It used to be enough for utilities to provide reliable power and gas service. Today’s customers expect more from us: environmental protection, fair prices, safe products as well as other services, such as energy advice. Customers themselves are shaping the energy marketplace. According to a study conducted in 2007 by the BDEW, Germany’s Electricity and Water Industry Association, half of all households in Germany have switched their electricity service plan or their supplier at least once since energy-market liberalization and the introduction of customer choice in 1998.

 

We want to know our customers’ needs so we can do an even better job of meeting them. That’s why we survey our customers every year and use the results to calculate our Customer Loyality Index and to design measures to further improve our customer orientation.

 

In response to customers’ interest in products that enable them to demonstrate their commitment to environmental protection, we’ve designed a variety of green products. We’ve also expanded the energy-efficiency advice we offer customers. We can help customers interested in their own supply of electricity or heat find the right distributed generation solution for their needs. Finally, our energy supply companies have special rates, discounts and programs for vulnerable customers.

E.ON Nordic demonstrated our high service quality by winning the Scandinavian energy industry’s 2007 Nordic Grand Prix for customer service in the residential segment. The criteria included call center response times, customer-interaction quality, product knowledge and customer relationship building. E.ON Nordic aims to continue its award-winning performance by winning the 2008 Swedish National Customer Service Championship. The foundation for E.ON Nordic’s success is customer-orientation training, mandatory for all employees since February 2006.

Customer orientation is an essential part of our corporate culture. A number of our business units in Germany were recognized for their outstanding service quality and customer-friendly products. E.ON Bayern, an E.ON regional utility in southeast Germany, and E WIE EINFACH (E as in Easy), our nationwide energy retailer, received top marks in both areas. We attribute their excellent customer-service ratings in part to the strong emphasis we place on respecting our customers' privacy.