EPHRATA — Grant County Public Utility District commissioners heard an overall satisfactory report on customer satisfaction from Alex Dunn, vice president of research with Strategies 360 which conducts the PUD’s annual customer satisfaction survey. 

“We don’t see a lot of public entities that have scores like these, and I think there’s multiple reasons for that. The economy, certainly people’s unease is making those levels of satisfaction are more difficult to achieve,” Dunn said during a presentation to the PUD commissioners.

The generally satisfactory scores were based on the responses of 400 Grant PUD rate payers, he said, who were contacted in a variety of ways including phone calls, text messages, emails and other means and matched the overall demographics of Grant County in regard to race, languages spoken and other factors. The survey is considered accurate with an error rate of plus or minus 4.9% and included questions about those surveyed and about the PUD’s services. Survey responses were collected from Oct. 23 to Oct. 29 of last year. Most respondents, 73%, were from Moses Lake, or the area encompassing Ephrata, Quincy and Soap Lake. Slightly more than half of the responses were from Caucasians, 53%, and about 40% identified as Hispanic. 

Dunn said one of the key factors associated with customer satisfaction was the respondent’s financial situation. Strategies 360 asked the respondents whether they lived comfortably and could save for the future. Yes responses logged in at 43%, while “I can get by every month but I struggle to save money or pay for unexpected expenses,” was the response for 44% of respondents. Another 11% said they find it difficult to make ends meet on a monthly basis. 

Overall satisfaction with the PUD came in at 84% of respondents. Another 7% said they were dissatisfied and 9% had no strong opinion on the PUD’s overall service.

Over time, the general satisfaction for the PUD has been fairly consistent, with scores ranging between 82% and 90% since 2015 and dissatisfaction ranging from %% to 8% over that same period. Those facing financial difficulties were more likely to be dissatisfied, Dunn said, with dissatisfaction among those with financial challenges at 14%, when that group’s responses were examined separately from the rest of the respondents. 

With general service questions, those surveyed were generally happy with Grant PUD’s ability to keep power outages to a minimum, providing good customer service and keeping prices as low as possible. 

The survey did occur before a 3% increase in rates in December, and it is unknown how that would impact responses. 

Communication, protecting and enhancing natural resources and maintaining the PUD’s public recreation sites came in lower, but still, more than 60% of respondents in those categories indicated that the PUD did an “excellent” or “good” job in that area. Dunn said it appeared that some of the issues the PUD has in those areas may be a matter of improving communication and education with the general public.

“We’ve done focus groups in the past with the PUD,” Dunn said. “I think what we found is that people just feel a bit less clear about the PUD’s role in some of these areas, so they tend to drop into more of a kind of middle category of, good but not really sure, good but not excellent, or (respondents) just don’t feel like they have enough information to answer that question. We’re not seeing a real spike in terms of people who are saying that you’re doing a poor job.”

Ratepayers said they had certain things they wanted the PUD to prioritize.  Most said they wanted power outages kept to a minimum, prices kept low and easy access to high-speed internet.

More than half, 55%, of those surveyed said they’d communicated with Grant PUD staff during the prior 12-month period. Of those, 89% indicated they were happy with the staff interaction and only 4% said they were dissatisfied, with the remainder not having any strong feelings either way about the experience they had with PUD staff.

With affordability as the second most important issue identified by those surveyed, 88% said they felt their electric bill was affordable, and 11%, matching with those who saw financial difficulties, said the bill is not affordable.

For those who are having difficulty paying their Grant PUD bill, the utility district has programs to help those who qualify. By calling 509-766-2505 between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., representatives can help set up payment arrangements, screen to see if the customer qualifies for financial assistance or can provide information on how to contact other agencies who may be able to help with electric expenses. 

When it comes to communication, 35% of respondents said they get information about the PUD from their bills; 28% said they keep an eye on social media; 25% use the PUD’s website; direct phone calls and the PUD newsletter accounted for 21% each; and traditional media accounted for 17% of respondents. 

PUD board president Tom Flint asked PUD staff how the information in the survey might be used to better communicate with the PUD’s constituents. 

Grant PUD Senior Manager of External Affairs and Communications Chuck Allen said the district should take the information from the survey and use it to leverage the most commonly used channels of communication more often while maintaining the lesser-used modes to ensure a broad reach. 

“You could look at this and you could say, ‘Well, maybe we should have less of an emphasis put in traditional advertising, traditional media like newspapers and things like that.’ We don’t want to do that though because the people who do get their information from a newspaper, that is a vital source for them for information,” Allen said.

Those surveyed also indicated they were interested in the PUD having an app for smartphones and tablets and were using digital means to get access to their accounts, Dunn said. 

Internet service was also deemed satisfactory, with 87% of people saying they were very or somewhat satisfied with their high-speed internet connections. Generally, internet infrastructure in Grant County is provided and maintained by the PUD, though service is managed through a variety of providers like iFiber and Vyve.

While the survey did identify opportunities to improve communication and education for community members, Dunn said the results were above average for a public entity, in his experience.

“You all should feel good, I think, about that relationship that (the PUD has) with the residential customer base,” Dunn told commissioners. 

R. Hans “Rob” Miller may be reached at editor@columbiabasinherald.com.