Customer Champion Utilities Have Top-rated Managements

49 Utilities Named 2017 Customer Champions

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today, Market Strategies International names 49 utilities as 2017
Customer Champions, reflective of these utilities building the
industry’s strongest customer engagement through superior service, brand
and product experiences. These Customer Champions rate higher than
industry peers on being “well managed companies” and have greater
pricing power, with their customers showing higher support for rate
increases.

Now in its fourth year, the 2017 Utility
Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement™: Residential, a Cogent
Reports study by Market Strategies International, names Customer
Champions from a benchmark set of 128 electric, natural gas and
combination utilities. This coveted designation is based on Engaged
Customer Relationship (ECR) score achievement, a customer management
metric that measures the entire customer experience. ECR is based upon
12 factors that span Brand Trust, Product Experience and Service
Satisfaction performance.

“It’s clear from our findings that Customer Champion utilities have
stronger brands to influence customer behavior, gain acceptance for rate
increases, lower operating costs and enhance revenue opportunities.
These utilities also lead on industry innovation and building the new
energy economy,” said Chris Oberle, a senior vice president at Market
Strategies International. “The bottom line is Customer Champions are
superior at profitably managing their customer operations and marketing
efforts.”

The 2017 Customer Champion utilities score highest on ECR and exhibit
best practices that make them the best managed in the industry.

About the Utility Trusted Brand & Customer Engagement: Residential
report

Cogent Reports conducted surveys among 59,947 residential electric,
natural gas and combination utility customers of the 130 largest US
utility companies (based on residential customer counts). The sample
design uses US census data and strict quotas to ensure a demographically
balanced sample of each evaluated utility’s customers based on age,
gender, income, race and ethnicity. Utilities within the same region and
of the same type (e.g., electric-only providers) are given equal weight
in order to balance the influence of each utility’s customers on survey
results. Market Strategies will supply the exact wording of any survey
question upon request.

About Market Strategies International

Market
Strategies International is a leading provider of research and
consulting services to utility management, trusted by the world’s most
successful organizations to help them thrive. We blend primary research
with data from our syndicated, benchmarking and self-funded studies to
provide clients with exceptional research insight that helps solve their
challenges. Our research specialties include brand, communications, CX,
product development and segmentation. Our syndicated products, known as
Cogent Reports, help clients understand the market environment, explore
industry trends and monitor their brand within the competitive
landscape. Founded in 1989, Market Strategies is one of the largest
market research firms in the world. Read Market Strategies’ blog at FreshMR,
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Contacts

Market Strategies International
Anne Denz, 617.715.7611
[email protected]