Improving Customer Service
at BTU Through Benchmarking
APPA National Conference
Anaheim, California - June 20, 2005
Topics
 Business Process
 Customer Service Goals
 Measuring Goals
 Using Benchmarking
 Sample Benchmarking for BTU
 What Did They Tell Us
 Changes We Have Made
 Going Forward
Business Process
 Set Goals
 Measure Progress
 Compare to Goals
Customer Service Goals
 Customer Satisfaction
 Timeliness on answering calls
 Cost Control
 Process
Reduce Inaccurate Bills
Meter Reading Accuracy
Reduce Write-Offs
Measurement of
Customer Service Goals
 Some are Straight Forward – Cost
 Some are Rather Subjective – Satisfaction
 Comparisons With Others is Time Consuming
Benchmarking Does All The
Measurement
 Compares Costs with Other Utilities
 Shows Policies Which Affect Costs
 Gives Statistical Data – Ex. Time of Calls
 Best Practices
Key Benchmarks

Overall Scorecard

Meter Readings

Billing

Credit & Collections

Field Service

Call Center

Payment Services

Internet

CIS
Overall Scorecard
APPA CS
COST
* Customer Service Exp Per Adj Customer
* Customer Service Exp (Ex Sppt Proc) Per Adj Customer
* Customer Service Exp (Excluding Uncollectibles) Per Adj Customer
* Customer Service Exp (Ex Uncoll & Sppt Proc) Per Adj Customer
Total Call Ctr Exp Per Adj Customer
Total Meter Reading Exp Per Adj Customers
Total Field Service Exp Per Adj Customers
Total Billing Exp Per Adj Customers
Payment Processing Exp Per Adj Customers
Total Credit Exp (Including Uncollectibles) Per Adj Customer
Uncollectible Exp Per Adj Customer
CS Support Exp Per Adj Customers
SERVICE LEVELS
% of Calls Answered by CSRs Within 30 Seconds
% of Calls Abandoned Including Major Events
Overall Meter Reading Inaccuracy
Missed Manual Meter Reads
AMR Missed Meter Reads
Bill Inaccuracy-% Bills Adj. After Mailing To Customer
SAFETY
* Lost Time Incident Rate - All CS
* OSHA Recordable Incident Rate - All CS
* Vehicular Accident Rate per 1,000,000 Miles - All CS
IOUCS
Median
$42.65
$36.66
$36.24
$31.78
$7.55
$6.90
$5.24
$7.42
$2.58
$8.29
$3.85
$2.35
1st Q
$30.12
$27.22
$28.45
$24.08
$3.80
$5.70
$2.39
$6.04
$1.18
$4.93
$2.33
$1.59
N=
23
23
23
23
24
22
16
21
21
19
22
9
Median
$46.03
$40.80
$46.03
$33.09
$8.30
$7.48
$4.75
$5.66
$0.94
$9.88
$7.19
$1.11
1st Q
$36.67
$32.73
$32.91
$27.12
$6.20
$5.06
$2.76
$4.66
$0.66
$6.87
$3.95
$0.36
80.0%
5.50%
0.150%
0.680%
0.460%
0.66%
85.0%
4.08%
0.085%
0.200%
0.148%
0.06%
18
21
19
16
9
19
74.0%
3.85%
0.078%
1.110%
0.590%
0.37%
79.4%
3.00%
0.025%
0.296%
0.140%
0.20%
0.00
1.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
14
16
13
1.00
3.33
4.63
0.43
2.52
1.45
* These measures are included in your total score and in your process score
© PA Consulting Group 2004 CS Results - 8
Staffing Levels and Outsourcing
Company Only FTEs per 100,000 Adjusted Customers
Report Page #64 (1000309) Calc: E.1/((SUM{A.2}+SUM{A.3}+SUM{A.4}+(SUM{A.5}+SUM{A.6}+SUM{A.7})*2+SUM{A.8}*3)/100000)
© PA Consulting Group 2004 CS Results - 9
Meter Activity Scorecard
APPA CS
COST
* Total Meter Reading Exp Per Adj Customers
* Total Meter Reading Exp Per Total Meter Reads
(Manual, R/SC AMR-Billing Read, & Interval)
SERVICE LEVELS
* Estimated R/SC Reads As a % of R/SC Reads
* Overall Meter Reading Inaccuracy
* Manual Meter Reading Inaccuracy
* Missed Manual Meter Reads
AMR Reading Inaccuracy
* AMR Missed Meter Reads
* R/SC AMR Meters % of Total Meters
SAFETY
* Lost Time Incident Rate Meter Reading
* OSHA Recordable Incident Rate Meter Reading
* Vehicular Accident Rate per 1,000,000 Miles-Meter Reading
Median
$6.90
$0.56
1st Q N=
$5.70 22
$0.47 22
0.027% 0.000%
0.150% 0.085%
0.167% 0.078%
0.680% 0.200%
0.100% 0.067%
0.460% 0.148%
1.001% 12.174%
0.00
0.50
0.00
IOUCS
0.00
0.00
0.00
23
19
18
16
8
9
25
13
14
13
Median
$7.48
$0.67
1st Q
$5.06
$0.44
1.018% 0.075%
0.078% 0.025%
0.080% 0.023%
1.110% 0.296%
0.010% 0.003%
0.590% 0.140%
0.861% 42.366%
1.37
9.04
8.71
1.00
7.15
0.44
* These measures are included in your total score and in your process score
R/SC = Residential/Small Commercial; C/I = Commercial/Industrial
© PA Consulting Group 2004 CS Results - 10
Total Meter Reading Expense
(Including Pensions & Benefits)
Per Adjusted Customers
Mean
Quartile 1
Quartile 2
Quartile 3
$8.54
$6.35
$7.00
$10.58
Page #172.1 (1000081) Source: B.3/(A.2+A.3+A.4+(A.5+A.6+A.7)*2+A.8*3)I.9.2
© PA Consulting Group 2004 CS Results - 11
Total Meter Reading Expense
Per Meter Read
Mean
Quartile 1
Quartile 2
Quartile 3
$0.61
$0.47
$0.56
$0.70
Page #170 (145) Source: (B.3)/(M.3+M.20+M.21+M.22+M.16)
© PA Consulting Group 2004 CS Results - 12
Meter Density — Electric
Meters per Square Mile of Service Territory
Mean
831.19
Page #180 (174) Source: (M.2.1+M.17)/(A.15.1)
Quartile 1
1,041.03
Quartile 2
Quartile 3
576.39
352.22
© PA Consulting Group 2004 CS Results - 13
Total Billing Expense
Per Bill Issued
Mean Quartile 1 Quartile 2 Quartile 3
$1.03
$0.73
Page #256 (198) Source: B.7/O.1
$0.98
$1.16
© PA Consulting Group 2004 CS Results - 14
Uncollectibles per Revenue
The difference in performance between companies is substantial,
and not entirely explained by gas vs electric, or other characteristics
of the companies.
Water
Electric
Mean
0.35%
Quartile 1
0.18%
Quartile 2
0.30%
Quartile 3
0.45%
Mean
0.31%
Quartile 1
0.08%
Quartile 2
0.17%
Quartile 3
0.41%
Page #323 (80551) Source: B.17.1/A.12
Page #325 (50230) Source: B.17.3/A.14
© PA Consulting Group 2004 CS Results - 15
Cost Optimization Framework Credit & Collections
•
There is a trade-off between the cost of collection and the value of reduced write-offs and interest on DSO
•
The cost of collection plus the cost of write-off and interest on DSO equals “total credit cost"
•
The "total credit cost" is "U" shaped -- meaning there is a minimum cost point
Annual
Cost
D= A + B+ C = Total Credit Cost
Current Level of Activity
Minimum Cost
$40M
C = Cost of Collection
$20M
B = Interest on DSO
$11M
$10M
A = Cost of Write-offs
1.0M
1.8M
2M
3M
4M
Collection Activity (e.g. 24 hour notices/yr)
Note: Not to Scale
© PA Consulting Group 2004 CS Results - 16
Field Service Orders per Customer
Mean Quartile 1 Quartile 2 Quartile 3
0.76
0.35
0.53
Page #233 (8043) Source: N.1/(A.2+A.3+A.4+A.5+A.6+A.7+A.8)
0.84
© PA Consulting Group 2004 CS Results - 17
Percent of Calls Answered by Call Center
Representatives Within 30 Seconds
Mean
71.6%
Page #120 (7446) Source: I.3.1+I.3.2
Quartile 1 Quartile 2
85.0%
80.0%
Quartile 3
58.0%
© PA Consulting Group 2004 CS Results - 18
Website Transactions Completed On Your Site
Payment and View Bill make up the greatest percentages of
completed web transactions
Page #52 (91831) Source: D.1
© PA Consulting Group 2004 CS Results - 19
Workforce Management Software Provides
Real-Time Reporting of Information

