Natural gas business customers express satisfaction

According to J. D. Power and Associates, we improved our service in the eyes of natural gas business customers over last year. The 680-point score is 61 points higher than last year, placing us in the second quartile in the Midwest region and nationally, and above the national average. We were in the fourth quartile regionally and nationally in 2011.

Our increase was surpassed by just two other utilities in the study – New Mexico Gas (up 90 points) and Kansas Gas (up 64 points). The national average was 674 points, an increase of 23 points from 2011.

Our top areas of performance included:

• Second-place tie nationally with 53 percent of customers saying they were not transferred when calling the company. We tied National Fuel Gas and were only one point behind the leader, Philadelphia Gas Works. 
• Third place for billing and payment in the Midwest Region. 
• Among national leaders for customers recalling they received communications from their utility. 
• Among national leaders for communicating specific high-value topics such as safety, reliability, corporate citizenship, environmental issues and system upgrades. 

Now in its seventh year, the J.D. Power study measures business customer satisfaction with gas utilities in East, Midwest, South and West regions. Satisfaction is measured by examining these factors:

• Billing and payment 
• Corporate citizenship 
• Price 
• Communications 
• Customer service 
• Field service