For customers, it is important that we treat them with respect, that we communicate clearly and that we make interaction with them as straightforward as possible.
Transmission
Our transmission customer service activities principally relate to facilitating new connections and maintaining existing connections and relationships with the customers who are already connected. In the US, much of the interconnection work with our transmission customers is performed in conjunction with the independent system operators in the areas that we operate.
Gas distribution
In the UK, we have achieved all our connections standards of service over the year, along with all other standards of service set by Ofgem that relate to our gas transportation services.
During 2007/08, we made around 45,000 new connections to our UK networks (2006/07: 40,000, 2005/06: 50,000). The proportion of planned service interruptions in 2007/08 was 99.175% (2006/07: 98.92%, 2005/06: 93%) compared with a target of 95%, while the proportion of customer complaints responded to within five working days was 96.1% (2006/07: 94.7%, 2005/06: 94.7%) compared with a target of 90%.
Our gas operations in the US met all customer service standards over the past year. We installed around 14,000 new services and added 911 kilometres of new gas main connections to the network.
Electricity distribution
Under our service quality plans, we met or exceeded our customer service targets in Massachusetts. We met or exceeded most of the customer service targets in New York, but incurred a penalty of $1 million (£0.5 million) for missing our customer satisfaction targets.
We believe that lower customer satisfaction in New York is mainly a consequence of a negative reaction to sustained higher commodity prices. However, reliability and service issues are also a factor and we are taking steps to improve customer outreach on managing cost and use, billing quality, responsiveness to customer queries, regulatory complaints and call handling. We also believe that our investment in enhancing reliability will improve the way our customers perceive us.
The safety of the public
In 2007/08, we handled some 3.5 million emergency calls on the UK national gas emergency number on behalf of our networks, other networks and other gas transporters.
In both the UK and US, we again exceeded our regulatory agreed targets on safety-related standards. In the UK, more than 98% of ‘uncontrolled’ gas escapes (where the gas leak cannot be controlled by turning the gas supply off at the meter) were attended within one hour, and more than 99% of ‘controlled’ gas escapes (where the gas leak can be controlled at the meter) were attended within two hours.
In New York, we responded to 83% of gas escapes within 30 minutes (75% target), 96% within 45 minutes (target of 90%), and 99% within 60 minutes (target of 95%). In Rhode Island, we responded to 95% within 30 minutes (target of 91%), and 97% within 45 minutes (target of 93%).