National Survey: Pepco Last in Customer Satisfaction
Utility had lowest rating among 225 companies.
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In its most recent survey, the American Customer Satisfaction Index reported that Pepco had the least satisfied customers among 225 companies nationwide.
The annual survey asks consumers about their expectations of a company, the perceived value and quality of the company's services, and their complaints with the company, according to ACSI. Those responses are weighted and used to compute a score on a 1-100 scale.
Pepco scored a survey-worst 54, a 23 percent drop from last year's 70.
In a statement provided to Patch, Pepco spokesman Clay Anderson was dismissive of the survey results.
"We at Pepco know we have work to do, and we're doing it every day," he said. "For us to be distracted by this kind of sensationalism would be counterproductive."
The scores are calculated through random polling of 250 customers of each company, and the index conducts 7,000 interviews nationwide each year, according to ACSI.
Joining Pepco near the bottom of the list are Comcast, Delta, Time Warner Cable and United Airlines.
Darin Bartram
1:50 pm on Friday, July 8, 2011
These results are not at all surprising, given that the survey asked Pepco customers for their views on Pepco in the aftermath of power outages from an epic ice storm. I also have no doubt that when Pepco trims trees to lessen future storm-related damage, we'll complain about how much we loved those trees. And then we'll say that they should bury the lines, blissfully unaware of the costs of doing that. I, for one, was pretty impressed that when a major substation blew up near my house, there was enough redundancy in the system that Pepco could re-route power to my house in about 36 hours.
Richard Rice
2:44 pm on Saturday, July 9, 2011
Darren, were you fortunate enough to have a generator so your food didn't
spoil, did your house like mine get down to 42 degrees during the day? Did your home have no hot water or gas because of electronic ignigtiion not being operable during the outdage? If you have type 2 diabetes, w/no place to get to or stay; I'm happy for you! PEPCO RANKS LAST IN MY SATISFACTION RATINGS AND i AM VERY ANXIOUS TO SEE THEIR SERVICE
IMPROVE!!!
Darin Bartram
9:32 am on Monday, July 11, 2011
Richard--I don't have a generator, my food spoiled, and my house got very cold. All was dissappointing. I'm just saying that conducting this survey in the aftermath of the ice storm and attempting to give any weight to the results is pretty shoddy statistics.
Jeff Hawkins
1:56 pm on Friday, July 8, 2011
We have had 6 neighborhood pole lights that have been "out" for over 1 month now. Our association calls them often......nothing seems to work?
MS
7:38 am on Saturday, July 9, 2011
Due to restructuring in the electric utility industry, PEPCO sold it's power plants and no longer generates it's own electricity. PEPCO now buys electricity from various energy companies and resells it to customers at regulated rates. PEPCO's price for residential electricity supply is now 8.6 to 11 percent above competitive market prices for electricity supply in Maryland and DC.
You can choose the energy company that supplies the electricity delivered to you by PEPCO and get your electricity at a lower price. PEPCO delivers it, but you pay less for it.
To see the price difference, go to www.lowerelectricityrates.com . It takes about 4 minutes and costs nothing to lower the price of your electricity.
Sigrid Klein
11:06 am on Sunday, July 10, 2011
Darin, we are in a part of montgomerycounty were the lights go out on a clear day, not after an "Epic storm". We have sweltered for 5 days in the summer, 4 days in the winter in all electric house. All of our neighbors now have generators at great cost. One would hope living 15 miles from Washington, you would have basic electricity. Did you ever ask yourself why your sub station blew up, maybe it is that Pepco, like Metro has neglected to do the most basic maintenance on their equipment , yet pay the Executives top dollar for doing a poor job.
Darin Bartram
9:38 am on Monday, July 11, 2011
Sigrid--these are fair criticisms of Pepco, and that may explain why its score from the survey last year was 70. And, maybe the criticism generated after the ice storm will result in greater reliability for your neighborhood.
Mercy Fork
4:07 pm on Monday, July 11, 2011
I have noticed those Asplundh trucks have been out in force lately in my neighborhood in Bethesda, cutting trees. Pepco has cost me more than $1,000 in lost food and hotel stays over the last year and a half, so I am no fan of the company - but it is reassuring to see them taking some action. I just wish the state could take it over. Running a public utility as a private, for-profit business just doesn't make sense for anyone.