Press Release

PUC Report Indicates Payment Arrangement Requests Increase, Overall Consumer Complaints Decrease While Most Consumers Satisfied with PUC Dealings

Published on 12/8/2009

Filed under: Electric Gas

HARRISBURG – Requests for payment arrangements (PARs) increased; overall consumer complaints about utilities decreased slightly and a majority of customers contacting the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) for assistance rated it as a positive experience, according to the 2008 Utility Consumer Activities Report and Evaluation (UCARE) released by the PUC today.

"With a 22 percent increase  in the number of consumers seeking payments arrangements for their electric and natural gas bills, we want to remind consumers that the PUC has resources to help them deal with their utility problems,” said Commission Chairman James H. Cawley.  “Consumers should call their utility first. If they are unable to reach an agreement with the utility, we urge them to call the PUC at 1-800-692-7380 for assistance. We have employees who are trained to navigate the programs designed to help consumers restore and maintain service and, as this report shows, calling the PUC is a positive experience.”

The report is an annual evaluation of the customer service performance of the state’s major jurisdictional electric, natural gas, water and telephone companies.  A copy of the report is available on the PUC’s website.

Electric, natural gas, water and sewer customers filed 59,262 PARs in 2008 – an increase of 22 percent. Residential customers of the telephone utilities filed 1,417 PARs, a 16 percent decrease.

The report also shows that more than 81 percent of consumers reported that they would contact the PUC again if they had another problem with a utility that they could not resolve with the company.  Further, 77 percent rated the service they received from the PUC as “good” or “excellent”.  Most consumer complaints about the electric industry (17 percent) involved the performance of electric company personnel (labeled personnel problems).  Most natural gas consumer complaints were about billing issues (16 percent).  Billing dispute issues were also the main reason (30 percent) for residential consumer complaints about the telephone industry.

Additional highlights from the 2008 report include:

• 81,494 utility customer contacts to the PUC required review – a 15 percent increase from 2007.  Of these contacts, 20,420 were consumer complaints and 61,074 were PARs.  In addition, 68,695 consumer contacts in 2008 were classified as inquiries.
• Inquiries decreased by 13 percent with 29 percent of inquiries related to termination or suspension of utility service and 14 percent involving billing disputes. Data shows that 6,057 inquiries recorded in 2008 were consumer contacts requesting new PARs that PUC representatives were not able to accommodate for various reasons.
• During 2008, the PUC received 10,632 consumer complaints from residential customers of the electric, natural gas, water and sewer companies.  Residential customers of telephone utilities lodged 7,790 consumer complaints in 2008.

While consumer complaints about electric utilities increased by 2 percent, the volume of consumer complaints about natural gas utilities decreased by 13 percent and the volume of consumer complaints about the telecommunications industry increased by 6 percent from 2007 to 2008.

To help consumers make accurate comparisons between companies of various sizes, the PUC calculates the number of justified complaints per 1,000 residential customers.  A complaint is considered “justified” if the Commission finds that the company did not comply with PUC regulations and polices when handling the dispute.  A significant increase in a justified rate would prompt a review of a utility’s complaint handling procedures.  Consumer complaint rates and justified consumer complaint rates are located in Appendix D of the report.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission balances the needs of consumers and utilities to ensure safe and reliable utility service at reasonable rates; protect the public interest; educate consumers to make independent and informed utility choices; further economic development; and foster new technologies and competitive markets in an environmentally sound manner.

For recent news releases, audio of select Commission proceedings or more information about the PUC, visit our website at www.puc.state.pa.us.

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