NIPSCO gets poor industry review

Northern Indiana Public Service Co. has again received low marks for residential customer satisfaction in a prestigious industry survey.

J.D. Power and Associates ranked NIPSCO second to last among medium-size utilities, rating customer satisfaction two points lower than in 2004, when it also finished second to last.

"Stop the outsourcing, stop the globe-trotting, what they ought to be doing is going down to Louisville and observing what they do there," said Shaw Friedman, attorney for LaPorte County, which has opposed the utility in recent cases before the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.

Louisville Gas & Energy ranked first in customer satisfaction among larger Midwest utilities in the survey, with a score of 112.

NIPSCO spokesman Tom Cuddy said NIPSCO takes the J.D. Power survey seriously, but it is only one of several tools the utility uses to evaluate customer service.

NIPSCO's own internal studies show customers are satisfied with the service they receive, Cuddy said. Those studies are done by contacting customers after they have interacted with the company in some way, such as after service calls by NIPSCO maintenance and repair workers.

NIPSCO is seeking to improve customer satisfaction through new programs and initiatives such as its DirectLink e-Services, which allows customers to pay bills on-line and utilize other services, Cuddy said.

J.D. Power bases its customer satisfaction scores on performance in five factors: power quality and reliability, company image; price and value; billing and payment; and customer service.

Friedman said NIPSCO's drive to close five service hubs in northern Indiana and its recent outsourcing of jobs with IBM shows it is not heeding the J.D. Power results.

The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission recently ended a three-year proceeding in the hub closings case earlier this month by telling NIPSCO the hubs must remain open.

Friedman was also critical of NIPSCO executives accompanying Gov. Mitch Daniels on a trade trip to Japan earlier this summer, saying they should concentrate on the utility's business here.

Utility President Mark Maassel, who accompanied Daniels and other political and business leaders on the trip, has said it was a valuable opportunity to drum up interest in northern Indiana among Japanese companies.

NIPSCO received a customer satisfaction score of 85 in the J.D. Power survey. That was 15 points below the average score of 100 attained by the 23 medium-size utilities in the survey. NIPSCO was 31 points behind Omaha Public Power District, the highest rated medium-size utility.

Overall, customer satisfaction improved among residential customers served by the nation's 78 largest utilities, according to J.D. Power.

That's surprising, because average monthly bills jumped from $99 in 2002 to $109 this year. The Midwest registers the lowest average monthly electric utility bill at $95.