SAN DIEGO, Oct. 18, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Last night, SDG&E was recognized by PA Consulting Group as the recipient of the 2007 ReliabilityOne(tm) award in the Western Region, as well as a ServiceOne award. The ReliabilityOne(tm) award is given annually to utilities that have excelled in delivering reliable electric service to their customers, while the ServiceOne award is given annually to recognize utilities for their excellence in providing exceptional service.
"Being recognized as the "best in the West" for reliability two years in a row and for customer service is an amazing accomplishment," said Debra L. Reed, president and chief executive officer for SDG&E. "These awards are a testament to our employees' hard work, dedication and commitment and validate what they do every day on the job to serve our customers."
All utilities operating electric delivery networks in North America are eligible for consideration for the ReliabilityOne(tm) award. There are a total of five regional awards including Mid-Atlantic, Southeast, Midwest, Plains, and West; and one to a community utility. The selection of provisional recipients is based primarily on system reliability statistics that measure the frequency and duration of customer outages. After provisional recipients are selected, each company undergoes an on-site certification process, which provides an independent review of the policies, processes and systems used to collect, analyze and report a company's reliability results.
"I'm often asked to comment on the secret to outstanding reliability performance," said Jeff Lewis, PA's ReliabilityOne(tm) Program Director. "While many factors contribute to outstanding reliability such as system design, geography, maintenance practices, etc.; ReliabilityOne(tm) recipients distinguish themselves through their organization's commitment to reliability. I see a cultural focus on reliability that is evident across the organization from senior management to the trouble-shooters and linemen in the field and that dedication reveals itself everyday in the prevention of outages both small and large and the effective restoration of customers when outages do occur."
The ServiceOne award is based on a set of criteria that covers nearly all the functional areas within customer service operations typical for a North American utility. These functional areas include the contact center, billing, payment, revenue protection, credit and collections, meter reading and safety. Utilities that participate in PA Consulting Group's annual Polaris performance benchmarking program are considered for a ServiceOne award. While PA administers the program, an advisory committee consisting of members within the Polaris program provides advice regarding its content and criteria.
"The customers of this year's ServiceOne Award recipients are fortunate to be served by utilities that are not satisfied with the status quo and accept the more difficult commitment to achieving the highest levels of customer service quality," said Mike Hormell, PA's ServiceOne Program Director. "By taking this challenge seriously and raising the bar for service performance, SDG&E has created tremendous benefit for customers at home and across the industry."
SDG&E currently serves 3.4 million consumers through 1.4 million electric meters and more than 830,000 natural gas meters. The utility's service area spans 4,100 square miles and serves customers in more than 125 communities from Southern Orange County to the Mexican border. SDG&E is a regulated subsidiary of Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE). Sempra Energy, based in San Diego, is a Fortune 500 energy services holding company. To learn more, go to www.sdge.com.
PA Consulting Group is a leading management, systems and technology consulting firm. Operating worldwide in more than 35 countries, PA draws on the knowledge and experience of 3,000 people, whose skills extend from the initial generation of ideas, insights and solutions all the way through to detailed implementation. This benefits-driven approach is founded on our strength in innovation, our responsiveness to our clients' needs, and our unyielding focus on delivery. All of our work and support is based on deep sector insight and expertise, and we work across the private and public sectors, with particular strengths in energy, financial services, life sciences & healthcare, government & public services, manufacturing, defense and telecommunications.