OAKLAND — PG&E languishes in the bottom third of a list of dozens of big utilities nationwide in terms of customer satisfaction, although the embattled power company’s rank is improving, a new survey shows.
The results, released Tuesday, were contained in the latest energy utilities study produced by the American Consumer Satisfaction Index. The survey reported results for 27 U.S. utilities listed by name.
Oakland-based PG&E was ranked in a multi-way tie for 20th place out of 27 U.S. utilities in the 2024 survey.
“If PG&E cared about customer rankings, it would spend less money on public relations and slick television commercials, and more on live persons to answer the phone when customers call,” Mark Toney, executive director with The Utility Reform Network, or TURN, said in comments emailed to this news organization. “If PG&E wanted a better reputation, it would stop overspending on excessive tree removal, and more on connecting new electrical service to affordable housing developments, schools and hospitals that have been on a waiting list for months.”
While the ranking in 2024 was low, PG&E’s placement on the latest list topped its ranking as No. 27 in the 2023 survey.
“The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) shows a 14% gain for PG&E, as well as improvements in service reliability and power restoration, where we exceed the industry,” PG&E stated in comments a company spokesperson emailed to this news organization.
The survey measured customer satisfaction using 10 benchmarks.
The categories include the ability to provide reliable electricity service, quality of the mobile app, the reliability of the mobile app, ease of understanding the monthly bill, website satisfaction, ability to restore electric service after an outage, courtesy and helpfulness of company staffers, information about energy saving ideas, efforts to support green programs and efforts to support the local community.
“We are committed to improving our customers’ service and have a variety of energy and money-saving tools in place to help them find the best rate plan for their household or business, utilize free and low-cost resources to help manage monthly bills, and offer expanded financial assistance programs to support income-eligible customers,” PG&E stated in its emailed comments.
PG&E ranked poorly, however, compared to some of the other major utility providers in California.
Sempra, owner of San Diego Gas & Electric, was ranked 12th; the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power was ranked 18th; PG&E was ranked 20th; Edison International, owner of Southern California Edison, was ranked No. 25.
PG&E has come under criticism in the wake of a decade of disasters that included a fatal gas explosion in 2010 that destroyed a San Bruno neighborhood, a string of fatal infernos that torched vast swaths of land in Northern California and intentional power outages to reduce the chances of wildfires.
More recently, PG&E’s skyrocketing electricity costs have shoved monthly utility bills higher, a financial jolt that has infuriated a growing number of the company’s customers.
Starting in early January, PG&E monthly bills averaged roughly $294.50 a month for the typical residential customer who receives combined electricity and gas services, according to estimates provided by the company to this news organization.
That combined bill was 22.3% higher than the average monthly charges that went into effect the year before, at the start of January 2023.
A recent decision by the state Public Utilities Commission, which oversees PG&E, also set the stage for PG&E to raise monthly bills yet again on an interim basis, a decision that will begin to have an impact on bills in April or May.
Those increases come as PG&E profits zoomed higher in 2023, buoyed by surging electricity and natural gas revenues.
In February, PG&E reported 2023 profits totaling $2.24 billion, an increase of 24.6% from 2022. PG&E further delighted its shareholders by predicting investors can anticipate even better earnings in 2024.
“If PG&E wanted to boost customer confidence, it would prioritize delivering the cleanest, safest and most reliable service at the most cost-efficient manner, instead of prioritizing shareholder profits,” Toney said.
+ There are no comments
Add yours