5.8 ERMUSR 11-8-2022��i
Elk River
Municipal Utilities UTILITIES COMMISSION MEETING
TO:
FROM:
ERMU Commission
Tony Mauren — Executive Administrative Manager
MEETING DATE:
AGENDA ITEM NUMBER:
November 8, 2022
5.8
SUBJECT:
Customer Satisfaction Survey
ACTION REQUESTED:
Receive the Customer Satisfaction Survey Report — Q3 — 2022
BACKGROUND:
In December of 2019, the Commission voted to replace the customer satisfaction survey
component of the Utilities Performance Metric and Incentive Compensation (UPMIC) scorecard
due to low response rates. As ERMU places a high value on customer feedback, staff researched
and pursued alternative approaches to track satisfaction with consideration for returning this
metric to the UPMIC scorecard.
In December of 2021, ERMU entered a contract with Q Market Research to survey ERMU's
residential customers, seeking to measure overall satisfaction with services and programs. The
survey also focused on key topics including reliability, value, ease of doing business, quality,
customer concerns, and communications. Q Market Research was contracted to distribute two
rounds of 1,000 surveys in 2022, each consisting of 500 emails and 500 letters.
DISCUSSION:
On September 7 the second round of surveys was sent. For this distribution we focused on
completing the outreach from round one which included the west side of Lake Orono, the
neighborhood surrounding Trott Brook Farms Park, as well as the Otsego and Dayton
territories. We then incorporated residences closer to Joplin Street in the southwest region and
the neighborhood near Twin Lakes Elementary. A total of 109 responses were received in Q3
compared to 87 in Q1. For further comparison, ERMU received 136 responses from all
customers in 2019 when the survey was conducted by our staff.
Key findings in this round include the fact that ERMU's Net Promoter Score jumped into the
Excellent range and almost all the scores increased incrementally. Also, there was much
broader participation among age groups, compared to Q1 where there were more older
respondents. To quote a representative from Q Market Research, "I think the customer service
ERMU provides was seen as excellent and this had a big contribution to improved scores."
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This will be a multiyear project with a planned increase in the number of surveys we send over
two distributions in 2023 as we aim to reach all residential customers prior to the full
implementation of Advanced Metering Infrastructure.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
$3,000 for this distribution and analysis of surveys, a budgeted item.
ATTACHMENTS:
• Customer Satisfaction Survey Report — Q3 — 2022
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