Title
Semiannual Update: Transactional Survey Report for July through December of 2024
Body
This item was originally on the agenda for the February 5, 2025 BPU Work Session and deferred due to time constraints.
Conducted by Great Blue Research, DPU's ongoing Transactional Survey investigates: 1) reasons for contacting DPU; 2) methods of interaction with DPU; 3) the number of times customers must contact DPU to resolve their issues; 4) how DPU's staff is rated by customers; and 5) demographic profiles of those responding to the survey. It has a 95% confidence level and with 103 people completing it in July through December time period, it has a margin of error of +/- 9.63%.
As is typical with this survey, the vast majority of respondents were residential customers. Only 2% were commercial customers, making commercial responses meaningless as a stand alone category. More than 84% of respondents were in households of 1-3 customers, 61% live in town site, and at least 82% own their homes. Nearly half the customers who responded, 49.5%, have been DPU customers for at least 20 years.
This report compares against the first half of calendar year 2024 as well as the two quarters (separately) prior to that. Though the survey itself is conducted on an ongoing basis, the summary report was changed from quarterly to semiannually in January 2024. In-person interactions accounted for about 30% of survey responses, much the same as in the first half of the year. There was a small jump in respondents who rated email interactions and a small decline in those who rated phone interactions. Customers are invited to complete this survey through a number of methods, including links provided by field crews on business cards, invitation links in email signatures, and signs at the Customer Care Center (CCC). However, the greatest number of responses come from text messages sent to individuals who have reached out to the CCC by phone. Customers who meet with staff outside of the CCC typically call into the phones answered by Customer Care staff to initiate those arrangements, so this method still captures interactions with other DPU staff.
The reasons for contact followed previous trends, with billing questions as the most common reason, followed by payment arrangements and moves. Keep in mind that the margin of error is nearly 10%, the most notable results were in the characteristics category, with high scores above 90% for all six DPU Representative Characteristics, and an average rating of 91.6%. In other words more than 90% of respondents gave positive ratings for each of the characteristics of the DPU staff member with whom they interacted. The highest ratings, at 93%, were for "courtesy and professionalism," "knowledgeable," and "clear communication."
Attachments
A - Los Alamos Transactional Report CY2024 H2