SHREVEPORT, La., Nov. 18, 2020 – For the first time, Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO), an American Electric Power (Nasdaq: AEP) company, ranks No. 1 among midsize utilities in the South in the J.D. Power 2020 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction StudySM.
“From delivering safe, reliable and affordable electricity to helping businesses save energy and money, the SWEPCO Team is proud to be part of the strong and vibrant communities it serves. This award demonstrates our progress in pursuit of excellent customer service,” said Malcolm Smoak, SWEPCO president and chief operating officer. “SWEPCO employees are committed to meeting customers’ expectations, especially with the challenges everyone is facing during the pandemic.”
SWEPCO scored highest in the midsize South segment of business customers for power quality and reliability; billing and payment; and customer contact. The J.D. Power study examines overall business customer satisfaction across six factors: power quality and reliability; corporate citizenship; price; billing and payment; communications; and customer contact.
“We’ve made customer satisfaction a priority, and we work hard at it every day,” Smoak said. “We’ve added customer-focused tools that take advantage of technology, improved our outage and storm communications, managed operating costs, and invested in facilities for a stronger and more reliable electric system. We put these tools to work when the pandemic limited our ability to interact with customers and the community and we faced unprecedented damage from Hurricanes Laura and Delta.”
To support our small business customers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, SWEPCO created a web-based resource center with information on federal aid made available to our customers. In addition, call center representatives provided dedicated support for small businesses that want to apply for federal Small Business Administration (SBA) programs.
The 2020 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study, now in its 22nd year, measures satisfaction among business customers of 86 targeted U.S. electric utilities, each of which serves more than 40,000 business customers. In aggregate, these utilities provide electricity to more than 12 million customers.
The study is based on responses from 18,457 online interviews of business customers in decision-making roles related to their utility company. The study was fielded from February through October 2020.
About Southwestern Electric Power Co. (SWEPCO)
SWEPCO, an American Electric Power (AEP: Nasdaq) company, serves more than 543,000 customers in northwest and central Louisiana, northeast Texas and the Texas Panhandle, and western Arkansas. SWEPCO’s headquarters are in Shreveport, La. News releases and other information about SWEPCO can be found at SWEPCO.com. Connect with us at Facebook.com/SWEPCO, Twitter.com/SWEPCOnews, Instagram.com/swepco, Youtube.com/SWEPCOtv, LinkedIn.com/company/swepco and SWEPCOConnections.com.
About American Electric Power (AEP)
American Electric Power, based in Columbus, Ohio, is focused on building a smarter energy infrastructure and delivering new technologies and custom energy solutions to our customers. AEP’s approximately 17,000 employees operate and maintain the nation’s largest electricity transmission system and more than 221,000 miles of distribution lines to efficiently deliver safe, reliable power to nearly 5.5 million regulated customers in 11 states. AEP also is one of the nation’s largest electricity producers with approximately 30,000 megawatts of diverse generating capacity, including more than 5,300 megawatts of renewable energy. AEP’s family of companies includes utilities AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana, east Texas and the Texas Panhandle). AEP also owns AEP Energy, AEP Energy Partners, AEP OnSite Partners, and AEP Renewables, which provide innovative competitive energy solutions nationwide. For more information, visit aep.com.
MEDIA CONTACTS:
SWEPCO Corporate Communications
Carey Sullivan (318) 673-3458
Peter Main (479) 973-2526