Utilities received heavy criticism in the wake of last October's storm for perceived slow response to outages.
Despite recent weather that spawned widespread and long-term power outages in the Lehigh Valley and northwestern New Jersey, the region’s two biggest energy providers earned high marks for customer service, according to a new study by J.D. Power & Associates.
The marketing research company released the results of its study on Wednesday.
PPL Electric Utilities, which serves all of Lehigh County and parts of Northampton County, scored the highest in customer satisfaction among large energy providers serving the eastern United States.
Jersey Central Power & Light, a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. that serves all of Warren and Hunterdon counties, finished third on the list.
Metropolitan Edison, also a FirstEnergy subsidiary serving much of the Easton area, does not qualify as a large provider by J.D. Power’s classification and was not among the 12 providers on the list.
According to J.D. Power, the study is based on interviews with more than 27,700 businesses that spend more than $250 a month on electricity. The interviews were conducted from April to June and from September to December.
Superstorm Sandy struck the region at the end of October, and many energy providers were criticized for a perceived slow response to outages. Some Hunterdon County customers remained in the dark for close to two weeks after the storm.
Response to power outages was among the criteria used to score each energy provider.
“Even with the multiple weather events and an increase in the average outage time, satisfaction with power quality and reliability has decreased only three points,” John Hazen, senior director of the energy utility practice at J.D. Power, said in a statement, referring to the point system used to score each energy provider.
Bob Geneczko, PPL vice president of customer service, said in a news release that he thinks the study’s results reflected customer’s appreciation of PPL’s response to the storm.
“We assembled the largest ever field workforce in response to that storm, calling in help from 16 other states,” he said. “In addition, we worked hand in hand with communities we serve to get power back as soon as possible.”