Silicon Valley Power Earns High Satisfaction Marks from Residents

January 16, 2007

Silicon Valley Power has topped its already enviable 2004 satisfaction ranking of 83 percent, according to the SVP Year-end 2006 Residential Customer Survey, an independent study conducted by RKS Research and Consulting.

As many as 92 percent of SVP residential customers are “very satisfied” with their utility, compared to 75 percent of participants in the California Municipal Utilities Association (CMUA) 2006 Statewide Survey of Residential Customer Satisfaction and to 57 percent of investor-owned utility (IOU) customers. Two hundred randomly selected, residential customers expressed their views on energy reliability, value of service and energy-efficiency programs.

“The results of the survey indicate that Silicon Valley Power is in a very good position with its residential customer base,” says David J. Reichman, chairman and CEO of RKS headquartered in Danbury, Conn. “SVP performs very positively across this survey, surpassing the state benchmark on most measures. It has proven itself as a leader in building a strong reputation as an honest, hard-working utility that treats its customers well and provides reliable electrical power at a reasonable price.”

The most telling results are indicated in a residential value model developed by RKS: SVP scored an average rating of 8.7 in 2006 (based on a satisfaction score of 0 to 10, low to high) for overall value. California municipal customers as a whole rated their utility 7.1 for value, and IOU customers gave their utilities a 6.4.

As many as 85 percent of SVP customers believe that the utility meets their expectations, while only 48 percent of IOU customers do. SVP residential customers maintain a high opinion of their utilitynine out of 10 say they have “complete trust”—an increase over 83 percent last year.

In addition, SVP's reliability—quickly restoring power after an outage, preventing outages and maintaining equipment—also gained considerable support from residents, much more than IOUs earned from their customers.

The survey also finds that Silicon Valley Power continues to cultivate excellence in its relationship with its customers; 78 percent consider their contact with a customer service representative to be a “very satisfying” experience compared to 69 percent of all state customers.

SVP boasts high marks for its energy efficiency rebate and information programs and for Santa Clara Green Power, SVP's 100 percent renewable energy option, in helping to lower energy costs and conserve energy.

“We are pleased that our residents have shown confidence in SVP and our services as reflected by the survey,” says Junona Jonas, Director of SVP. “We are proud to be recognized for what we have accomplished and will continue to make improvements at every opportunity.”

For more information, download the SVP 2006 Residential Customer Survey Results (Word doc: 355k).

More Community News >
SVP Business News >