Subchapter B. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR QUALITY OF SERVICE BENCHMARKS AND STANDARDS
See.
62.31. Purpose.
62.32. Definitions.
62.33. Reporting requirements.
62.34. Customer surveys.
62.35. NGDCs with fewer than 100,000 residential accounts.
62.36. Informal complaints to the BCS.
62.37. Public information.
Authority The provisions of this Subchapter B issued under the Natural Gas Choice and Competition Act, 66 Pa.C.S. § 2206(a), unless otherwise noted.
Source The provisions of this Subchapter B adopted December 8, 2000, effective December 9, 2000, 30 Pa.B. 6346, unless otherwise noted.
§ 62.31. Purpose.
(a) This subchapter establishes a means by which the Commission can develop uniform measurement and reporting to assure that the customer services of the NGDCs that are required to file restructuring plans under the act are maintained, at a minimum, at the same level of quality under retail competition.
(b) This subchapter sets forth uniform measurements and reporting requirements for monitoring the level of the customer service performance of two separate classes of these NGDCs:
(1) NGDCs serving more than 100,000 residential customers.
(2) Those NGDCs serving less that 100,000 residential customers.
(c) This subchapter also establishes the effective dates of the reporting requirements.
§ 62.32. Definitions.
The following words and terms, when used in this subchapter, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
Act—Chapter 22 of 66 Pa.C.S. (relating to the natural gas choice and competition act).
BCS—Bureau of Consumer Services of the Commission.
Busy-out rate—The number of calls to an NGDC’s call center or business office that received a busy signal divided by the number of calls that were received.
Call center—A centralized facility established by a utility for transactions concerning installation and repair of service, billing and other inquiries between residential and small commercial customers and NGDCs representatives, but not including special purpose call centers established to respond to service emergencies and operating for a temporary period of time.
Call abandonment rate—The number of calls to an NGDC’s call center or business office that were abandoned divided by the total number of calls received.
Customer—A retail gas customer as defined in section 2202 of the act (relating to definitions).
Informal consumer complaint—An appeal by a consumer to the BCS about a utility’s proposed resolution of a dispute related to billing, service delivery, repairs and all other issues not related to requests for payment arrangements.
Informally verified infraction—An apparent misapplication of Commission regulations as determined by the BCS through its examination of information obtained as part of its review of informal consumer complaints and payment arrangement requests.(i) The informal verification process implemented by the BCS notifies a utility of the information which forms the basis of an alleged infraction, affords the utility the opportunity to affirm or deny the accuracy of the information and concludes with a BCS determination regarding the alleged infraction.
(ii) An informally verified infraction is not equivalent to a formal violation under 66 Pa.C.S. § 3301 (relating to civil penalties for violations) unless otherwise determined through applicable Commission procedures.
Infraction—A misapplication of a Commission regulation, particularly the standards and billing practices for residential service.
Infraction rate—The number of informally verified infractions, as determined by the BCS, per 1,000 residential customers.
Justified informal consumer complaint—A complaint where the BCS has determined that an NGDC did not follow Commission procedures or regulations.
Justified informal consumer complaint rate—The number of justified informal, residential consumer complaints, as determined by the BCS, per 1,000 residential customers.
Justified payment arrangement request—A payment arrangement request where an NGDC did not follow Commission negotiation procedures or regulations.
Justified payment arrangement request rate—The number of justified payment arrangement requests, as determined by the BCS, from residential customers per 1,000 residential customers.
NGDC—Natural gas distribution company.
Payment arrangement request—A customer request for payment terms to the BCS.
Promptness—The state or condition of acting or responding with speed or readiness to a customer’s question, complaint, dispute or request. An example of promptness might be the NGDC responding to a customer’s request for a premise visit with an appointment in 5 days rather than in 5 weeks.
Small business customer—A person, sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, association or other business whose annual gas consumption does not exceed 300 Mcf.
Timeliness—The state or condition of acting at the appropriate or correct time as previously determined or promised when responding to a customer’s question, complaint, dispute or request. An example of timeliness might be an NGDC representative arriving at the customer’s residence on the date and at the time previously agreed upon by the NGDC and the customer.
Transaction survey—A survey targeted toward individuals that have had a recent interaction with an NGDC.§ 62.33. Reporting requirements.
(a) Report deadlines.
(1) Unless otherwise specified in this subchapter, each covered NGDC shall file its first report with the Commission on or before August 1, 2001. The August report shall contain data, reported by month, from the first 6 months of the calendar year, as well as a 6-month cumulative average.
(2) Each NGDC shall file its second report on or before February 1, 2002. The February report shall contain data, reported by month, from the second 6 months of the year as well as a 6-month cumulative average and a 12-month cumulative average for the preceding calendar year.
(3) Thereafter, the NGDCs shall file reports annually with the Secretary of the Commission on or before February 1.
(4) Each report shall contain data, reported by month, as well as a 12-month cumulative average for the preceding calendar year.
(5) Each report shall include the name and telephone number of the utility contact person responsible for the report.
(b) Recordkeeping. Each NGDC shall report the following data to the Commission:
(1) Telephone access.
(i) The percentage of calls answered at each NGDC’s call center within 30 seconds with the NGDC representative ready to render assistance and to accept information necessary to process the call. An acknowledgment that the customer or applicant is waiting on the line does not constitute an answer.
(ii) The average busy-out rate for each call center. If the NGDC reports data for more than one call center, the NGDC should also provide the combined busy-out rate for the NGDC as a whole.
(iii) The call abandonment rate for each call center. If the NGDC reports data for more than one call center, the NGDC should also provide the combined call abandonment rate for the NGDC as a whole.
(2) Billing.
