Considering the high stakes of public health associated with residential water delivery and quality, the state of a water utility’s infrastructure is critical to customer satisfaction and, therefore, to a utility’s ability to garner support from customers and other stakeholders forimprovements, says the J.D. Power 2016 Water Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction StudySM, released in mid-May. In the most comprehensive ‘Voice of the Customer’ study of its kind, the inaugural study measures satisfaction among residential customers of 84 water utilities, each delivering water to a population of at least 400,000 people and reported in four geographic regions: Midwest, Northeast, South and West. Overall satisfaction is measured by examining 33 attributes within six factors (listed in order of importance): delivery; price; billing and payment; conservation; communications and customer service. Satisfaction is calculated on a 1,000-point scale.
The study was based on more than 20,000 responses, representing more than 83 million residential customers of the 84 largest water utilities across the United States. It was fielded in March. Click here for the full press release.