J.D. Power Report: Business Customer Satisfaction with Electric Utilities Increases

J.D. Power’s 2024 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction StudySM indicates a significant rise in satisfaction among U.S. business customers of electric utilities. After several years of declines, overall satisfaction has increased by 30 points on a 1,000-point scale, reaching 784 in 2024. This improvement is driven by proactive efforts from utility providers to help business customers manage costs, improve communication, and foster a sense of corporate responsibility.

The study highlights notable gains in satisfaction regarding pricing, corporate citizenship, and communication. Price satisfaction increased by 47 points year over year, driven by utilities stabilizing rates and working directly with business customers to lower costs. In total, 49% of business customers reported that their electric utility collaborated with them to reduce rates, often through enhanced proactive and digital communication. Of those surveyed, 56% indicated that they had received digital outreach from their utility.

The study also reflects a slight improvement in business financial outlook, with 5% more customers indicating they are better off financially than a year ago, while the number of those reporting worse financial conditions declined.

The top-performing utilities in each U.S. region include:

• East Region: Con Edison (Large); Pepco (Midsize)
• Midwest Region: MidAmerican Energy (Large); Kentucky Utilities and NIPSCO (Midsize, tied)
• South Region: Georgia Power (Large); Entergy Texas (Midsize)
• West Region: Idaho Power (Large); Seattle City Light (Midsize)

The study, now in its 26th year, examines satisfaction across six areas—power quality and reliability, price, billing and payment, corporate citizenship, customer contact, and communications. It is based on over 20,000 responses from business customers in decision-making roles at companies served by utilities with 50,000 or more business customers, collected from March to October 2024.