20010116Order No 28929.doc

BEFORE THE IDAHO PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION

in the matter of THE PETITION OF PacifiCorp TO MODIFY ORDER NO. 28213 TO ELIMINATE 80/10 CALL CENTER RESPONSE CUSTOMER PERFORMANCE STANDARD. )
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CASE NO. PAC-E-01-14

ORDER NO. 28929

On October 16, 2001, a petition was filed by PacifiCorp asking the Commission to modify Order No. 28213 issued November 15, 1999 in Case No. PAC-E-99-1. In that Order the Commission approved the merger of PacifiCorp and Scottish Power PLC, subject to various terms and conditions. Included in the conditions ordered by the Commission are performance standards and customer guarantees, including a goal to reduce customer wait time on calls to PacifiCorp’s service center. Within 120 days after completion of the merger, PacifiCorp was to reduce customer wait time so that 80% of calls were answered within 30 seconds (“80/30”). Effective January 1, 2001, the goal became 80% of calls answered in 20 seconds (“80/20”), and starting January 1, 2002, 80% of calls are to be answered in 10 seconds (the “80/10” standard). By its Petition, PacifiCorp asks the Commission to eliminate the 80/10 standard. PacifiCorp states that it met the 80/30 target as required, and currently is meeting the 80/20 requirement.
PacifiCorp asserts that, when it volunteered to commit to the 80/10 standard, “today’s energy environment with tight energy supplies, volatility in energy markets and the increase in the number of programs (e.g., customer energy challenge, increased interest in demand side management programs, etc.) was not envisioned.” According to PacifiCorp, this environment has created an unanticipated increase in the volume of calls, as well as more complex calls, to PacifiCorp’s business centers. In addition, PacifiCorp obtained a Residential Focus Group Research Report indicating that the goal of answering 80% of calls within ten seconds is unnecessary and not particularly important to customers. To illustrate the point, PacifiCorp refers to its own research showing that customer satisfaction with call center wait times was 70.4% “very satisfied” while the 80/30 standard was in place, and was 70.2% “very satisfied” during 2001 while the 80/20 standard was in place. The Company also asserts that according to the Edison Electric Institute’s 2001 Call Center Benchmarking Study, PacifiCorp’s call center service level is among the best in the United States.
The Commission on November 9, 2001, issued a Notice of Petition and Notice of Modified Procedure, establishing a period of 21 days for written comments to be filed on PacifiCorp’s Petition. Written comments were filed only by the Commission Staff, which recommended approval of the request to eliminate the 80/10 standard.
The Commission has determined to grant PacifiCorp’s request to eliminate the 80/10 requirement. Prior to its merger with ScottishPower, PacifiCorp’s goal was to answer 80% of customer calls within 45 seconds. Even this standard was difficult for the Company to achieve. During 1998, only 55% of calls were answered within 45 seconds at PacifiCorp’s Portland Business Center, and 49% of calls to the Wasatch Business Center were answered within 45 seconds. Since then, PacifiCorp has significantly improved its performance in customer call answering time. For example, during September 2001, 84% of calls from Idaho customers were answered within 20 seconds. The Company currently is meeting the 80/20 call answer standard.
Prior to the PacifiCorp-ScottishPower merger, it was not unusual that customers filed complaints with the Commission regarding call response times. In contrast, Staff reported that no customers had complained about call answer times from January through November 2001, when Staff filed its comments. In testimony presented in the merger case, Case No. PAC-E-99-1, Staff witness Barker testified that the generally accepted industry standard for call answer time is the 80/20 standard. The Commission finds that meeting the 80/10 standard would only place additional demands on Company resources without providing a meaningful benefit to customers. The Commission accordingly grants PacifiCorp’s petition to eliminate the 80/10 call center response performance standard.
O R D E R
IT IS HEREBY ORDERED that the Petition of PacifiCorp to modify Order No. 28213 to eliminate the 80/10 call center response customer performance standard is granted. The 80/20 call response standard shall remain in effect for PacifiCorp’s service centers.
THIS IS A FINAL ORDER. Any person interested in this Order (or in issues finally decided by this Order) or in interlocutory Orders previously issued in this Case No. PACE0114 may petition for reconsideration within twenty-one (21) days of the service date of this Order with regard to any matter decided in this Order or in interlocutory Orders previously issued in this Case No. PAC-E-01-14. Within seven (7) days after any person has petitioned for reconsideration, any other person may cross-petition for reconsideration. See Idaho Code § 61-626.
DONE by Order of the Idaho Public Utilities Commission at Boise, Idaho this
day of January 2002.

PAUL KJELLANDER, PRESIDENT

MARSHA H. SMITH, COMMISSIONER

Comm. Hansen Dissents Without Opinion
DENNIS S. HANSEN, COMMISSIONER

ATTEST:

Jean D. Jewell
Commission Secretary

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ORDER NO. 28929 1

Office of the Secretary
Service Date
January 16, 2002