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Press information Finnish Electricity Companies 2007 according to the EPSI Rating Customer Satisfaction Study
These are some of the results from the latest EPSI Rating study concerning customers’ satisfaction with the electricity companies in Finland. The interviews were done in November and December 2007. The data for the research was gathered by telephone interviews. Both corporate and private customers were interviewed. In all EPSI Rating studies, the customer satisfaction index is the most central measurement. It can take values between 0 and 100 where 100 means that all customers are very satisfied. However, other measurements are included as well. These are known as important drivers and consist of company images, customer expectations, product and service quality, value for money. These drivers together with customer satisfaction result in customer loyalty. Results concerning private customers' satisfaction with their electricity companies are presented below. From the private customers, Helsinki Energy and other local companies receive the best satisfaction indexes
This year, Helsinki Energy seems to have the most satisfied private customers among the electricity companies with an index of 76,3. Next comes the group “Other companies” with an index of 74,9. The other companies are local companies who may be nation widely small, but in their own local regions they may be major players. At the bottom of the table are Fortum with an index of 65,3 and Vattenfall with an index of 64,7. These indexes are so near to each other that the difference between them is not statistically significant. Fortum’s customer satisfaction has improved significantly Results concerning private customers' satisfaction with their electricity companies in 2006 and 2007 are presented below.
When comparing the satisfaction indexes to the last year, it can be seen that all companies have been able to increase their customer satisfaction. Fortum has improved its index most, by 11,9 index points. See also the figure below.  Big differences in private customer loyalty indexes In this study, the Loyalty Index is measured by customers’ intentions to stay with their current electricity provider, and how they talk about their company to other people, and if they would like to recommend the company to their friends etc. From the below table and figure, private customer loyalty indexes can be seen.
 All companies have been able to increase their loyalty indexes. Especially, Fortum’s index has increased significantly, by 10,2 index points. However, there still are rather big differences in electricity companies´ private customer loyalty indexes. The difference between the group “Other companies” and Fortum in their loyalty indexes is still as large as 15,7 index points. Fortum’s and Vattenfall’s profiles seem to be identical in private customer eyes Next figure presents also all the indexes for each company: Image, Expectations (Expec), Product quality (ProdQ), Service quality (ServQ), Value for money (Value), Customer Satisfaction (= EPSI) and Customer Loyalty (Loyal).  From the figure, it can be noted that the profiles of Fortum and Vattenfall follow each other in every aspect, as well as, the profiles of Helsinki Energy and other local companies. On the corporate customer side Helsinki Energy is the only company whose customer satisfaction index has decreased Results concerning corporate customers' satisfaction with their electricity company are below.
 The group Other companies has the most satisfied corporate customers with an index of 73,9. Next is Helsinki Energy who received an index of 71,6. It can be noted that it has a decrease of 2,6 index points. Fortum's satisfaction index on the corporate customer side is 66,0 and Vattenfall's 62,8. Both of them have been able to increase their corporate customer satisfaction by over 2 index points. In service quality, Vattenfall receives the lowest scores Next figure presents all the indexes given by the corporate customers to their company: Image, Expectations, Product quality, Service quality, Value for money, Customer Satisfaction (EPSI) and Customer Loyalty.  From the figure above, it can be seen that the indexes of the companies differ greatly. Vattenfall receives the lowest scores in every domain: image, product quality, service quality, value for money, customer satisfaction, and loyalty. Especially, the score Vattenfall receives for its service quality from its corporate customers seems to be significantly lower than others. Unexpected electricity cuts far less than earlier This year, 25 per cent of the private households remember that they have had unexpected electricity cuts during the last 12 months. Last year, the same figure was as high as 39 %. Corporate customers remember more often to have experienced unexpected electricity cuts than private household. As many as 44 % of the respondents in the corporate side remember that they have had unexpected electricity cuts during the last 12 months.
The EPSI Rating study The data for the research was gathered by telephone interviews. Both private customers and corporate customers from each company were interviewed. From each company which are mentioned by name, 200-250 private customers and 130 - 200 corporate customers were interviewed. The respondents were selected by randomization procedures to participate in the research. The respondents represent each company’s own customer base. This research is part of European Customer Satisfaction Research, EPSI Rating. It is coordinated by the Swedish Institute of Quality and the Stockholm School of Economics. In Sweden, the same methodology has been in use since the year 1984, and it already covers a major portion of the Swedish economy. In Finland as well, it is the intention to gradually expand the research to cover the Finnish economy. Earlier this year, results from banking, telecom, and insurance sectors have been released. The research is coordinated in Finland by Dr. Juhani Kuokkanen. Next, the results of the DIY study will be released, 21st of January. For additional information, please contact: |
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