J.D. Power Ranks Customer Satisfaction with Retail Electric Providers in Eight New States

J.D. Power has expanded its survey of residential customer satisfaction with retail electric providers to include eight new states in the Northeast.

Specifically, the J.D. Power 2013 Retail Electric Provider Satisfaction Study, for the first time, measures residential satisfaction with retail providers in Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. New Jersey was included in the study, but retail electric providers are not ranked there due to an insufficient number of eligible brands.

Retail customers surveyed in the study are more satisfied with price than are customers of local electric utilities surveyed for the J.D. Power 2013 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study, J.D. Power said. Price satisfaction is highest among customers in Maryland and Pennsylvania than among those in the other six states included in the study.

Complete retail provider rankings by state can be found on J.D. Power's website (click here). The complete rankings also include how each supplier fared in five categories: price; communications; corporate citizenship; enrollment/renewal; and customer service. Scores are based on a 1,000 point scale.

The top performing retail suppliers in each state were as follows, J.D. Power said:

Connecticut: ConEdison Solutions ranks highest in Connecticut with a score of 651, and performs particularly well in the price factor. Ambit (624) follows ConEdison Solutions in the rankings, performing above the Connecticut state average (610).

Illinois: Energy Plus ranks highest in Illinois with a score of 633, performing particularly well in the price and corporate citizenship factors. Following Energy Plus in the rankings are FirstEnergy Solutions (611) and IGS Energy (610).

Maryland: Dominion Energy Solutions ranks highest in Maryland with a score of 648, and performs particularly well in the price factor. Washington Gas Energy Services (640) follows Dominion Energy Solutions in the rankings, performing above the Maryland state average (630).

Massachusetts: Energy Plus ranks highest in Massachusetts with a score of 642, and performs particularly well in the customer service and enrollment/renewal factors. AEP Energy (630) and Direct Energy (629) follow in the rankings.

New York: Ambit Energy ranks highest in New York with a score of 642, and performs particularly well in the price, communications, enrollment/renewal and customer service factors. Energetix (630) follows Ambit Energy in the rankings, performing above the New York state average (595).

Ohio: DPL Energy Resources ranks highest in Ohio with a score of 602, and performs particularly well in the price, communications, corporate citizenship and customer service factors. Dominion Energy Solutions (584) and Duke Energy Retail (583) follow in the rankings.

Pennsylvania: PPL EnergyPlus ranks highest in Pennsylvania with a score of 635, and performs particularly well in the communications and corporate citizenship factors. Energy Plus (634) follows PPL EnergyPlus in the rankings, performing above the Pennsylvania state average (631).

When looking at overall satisfaction by state, Pennsylvania performs highest among the seven rank-eligible states in the study, with an average overall satisfaction score of 631 on a 1,000-point scale. Following Pennsylvania are Maryland (630); Connecticut and Illinois in a tie (610 each); Massachusetts (603); New York (595); and Ohio (575). Overall customer satisfaction for the industry averages 606, J.D. Power said.

The 2013 Retail Electric Provider Satisfaction Study was based on responses from more than 14,800 retail electric residential customers of 71 retail electric providers in eight states regarding their experiences with their retail electric provider. The study was fielded in April and May 2013.