After Blackouts, PG&E Ranks at Bottom for Customer Satisfaction
After Blackouts, PG&E Ranks at Bottom for Customer Satisfaction
(Bloomberg) -- A month after PG&E Corp. plunged millions of Californians into darkness in a series of intentional mass blackouts, the bankrupt utility giant has emerged at the bottom of a utility customer satisfaction survey.
The bankrupt power company scored worse than any other West Coast utility in a J.D. Power survey of business customers released Wednesday. Nationwide, only one utility got a lower score from the businesses it serves: Avangrid Inc.’s Central Maine Power, which saw more than 200,000 customers lose service during a major storm last month. Entergy Corp.’s Texas unit ranked the highest.
The rankings are hitting at a tumultuous time in PG&E’s history. The company filed for bankruptcy in January, facing $30 billion in liabilities from wildfires sparked by its equipment. In October, it orchestrated widespread service shutoffs during wind storms -- an effort to prevent more fires. Customers spent days in the dark, and blazes still broke out.
Overall, the survey found rising satisfaction among utility business customers across the country. But the gap between the highest- and lowest-scoring companies increased, according to J.D. Power. The rankings were based on 21,000 interviews with business customers of 87 utilities nationwide, conducted from February through October.
To contact the reporter on this story: David R. Baker in San Francisco at dbaker116@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Doan at ldoan6@bloomberg.net, Steven Frank
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