Electric Utilities’ Good Deeds—and Communication about Them—Pay Off During Pandemic, J.D. Power Finds

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 J.D. Power 2020 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study,SM released today. 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 1,000-point scale) vs. 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. “The 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

See the rank charts for each segment at http://www.jdpower.com/pr-id/2020169.

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 https://www.jdpower.com/business/resource/electric-utility-residential-customer-satisfaction-study.

J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. A pioneer in the use of big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic modeling capabilities to understand consumer behavior, J.D. Power has been delivering incisive industry intelligence on customer interactions with brands and products for more than 50 years. The world's leading businesses across major industries rely on J.D. Power to guide their customer-facing strategies.

J.D. Power is headquartered in Troy, Mich., and has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more about the company’s business offerings, visit JDPower.com/business. The J.D. Power auto shopping tool can be found at JDPower.com.

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