(i) The number and percent of residential bills that the NGDC failed to render once every billing period to residential ratepayers under § 56.11 (relating to billing frequency).
(ii) The number and percent of bills that the NGDC failed to render once every billing period to small business customers.
(3) Meter reading.
(i) The number and percent of residential meters for which the company has failed to obtain an actual or ratepayer supplied reading within the past 6 months to verify the accuracy of estimated readings under § 56.12(4)(ii) (relating to meter reading; estimated billing; or ratepayer readings).
(ii) The number and percent of residential meters for which the company has failed to obtain an actual meter reading within the past 12 months to verify the accuracy of the readings, either estimated or ratepayer read under § 56.12(4)(iii).
(iii) The number and percent of residential remote meters for which it has failed to obtain an actual meter reading at least once every 5 years to verify the accuracy of the remote reading device under § 56.12(5)(i).
(4) Response to disputes. The actual number of disputes as described in Chapter 56, Subchapter F (relating to disputes; termination disputes; informal and formal complaints) for which the company did not provide a response to the complaining party within 30 days of the initiation of the dispute under § 56.151(5) (relating to general rule).
(c) Comparison. Each NGDC report to the Commission shall contain an analysis and comparison of the quality of service data in each performance area during the most recent report period with its previous service quality in these areas.
Cross References This section cited in 52 Pa. Code § 62.35 (relating to NGDCs with fewer than 100,000 residential accounts).
§ 62.34. Customer surveys.
Each NGDC shall report to the Commission the results of telephone transaction surveys of customers who have had interactions with the NGDC.
(1) Purpose. The purpose of the transaction surveys shall be to assess the customer perception regarding the most recent interaction with the NGDC. Survey questions shall measure access to the utility, employe courtesy, employe knowledge, promptness of NGDC response or visit, timeliness of the NGDC response or visit and satisfaction with the handling of the interaction.
(2) Questions. The transaction survey questions shall specifically address the circumstances that generated the most recent transaction. Interaction categories shall include the following:
(i) Credit/collection.
(ii) Billing.
(iii) Reliability and safety.
(iv) Service installation and application.
(v) Service disconnection.
(vi) Other similar interactions.
(3) Uniform data. The NGDCs shall carry out the transaction survey process using survey questionnaires, sample selection procedures, methods of conducting the surveys and any other procedures associated with the survey to provide the Commission with uniform data that can be used to directly compare customer service performance among NGDCs in this Commonwealth.
(4) Timely response. A customer or consumer being surveyed shall be contacted within 30 days of the date that the interaction with the NGDC took place.
(5) Sampling plan. The sampling plan shall be designed so that the results are statistically valid within plus or minus 5 percentage points.
(6) Commission approval. On or before December 1, 2001, the Commission will approve the survey questionnaire, as well as procedures for case selection, sampling, conducting the survey, analyzing results and reporting to the Commission.
(7) Timetable.
(i) The first report on survey results shall be submitted to the Commission on or before October 1, 2002. The October report shall contain survey results, reported by month, from the first 6 months of the calendar year.
(ii) The second report shall be submitted on or before April 1, 2003. The April report shall contain results, reported by month, from the second 6 months of the previous year as well as cumulative 12-month results.
(iii) Thereafter, the NGDC shall submit survey results annually, on or before April 1.
(iv) Each annual report shall contain results reported by month as well as cumulative 12-month results.
Cross References This section cited in 52 Pa. Code § 62.35 (relating to NGDCs with fewer than 100,000 residential accounts).
§ 62.35. NGDCs with fewer than 100,000 residential accounts.
Beginning September 1, 2002, each NGDC with less than 100,000 residential accounts shall report to the Commission the following information in lieu of § § 62.33 and 62.34 (relating to reporting requirements; and customer surveys):
(1) The results of a mail survey of a sample of the NGDC customers who have had interactions with a representative of the NGDC. The survey sample shall consist of every 10th consumer who has contacted the company.
(2) The mail survey shall address the circumstances that generated the customer/company transaction
(3) Each NGDC shall use the same mail survey questionnaire which shall be developed by the BCS with advice from the relevant NGDCs. The mail survey questions shall measure customer perceptions regarding:
(i) Access to the utility.
(ii) Employe courtesy.
(iii) Employe knowledge.
(iv) Promptness and timeliness of the utility representative response.
(v) Satisfaction with the NGDC representative’s handling of the interaction.
(4) The mail survey questionnaire shall be mailed to a customer within 30 days of the date that the transaction took place.
(5) The first report on survey results shall be submitted to the Commission on or before September 1, 2002. The September report shall contain survey results from the first 6 months of the calendar year.
(6) The second report shall be submitted on or before March 1, 2003, and shall contain survey results from the second 6 months of the calendar year.
(7) Thereafter, the NGDC shall submit survey results annually, on or before March 1.
§ 62.36. Informal complaints to the BCS.
(a) The BCS will review and analyze residential informal consumer complaints and payment arrangement requests filed with the Commission and will report the justified informal consumer complaint rate and the justified payment arrangement request rate for each NGDC with more than 100,00 residential accounts to the Commission on an annual basis.
(b) The BCS will report to the Commission the number of informally verified infractions of applicable statutes and regulations relating to the treatment of residential accounts by each NGDC with more than 100,000 residential accounts. The BCS will calculate and report to the Commission an infraction rate for each NGDC with more than 100,000 residential accounts.
§ 62.37. Public information.
The Commission will annually produce a summary report on the customer service performance of each covered NGDC using the statistics collected as a result of these reporting requirements. The reports will be public information. The Commission will provide the reports to any interested party and post the reports on the Commission’s World Wide Website.
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