Grant PUD reviews customer survey

Residential customers surveyed every two years

EPHRATA — Customer satisfaction, reliability, affordability and getting the word out were some of the topics during discussion of a survey of Grant County PUD residential customers. The survey was conducted in October; employees with an outside contractor talked with 400 residential customers. Utility district employees reviewed the results for commissioners Tuesday.

The survey is conducted every two years. Chief customer officer Dave Churchman said PUD officials try to talk to other customer groups in the years when there is no residential customer survey.

Respondents lived throughout Grant County and were split evenly between men and women. Thirty percent were between 18 and 34 years of age and 52 percent have lived in Grant County more than 20 years. The survey asked questions about the PUD’s fiber system; 43 percent of respondents were fiber customers.

Andrew Munro, PUD senior manager of external affairs, said 82 percent of the people surveyed were satisfied with the PUD’s service, and 8 percent were dissatisfied. Munro said 10 percent didn’t have an opinion either way.

The number of people who thought electrical service was unaffordable dropped to 11 percent, from 14 percent in 2017. But more people within that 11 percent were dissatisfied with the PUD’s service overall, Munro said.

Commissioner Dale Walker said he heard the results of a similar survey at a recent meeting. In that case the survey team asked respondents what they considered affordable. (The answer, in that survey, was $2 per day.) Walker said he wanted to know what Grant County PUD customers would consider affordable.

When it came to specific issues, 91 percent of respondents said the PUD did a good or excellent job of minimizing electrical outages, and 70 percent said it was doing a good job of keeping rates low. More respondents (86 percent) thought the PUD was providing good customer service than was the case in 2017, and 74 percent said the utility was doing a good job communicating with customers. Respondents also were more satisfied with fiber service; 58 percent thought the PUD was doing a good job providing high-speed internet access.

Public affairs director Chuck Allen said about 37 percent of the respondents who thought they didn’t have access to the PUD’s fiber network actually do have access. One of the jobs going forward will be spreading the word about the fiber system, Allen said. Officials also will work on letting customers know that rates will be unchanged in 2020, and have been unchanged since 2018. Utility district officials also are working to pay down some of the PUD debt, and employees also will work to inform PUD customers about that, Allen said.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.