HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - April 12, 2005 SSCITY OF LODI
INFORMAL INFORMATIONAL MEETING
"SHIRTSLEEVE" SESSION
CARNEGIE FORUM, 305 WEST PINE STREET
TUESDAY, APRIL 12, 2005
An Informal Informational Meeting ("Shirtsleeve" Session) of the Lodi City Council was held Tuesday,
April 12, 2005, commencing at 7:02 a.m.
A. ROLL CALL
Present: Council Members — Hansen, Hitchcock, Johnson, Mounce, and Mayor Beckman
Absent: Council Members — None
Also Present: City Manager King, City Attorney Schwabauer, and City Clerk Blackston
B. TOPIC(S)
B-1 "RKS Residential Customer Survey"
Electric Utility Director Vallow reported that every two years the California Municipal Utilities
Association (CMUA) conducts a survey of businesses. Every other survey includes
residential customers. The results provide a measurement of whether programs are
effective. The survey that will be presented today was for residential customers, in which
Lodi Electric Utility had a special "over sampling" done.
Dick Claeys, Vice President of RKS Research & Consulting, stated that the overall goal of
the CMUA Statewide Survey of California Residential Customers Served by Municipal
Utilities is to maintain and update measures of residential customer satisfaction with the
performance of municipal utilities. The survey is commissioned by the CMUA, and
participating municipal utilities pay the cost for the study. Lodi's share of the cost was
$4,700. Results are valid at a 95% confidence level based on mathematical modeling. All
participating members have input into the content of the questionnaire. Random digit
dialing was used for the phone interviews which were conducted before the Thanksgiving
and Christmas holidays in 2004. The average interview lasted 22 minutes. Lodi Electric
Utility provided its customer list and let customers know that the survey was being held.
Mr. Claeys reviewed the survey results (filed) and provided the following information:
➢ 604 phone interviews were conducted, of which 501 were households served by
municipal utilities;
➢ 200 of the households were in northern California and 301 were in southern California;
➢ 103 households were served by either San Diego, Southern California Edison, or Pacific
Gas & Electric;
➢ 100 separate interviews were conducted on behalf of Lodi Electric Utility;
➢ On a scale of 0 to 10, Lodi scored 7.7 on the value of customers' relationship with the
Utility and power reliability ranked 9;
➢ 35% of 100 customers felt that the price was too high and that the municipal utility was
not "such a good deal" as it was two years ago;
➢ 40% of the respondents felt that the Utility works hard to keep the price down;
➢ 6 in 10 Lodi residents see real value for what they are paying for electrical services;
➢ 21 % believe Lodi is more expensive than other utilities and 30% did not know;
➢ Lodi scored 63% for general customer satisfaction;
➢ Lodi scored 10% for Internet services;
➢ Public Benefits Programs scored 20 points higher for appliance efficiency programs;
green energy awareness is low;
1
Continued April 12, 2005
➢ Customers are moderately interested in paying by credit card; however, they are not
interested if a convenience fee is charged for the service;
➢ Over half the customers give Lodi high marks for its communications and the vehicle
they trust most for communications is the utility bill insert; and
➢ Two-thirds of Lodi's customers know it is a community -owned municipal utility.
In summary, Mr. Claeys stated that Lodi is performing very well relative to other municipal
utilities particularly in the areas of power reliability, customer service, and image. Areas for
improvement could be raising the participation level of green" (renewable) energy and
improving communications media, e.g. via the Internet.
Council Member Hansen asked to be provided with more information pertaining to
comparison with the 2001 survey results: 1) what was done to try to improve, 2) has there
been improvement, and 3) what is the plan to improve in the next two years.
Mayor Pro Tempore Hitchcock noted that the comparison on the question of whether the
utility is working hard to keep prices down was 52% for the Northern California Power
Agency (NCPA) and 40% for Lodi Electric Utility. She asked what other NCPA cities are
doing to give that perception to its customers that Lodi is not.
Mr. Vallow reported that the call volume on Public Benefits Programs has dropped by over
50% since the utility bill inserts were discontinued. In terms of outreach, the Utility felt that
the inserts were very important and he recommended that at least occasionally they be
reinstituted. Mr. Vallow stated he would be able to do trend line benchmarking for
businesses because an over sampling was done previously. The survey presented today
was the first time a residential over sampling was done.
C. COMMENTS BY THE PUBLIC ON NON -AGENDA ITEMS
None.
D. ADJOURNMENT
No action was taken by the City Council. The meeting was adjourned at 7:55 a.m.
ATTEST:
Susan J. Blackston
City Clerk
2