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Energy Competition Strategy Report

ATLANTA, GA., February 13, 2001 - BUSINESS WIRE -  One of the hottest trends in corporate America is making inroads in the energy industry.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) teaches users, such as deregulated electric and gas utilities and other energy suppliers, to boost profits by enhancing relationships with existing customers, rather than focusing so heavily on new customer acquisition.

Why? Simple mathematics. It costs less for any business to keep a customer than to find and sell a new one. As they come to this realization, many energy companies in the highly competitive deregulated business environment are hopping on the CRM bandwagon, reports the February issue of Energy Competition Strategy Report, published by Atlanta-based NHI Publications.

The report details the CRM strategies being employed by several leading companies, including Massachusetts Electric Co. - which is focusing on web-based customer service enhancements - and Newark, NJ-based Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G). Among its key strategies, PSE&G surveys customers to determine a list of attributes the consumers expect to experience in their dealings with the energy provider. Then, PSE&G evaluates its customer service professionals using the criteria identified by its customers as important.

Using its CRM strategies, despite being in the first year of deregulation, PSE&G boasts a 20% decline in complaints - while most other utilities in newly competitive markets cite significant increases in customer complaints.

Here are other highlights of this month's issue of Energy Competition Strategy Report:

Making marketplace connections online. As an aid in the deregulated energy environment, 21 energy companies recently invested $100 million to form an independent, online marketplace called Pantellos that connects buyers and suppliers. The cyberbusiness opened on January 1, 2001, with a large energy company and its supplier completing the first transaction. ECSR describes how the efficiency and cost savings Pantellos promises will help utilities become more competitive.

Security assessments often overlook operations systems. A member of Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) notes that utility power control systems usually escape information technology security scrutiny because historically these control systems weren't integrated with the newer IT systems. But a solution is at hand, says an IT professional at a large Midwestern utility.

How technology empowers customers to Handle service requests and queries. A Canadian natural gas utility and its systems integrator vendor put together a new customer information system to Handle deregulation in an operation characterized by one of the utility's executives as "one of the smoothest rollouts in 21 years."

Energy products: what works, what doesn't. A recent study from a national research firm identified more than 1,500 products now available to energy consumers. ECSR reviews the best and the worst, and reports why some products worked, others didn't, and what energy companies should be doing as they develop new products for the deregulated marketplace.

Retain employees and boost productivity during a merger. During a merger or acquisition, companies often see their best employees leave while productivity may disintegrate. An internal branding program can help avoid those problems and help boost stock returns.

California's energy woes. A former high-ranking federal energy policy official reveals California's deregulation pitfalls and silver linings.

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