WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif., March 10, 2004 -- While small businesses may spend less each month on their electric bills than larger businesses, they are less satisfied with their local electric utility than businesses that spend more, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2004 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study^SM released Wednesday.

The study finds that utility companies receive a lower average customer satisfaction index score among business customers spending between $500 and $1,500 per month on electricity than among businesses spending more than $1,500 per month.

"It is often assumed that small businesses are like residential customers in their perceptions and expectations of customer service in the utility industry, but we're finding that is just not the case," said Alan Destribats, executive director of the utility practice at J.D. Power and Associates. "Not only are small businesses less satisfied with their utilities than are larger businesses, they are much less satisfied than residential customers. This is a dilemma for electricity providers because the factors that are important to small businesses are the same as for any other business customers."

The study is based on interviews with representatives of more than 10,700 U.S. businesses that spend between $500 and $50,000 monthly on electricity. Overall customer satisfaction is based on six factors: power quality and reliability; customer service; company image; billing and payment; price; and communications.

The study also shows that customer service has become more of a differentiator of satisfaction among business customers. When business customers contact their electric utility, their service experience has more impact on their overall satisfaction than does any other factor. Most businesses (75%) had at least one point of contact with their electric utility within the past year.

East Region

Duquesne Light and PPL Electric Utilities rank highest in a tie in overall customer satisfaction in the East Region. Duquesne performs particularly well in the power quality and reliability and communications factors, while PPL performs particularly well in customer service, billing and payment, and price. Other strong performers among East Region utilities are Baltimore Gas and Electric and Exelon-PECO.

Midwest Region

MidAmerican Energy ranks highest in overall customer satisfaction in the Midwest Region, with particularly high ratings in power quality and reliability and customer service. Other utilities in the Midwest Region with strong performances include Alliant Energy, Xcel Energy-Midwest, LG&E Energy and We Energies.

South Region

Southern Company ranks highest in overall customer satisfaction in the South Region, with strong ratings in all six factors. Other strong performers in the South Region are Progress Energy, City Public Service (San Antonio) and FPL.

West Region

Salt River Project ranks highest in overall satisfaction in the West Region and receives the highest overall customer satisfaction index score in the study. Salt River Project performs particularly well in company image, billing and payment, and communications. Other utilities performing well in the West Region are Sacramento Municipal Utility District, Portland General Electric and Arizona Public Service.

Headquartered in Westlake Village, Calif., J.D. Power and Associates is an ISO 9001-registered global marketing information services firm operating in key business sectors including market research, forecasting, consulting, training and customer satisfaction. The firm's quality and satisfaction measurements are based on responses from millions of consumers annually.

To view the full report with four informative graphics, download the following PDF file from J.D. Power and Associates' web site:

http://www.jdpower.com/pdf/2004022.pdf