Press Release

HARRISBURG – Consumer complaints to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) decreased by 16 percent in 2002, according to the 2002 Utility Consumer Activities Report and Evaluation released today. The report is an annual evaluation on the customer service performance of the state’s major jurisdictional electric, gas, water and telephone companies.

      “The report is a way for consumers to see how well their utility companies are doing in answering questions and responding to their concerns,” said Mitch Miller, Director of the PUC’s Bureau of Consumer Services (BCS).  “The report allows consumers to compare their utility’s performance from year to year, and to see how companies fare compared to other utilities.”

            Highlights of the report include:

• In 2002, BCS investigated 21,826 consumer complaints, about 4,000 less than the previous year. The Bureau investigated 25,962 consumer complaints in 2001 and 24,685 in 2000.
• Consumer complaints in the telephone industry decreased by 25 percent from 2001 to 2002, but made up 42 percent of all complaints.
• Overall, consumer complaints about electric, natural gas, water, wastewater and steam heat decreased by 8 percent.
• The Bureau also received fewer requests for payment arrangements in 2002. About 79,700 consumers sought payment plans in 2002, compared with 80,243 in 2001.
• About 5,500 consumers in 2002 called the PUC’s toll-free Competition Hotline (1-888-782-3228), which answers questions about electric, natural gas and local telephone competition.

            In order to monitor its own service to customers, BCS surveys consumers each year. The report notes that 78 percent of consumers rated the service they received from BCS as “excellent” or “good.” In addition, 82 percent of consumers said they would contact the PUC again if they had a problem with a utility that they could not settle by talking with the utility.

            In addition to the evaluation of consumer contacts to BCS, the report includes a review of the customer assistance programs sponsored by Philadelphia Suburban Water and Pennsylvania-American Water, as well as a review of the three telephone universal service programs, Link-Up America; Lifeline Service; and the Universal Telephone Assistance Program (UTAP).

            An evaluation of the customer assistance programs for the major electric and natural gas companies will be released under separate cover before the end of the year.

            Copies of the full report are available from the PUC’s Communications Office, Room N310 of the Commonwealth Keystone Building and on the PUC’s website at www.puc.paonline.com under Consumer Services, Publications, and PUC Reports.

            For further information, contact Mitch Miller, director of the Bureau of Consumer Services at (717) 783-1661.

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