J.D. Power ranks Gulf Power in top 3 for customer satisfaction

PENSACOLA — Gulf Power ranks among the highest performers in customer satisfaction among electric utilities, according to a recent J.D. Power survey of electric utility customers.

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"This ranking reflects the dedication of our team and the benefits of continued investment in our grid infrastructure to deliver reliable energy to Northwest Florida communities," said Stan Connally, chair, president and CEO of Gulf Power. "We are honored by this feedback and ranking, but we will also identify ways to better serve our customers."

The Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study, now in its 19th year, ranks customers' opinions in six categories from power quality and reliability, price, and billing and payment, to corporate citizenship, communications and customer service.

JD Power calculated customer satisfaction on a 1,000-point scale with the average score at 719. Gulf Power earned a score of 749, raising the energy company from fourth place in its category a year ago.

The study showed that an increase in power outage communication, along with improved price satisfaction, were top drivers of the sixth consecutive year of improved customer satisfaction with residential electric utility companies.

The study goes on to show that more utility customers (66 percent vs. 59 percent in 2016) are receiving critical information during a power outage, such as the cause of the outage, number of customers affected and estimates on when power will be restored.

Other key findings included that customers believe their utility infrastructure is being updated, electronic bill-pay is increasing, paperless communications are on the rise and website access is going mobile.

Last October, Gulf Power rolled out "Service to Fit Your Life," a program aimed at improving the customer experience, including additional customer-focused initiatives, such as a new website, improved mobile platforms, "live chat" as well as making it more convenient for customers to pay their energy bill at one of more than 200 authorized payment locations across Northwest Florida. Gulf Power also offers payment options like budget billing, which smoothes out customer payments by using a 12-month average that helps customers avoid the higher bills that come from extreme weather months.

The J.D. Power 2017 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study focuses on responses from 99,145 online interviews conducted from July 2016 through May 2017 among residential customers of the 138 largest electric utility brands across the United States, which collectively represent more than 98 million households.

Gulf Power garnered the eighth spot from a pool of 100 investor-owned utilities evaluated across the country by the

Wired Group  and second place in Florida. The Colorado-based consulting firm used an internet-based Utility Evaluator that calculates customer value rankings based on a variety of metrics, including efficiency of spending on capital investments, operations and maintenance, reliability and satisfaction ratings.

The energy company was also recently named as one of the

Top 40 Utility Power Brands for 2017. Gulf Power ranked in the top five, garnering the No. 4 spot as one of the best investor-owned electric utility brands. The ranking was a result of a comprehensive investigation of more than 200 measures of utility brand strength, categorized among four dimensions: customer experience, employee experience, brand identity and corporate narrative.

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This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: J.D. Power ranks Gulf Power in top 3 for customer satisfaction