Survey sees big gains for NV Energy in customer satisfaction
A new customer-service study shows big gains in business satisfaction with a major local utility.
NV Energy boosted its customer satisfaction among business clients by 24 points compared with a year ago in a new J.D. Power and Associates ranking of electric utilities.
The company gained 24 points, for a total of 649 points, on an index that measures six factors that drive customer satisfaction with utilities.
NV Energy didn’t comment by press time.
But Andrew Heath, senior director of J.D. Power’s energy practice, called the big jump “unusual.”
“It’s certainly something the team at NV Energy should be proud of achieving,” Heath said.
NV Energy improved in all six areas, which are power quality and reliability; billing and payment; corporate citizenship; price; communications; and customer service. The utility made the most progress in power quality and reliability and corporate citizenship.
The company improved on price rankings although J.D. Power conducted its survey from April to June, and from September to December — both periods when the company’s request for increased general rates were a hot topic in the local news.
Heath said rate increases don’t hurt price ratings if customers feel the increases were appropriate. Also, Southern Nevada’s mild summer likely meant lower power bills for businesses, and that could have boosted the company’s price rating.
The Public Utilities Commission of Nevada approved a 2.7 percent increase across all customer classes in December. The rates took effect Jan. 1.
The J.D. Power average among other large utilities in the West region was 665. Salt River Project in Arizona ranked first, with 741 points. The Los Angeles Department of Water & Power ranked last with 626 points.
The report also found that 16 percent of business customers have a smart meter installed at their workplace. Satisfaction among customers with smart meters averaged 85 points higher than averages among businesses without smart meters.
NV Energy has nearly wrapped up on its installation of residential smart meters in Southern Nevada. It began installing about 110,000 commercial smart meters in January.
Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at
jrobison@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512.
