energy users. Our energy experts have answered more than 8,000 questions over the past 3 years. This guidance helps our customers advance their efficiency programs, enhance customer relationships, and use energy more efficiently.
Kym Wootton
Senior Manager of Marketing & Communications
E Source
303-345-9168