Page #166 (2856) Source: L.8
© PA Consulting Group 2004 CS Results - 20
Customer Payment Methods
Methods of Receiving Payments
Page #286 (315) Source: P.2
More than 30% of
payments are collected
outside of the mail system
© PA Consulting Group 2004 CS Results - 21
Best Practices
Telephone Center
Days from hire to first call
24 hr/7 Day a Week
Training - Ongoing
Variable staffing
Training - New Employees
Monitoring
Internet Services
WFMS
Calls per CSR
Empowerment
Incentives - Support
Call Monitoring
Central/Virtually Connected
ACD-Features
CTI features
Incentives - CSR
IVR/VRU - Segmentation
Reading Data From the ACD
Overflow Contracting
IVR/VRU Customer Options
Business call center
IVR/VRU - Completed Calls
Limit Overtime
Generalized Reps
Call Monitoring Software
CIS
Contracting
Integrated Systems
CIS - Features
Adding Modules
Deregulation-Features
Field Service
COA-Meters Left on-Electric
Incentives-FSR
COA-Meters Left on-Gas
Mobile Computers
Days wait to match COA
Appointments
Meter Reading
Outsourcing
% Van Drive By
AMR Programs
Limit Estimating-Res'l
Monthly Reading - Res'l
Employee Incentives
% Remote Reads
% Check Reads
Billing
Minimize Estimating
In-house Print & Mail
One System
Electronic Bill Presentation
Read to Bill Cycle
Monthly Cycle
Many Billing Options
Payment Processing
In-house Payment Proc
Electronic Payment Methods
Imaging Technology
Local Offices
Close offices
On line processing
Adding pay agents/stations
Few pay agents/stations
Credit and Collections
Deposits - Write-off
Disconnect Rate
Offer payment agreements
No Field Collections
Deposits - Initiation
Outbound calling
Timely disconnection
Late Payment Fees
Credit Scoring
Follow disconnect policy
© PA Consulting Group 2004 CS Results - 22
What Did They Tell BTU ?
 Our Overall Costs are Low
 We Do Not Use Technology as Much as Others
 Answering of Calls Needs Improvement
What Changes Have We Made ?
 Replacing our Phone System
IVR Completed Calls
Change Call Center Process
 Replace CIS System
 Created Formalized Call Center Training
 Outsource Some Field Work During Peak Periods
 Use More Days for Read and Leave
 Considering Eliminating Field Collections
 Look at AMR for Hard to Read
 Track Payment Process Better
How Do We Plan To Go Forward ?