Price Satisfaction Biggest Contributor to Decrease in Gas Utility Business Satisfaction, J.D. Power Finds

BGE, Atmos Energy, TECO Peoples Gas and Southwest Gas Rank Highest in Respective Regions

Driven by perception of price, overall gas utility business satisfaction is down to 808 (on a 1,000-point scale), a drop of 9 points from 2021, according to the J.D. Power 2022 U.S. Gas Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study℠, released today. Notably, satisfaction with price is down 20 points to 766 in 2022.

“Pricing is the factor in which we’re seeing the greatest decline in customer satisfaction, an effect of inflationary pressure,” said Ramah Vaughn, director of utilities intelligence at J.D. Power. “To mitigate this issue, gas utility companies can benefit by updating their messaging to show the value of gas. For many other products that consumers enjoy, price satisfaction is not low when consumers know what they are getting for that price. An essential utility provides plenty of value, if providers can shift the conversation away from price and focus instead on value, an increase of customer satisfaction will follow.”

Study Rankings

The industry results for the 2022 study are reported across four U.S. geographic regions: East, Midwest, South and West. The following utilities rank highest in customer satisfaction in their respective region:

• East: BGE
• Midwest: Atmos Energy
• South: TECO Peoples Gas (for a fourth consecutive year)
• West: Southwest Gas (for a third consecutive year)

See the rank charts from each region at http://www.jdpower.com/pr-id/2022145.

Now in its 18th year, the U.S. Gas Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study measures business customer satisfaction with gas utility companies in four regions: East, Midwest, South and West. Each of the 59 brands included in the study serve more than 25,000 business customers, representing more than 4.4 million business customers in total. Overall satisfaction is measured by examining six factors (listed in order of importance): safety and reliability (22%); billing and payment (17%); corporate citizenship (17%); price (16%); communications (14%); and customer contact (14%).

The study is based on responses from more than 9,220 online interviews of business customers in decision-making roles related to their utility company. The study was fielded from January through September 2022.

For more information about the U.S. Gas Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study, visit https://www.jdpower.com/business/utilities/gas-utility-business-customer-satisfaction-study.

About J.D. Power

J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services, and data and analytics. A pioneer in the use of big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic modeling capabilities to understand consumer behavior, J.D. Power has been delivering incisive industry intelligence on customer interactions with brands and products for more than 50 years. The world's leading businesses across major industries rely on J.D. Power to guide their customer-facing strategies.

J.D. Power is headquartered in Troy, Mich., and has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more about the company’s business offerings, visit JDPower.com/business. The J.D. Power auto shopping tool can be found at JDPower.com.

About J.D. Power and Advertising/Promotional Rules: www.jdpower.com/business/about-us/press-release-info

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