Georgia Power and Florida Power & Light rank first in customer service

Georgia Power and Florida Power & Light provide the best customer experience in the utilities industry, according to a new survey.

In the 2018 Temkin Experience Ratings, an annual customer experience survey of some 10,000 U.S. consumers, Georgia Power and Florida Power & Light tied for the top spot in the utilities industry with a score of 75 percent. Southern California Gas Company was a close second with a score of 74 percent.

This is the second year in a row, and third out of the last four, that Georgia Power received the highest rating in the industry. It also achieved the highest score in 2017 and 2015. Florida Power & Light took top honor in 2016.

Alabama Power Company finished third at 70 percent, followed by Commonwealth Edison (69 percent), and San Diego Gas & Electric (66 percent). TXU Energy, Ameren Illinois Company, and Duke Energy Progress tied at 65 percent. PSE&G, CenterPoint Energy, Southern California Edison, Ameren Missouri Company, and Baltimore Gas and Electric tied at 64 percent, with Atmos Energy Services and Consumers Energy Company tying at 62 percent. The survey ranking list was rounded out by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (61 percent), Arizona Public Service Company (60 percent), Consolidated Edison Company of New York (58 percent), and Appalachian Power Company (55 percent).

Consumers Energy Company’s customer experience score improved the most, jumping four percentage-points. TXU Energy’s score dropped the most, falling by 10 points.

The Temkin Experience Ratings looks at customer experience across 20 industries: airlines, auto dealers, banks, computer & tablet makers, credit card issuers, fast food chains, health plans, hotels & rooms, insurance carriers, investment firms, parcel delivery services, rental cars & transport, retailers, software firms, streaming media, supermarket chains, TV & appliance makers, TV/Internet service providers, utilities, and wireless carriers.

Temkin evaluates experiences on the success the customer had in its interaction with the company, the effort the company showed in helping them, and how they felt about the interaction. A score of 70 percent or more is considered good, while a score of 80 percent or more is considered excellent. A score below 60 percent is poor, and from 60 – 70 percent is average.

Overall, the utilities industry averaged a 65 percent rating, placing it in a tie for 15th place out of 20 industries.

“Utilities need to act less like monopolies, and more like competitive entities that must earn customer loyalty, so that they’ll embed CX improvements into their operating fabric,” Bruce Temkin, managing partner of Temkin Group, said.

Georgia Power and Florida Power & Light placed 65th out of 318 companies across 20 industries. Southern California Gas ranked 85th overall.