by Jerry Duvall

One of the genuine pleasures of CS Week is the announcement of the winners of the Expanding Excellence Awards. CS Week and Electric Light & Power initiated the awards last year to recognize innovation and excellence in utility customer service. The 2008 recipients exceeded the stated guidelines, including good stewardship of customer dollars and planning that benefitted both residential and C&I customers. The awards are unique in another way: They recognize that a successful program of any size is a group effort and reward the success as an organizational triumph.

This year, the awards program received significantly more entries and all of a high standard. Kerry Tarasoff, chairman of the awards committee, reported that the quality of entries in one category was so high that the judges considered declaring two winners.

Hearty congratulations to the 2008 winners that exemplify Expanding Excellence in Customer Service.

JEA?Best CIS Implementation?Class Level I
JEA replaced its billing system and redesigned the major CIS interfaces to position the utility to move to SOA in the near future. The project came in on-time and under-budget by $5.8 million, including $450,000 saved by utilizing computer-based training modules and electronic exams developed by in-house staff.

Cobb EMC/Cobb Energy?Best CIS Implementation?Class Level II
Facing a 12-month, 74-percent budget increase after buying Southern Company Gas, and six months before go-live on a project to reduce contractor costs by 80 percent, Cobb Energy re-strategized to implement both projects. Widespread user involvement and executive support resulted in annual benefits of $3.85 million and added Gas South without any new permanent positions.

Duke Energy Corporation?Innovation in Extending a Legacy System?Class Level I
Duke Energy implemented a services monitoring tool allowing property managers access through a secure web portal. Managers can view the status of their properties, request electric service be turned on or off, and receive automated e-mail alerting them to tenant requests for a specific property.

Public Utility District #1 of Clallam County?Innovation in Extending a Legacy System?? Class II
A flexible point-and-click bill print solution overlaying a 10-year-old CIS allowed Clallam County PUD to create an easy-to-read bill that is mailed to the customer, accessible for CSRs and for on-line payment by customers. It eliminated the cost of contract programmers, go-live traumas and long lead times.

Kansas City Power & Light?Innovation in Customer Service?Class I
KCP&L improved customer communication significantly following a multi-phase project to centralize data compilation. Field trips are minimized and timely information to customers is provided utilizing meter reading technology. Large C&I customers receive outage information via e-mail, pager or text message.

Benton PUD?Innovation in Customer Service?Class II
Benton PUD implemented Powerpay, an EBPP program, to increase customer satisfaction and operating efficiencies. It provides customers with 24/7 access and options to receive bills with E-bill, pay automatically with E-pay or make a one-time payment with Quick Pay. The E-bill program had an 8.5 percent adoption rate in its first year.

Jerry Duvall, CEO, CS Week
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