Santee Cooper Ranked Highest in Customer Satisfaction Among Midsize Utilities in the South by J.D. Power and Associates
July 16, 2009
MONCKS CORNER, SC – July 16, 2009 – J.D. Power and Associates announced today that Santee Cooper ranks ‘Highest in Customer Satisfaction among Midsize Utilities in the South’ and based on Santee Cooper’s numerical score, Santee Cooper receives the highest score in the nation among all utilities studied.
“Despite unprecedented economic and regulatory challenges in the electric power industry, Santee Cooper has steadfastly remained focused on providing excellent customer service,” said Santee Cooper President and Chief Officer Lonnie Carter. “For us to be honored with the award this year, in the midst of celebrating our 75th anniversary serving our customers, is extremely gratifying. We thank our customers for rating us the highest and for the national recognition.”
J.D. Power and Associates has studied electric utilities for many years, and this was only the second year the high-profile, California-based global marketing information firm has released customer satisfaction studies of midsize utilities. Twenty-seven electric utilities in the South were studied in the midsize category. Santee Cooper was ranked second in last year’s study.
The J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction StudySM measures customer satisfaction with electric utilities on six key factors: power quality and reliability, price, billing & payment, corporate citizenship, communications, and customer service. Customers gave Santee Cooper the highest score in the south midsize segment on price and communications, which equates to five out of five Power Circle Ratings on JDPower.com or “among the best.”
“These study results demonstrate the positive impressions our customers have of Santee Cooper,” said Zack Dusenbury, Santee Cooper Vice President of Retail Operations. “I am particularly gratified and proud of retail operations and the employees who do what it takes 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to maintain excellent customer satisfaction. From our line crews, to our customer service representatives in retail offices to engineering, there are no better employees anywhere.”
According to J.D. Power and Associates, electric utility companies have improved power reliability and enhanced communications with their customers, especially when outages occur. This investment in communication technologies and processes is key to the industry’s overall improvement.
J.D. Power and Associates surveyed 79,552 customers online from July 2008 to May 2009 that encompassed 121 utilities serving 92.4 million customers. The top ranking continues a string of recent awards for Santee Cooper. For example:
- The American Public Power Association ranks Santee Cooper No. 1 in the nation in net generation in the association’s “2009-10 Annual Directory and Statistical Report.” Santee Cooper was ranked third last year.
- The 2009 edition of “Platts UDI Directory of Electric Power Producers and Distributors” ranks Santee Cooper South Carolina’s largest power producer, based on statistics from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration.
About Santee Cooper
Santee Cooper is South Carolina’s state-owned electric and water utility, and the state’s largest power producer, supplying electricity to more than 163,000 retail customers in Berkeley, Georgetown, and Horry counties, as well as to 29 large industrial facilities, the cities of Bamberg and Georgetown, and the Charleston Air Force Base. Santee Cooper also generates the power distributed by the state’s 20 electric cooperatives to more than 700,000 customers in all 46 counties. Approximately 2 million South Carolinians receive their power directly or indirectly from Santee Cooper. The utility also provides water to 137,000 consumers in Berkeley and Dorchester counties, and the town of Santee. For more information, visit www.santeecooper.com. For information on how Santee Cooper lives green and how you can go green, visit www.SanteeCooperGreen.com.
About J.D. Power and Associates
Headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., J.D. Power and Associates is a global marketing information services company operating in key business sectors including market research, forecasting, performance improvement, Web intelligence and customer satisfaction. The company’s quality and satisfaction measurements are based on responses from millions of consumers annually. For more information on car reviews and ratings, car insurance, health insurance, cell phone ratings, and more, please visit JDPower.com. J.D. Power and Associates is a business unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies.
Santee Cooper received the highest numerical score among midsize utilities in the South region in the proprietary J.D. Power and Associates 2009 Electric Utility residential customers Satisfaction Study (needs SM here). Study based on 79,552 online interviews ranking 27 providers in the South (AL, AR, FL, GA, LA, MS, NM, NC, OK, SC, TN, TX, VA). Proprietary study results are based on experiences and perceptions of consumers surveyed in July 2008-May 2009. Your experiences may vary. Visit www.jdpower.com.
