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Sacramento Municipal Utility District wins Chartwell Best Practices Award for Fostering Relationships with Mid-Size Businesses
Sacramento Municipal Utility District wins Chartwell Best Practices Award for Fostering Relationships with Mid-Size Businesses
SAN ANTONIO – The 2007 Chartwell Best Practices Award for Fostering Relationships with Mid-Size Businesses was presented to Sacramento Municipal Utility District at Chartwell’s annual Best Practices Summit on Fostering Relationships with Mid-Size Businesses May 18 in San Antonio.
The award – one of several Chartwell Best Practice Awards – honors the most innovative utility customer service, marketing and/or communications initiatives aimed at building goodwill, improving customer satisfaction and increasing loyalty among business customers. A number of utilities from across North America entered the competition.
A panel of Chartwell research analysts in customer service and utility marketing chose SMUD’s Realigning and Refocusing for Middle Accounts program as the award winner for its innovation, execution and results. SMUD’s innovative cross-functional service team concept and significant improvements in business customer satisfaction catapulted the entry into the top spot.
“SMUD officials clearly defined the mid-size business market and continue to seek improvement in their mid-size business practices,” said Jennifer Allen, Chartwell senior research analyst. “This initiative is the epitome of what we look for in the award process.”
The award was presented at The Chartwell Summit on Fostering Relationships with Mid-Size Businesses. More than 50 utility professionals attended the two-day Summit that featured presentations by J.D. Power & Associates and customer service and marketing professionals from some of the nation’s top-ranked and most innovative utilities.
Maggie Rogers, SMUD business manager, accepted the award and described the program in detail during a Summit session.
“It is an honor for SMUD to be recognized by Chartwell with this Best Practice Award,” said Clifton Lewis, a supervisor in the commercial services department. “This award is a reflection on the district’s and staff’s commitment to provide excellent customer services, cutting edge and innovative programs to our mid-sized business customers.”
SMUD’s mid-sized program began in 2002 by segmenting the district’s business customers by revenue, with mid-sized customer defined as customers providing annual revenue of $25,000 to $110,000 to the district. The district further segmented these customers into industry segments to identify and deliver individualized services and programs to eight business segments.
A full case study on SMUD’s account management program will be published in an upcoming issue of Chartwell’s Best Practices for Utilities & Energy Companies newsletter.
Other Chartwell Best Practice Awards focus on residential customer service, utility marketing, and other areas of utility operations. Chartwell holds a number of Best Practice Summits on various topics throughout the year as well, including Advanced Metering and Customer Self-Service.
For more information on the awards, summits or newsletter, contact Jennifer Allen, senior research analyst, at jallen@chartwellinc.com or 404-237-9099.
Chartwell Inc. seeks to provide a better understanding of technologies, issues and management practices in the utility and retail energy services industry through best practices case studies and quantitative research.
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District is the nation’s sixth largest community-owned electric system in terms of customers served. SMUD provides services to more than 500,000 customers (1.1 million residents) over a 900-square-mile area that includes Sacramento County, Calif. and a small portion of Placer County, Calif.
