Customer service quality

The task of complex servicing of consumers and maintaining uniform servicing and interaction standards in the Company is fulfilled in three areas: in-person customer service (CSCs), over-the-phone customer service (hot-line, call-center) and interactive customer service (corporate website, Internet Reception, the customer’s personal account). The key requirements to customer service are determined in Standard “System of Centralized Customer Service” STO 01.B1.03-2011.

In-person customer service

Customer Service Centers (CSCs)

24 customer service centers, employing 59 people, successfully operate in the Company’s seven branches. In addition, 229 professionals perform functions of a customer service center in the production departments.

The main functions performed by these structural subdivisions are the following:

• organization of registration, processing and tracking of consumers’ applications for conclusion of technological connection agreements and provision of additional paid services;
• organization of work to create the most comfortable conditions for consumers, implementation of a system for continuous interaction with customers to improve the quality of service provision;
• organization of receipt, recording, analysis of complaints and customer requests, settlement of disputes.

24 Customer Service Centers

successfully operate in all seven branches of IDGC of the North-West

In-person interviewing of consumers

In order to increase the quality of customer service and to analyze customers’ opinions on the services provided, CSCs, production departments and REGs of the Company’s branches carry out in-person interviews of customers on a regular basis.

Visitors are offered to fill out a questionnaire in order to assess service time and quality, friendliness and competence of employees, completeness and availability of information provided on the Company’s website and in the premises of the CSC, convenience of location and operation hours of the CSC. The information obtained from the questionnaires is consolidated on a quarterly basis for the purpose of analysis and development of proposals aimed at further improvement of customer service quality and elimination of detected faults.

In 2012 based on the results of analysis of feedback questionnaires the following works were performed in order to create comfortable conditions for customer service:

• the area of customer service center in the production department Southern Electric Grids of Komienergo branch was increased;
• in November 2012 in the production department Central Electric Grids of Komienergo branch in Troitsko-Pechorsk village a new customer reception center was opened instead of the old center located at a considerable distance from the village.

Over-the-phone customer service

More than one half of the territory serviced by IDGC of the North-West is characterized by large area and low density of the population which complicates prompt resolving of issues within the framework of in-person customer service. Development of channels of long-distance communication with customers allows resolving any issues relating to the Company’s activities within the period specified in relevant regulations.

Hot-line

Since 2011 the Company has established a hotline for consumers “Turn the light on”.

Hotline telephone number 8-800-333-02-52 is available 24 hours a day.

All branches established additional phone hotlines for consumers.

Hot-line operators accept messages containing information about damages of electric grid facilities, theft of electric equipment, and any facts of illegal power consumption or energy consumption in breach of the established procedure. Any such message is immediately forwarded by the operator who received it to the branch’s security service.

Information on availability of unified telephone lines is placed on the official website of IDGC of the North-West and the branches’ websites. There is a bright banner “Turn the light on” on the main page of the JSC IDGC of the North-West corporate website. The phone numbers are listed in databases of information services of communication providers and are regularly communicated to all interested persons by placing relevant information in regional mass media available to the majority of the population.

In 2013-2014 the Company will open a unified call-center. In order to provide a single access point for distance phone service a single multi-line phone number of the call-center in the zone of responsibility of the Company will be organized. A call to the single phone number will be toll-free for a user. Each consumer will be able to obtain information about outages, consultation on grid connection and other company’s activities.

Interactive customer service

Interactive servicing of our customers is realized through the Company’s website. The Company’s websites are among the most important channels of informing consumers on the Company’s activities, rules and procedures for provision of services and providing feedback with customers.

In the reporting period the interactive customer service was brought into compliance with Standard “Quality Management System. System of Centralized Customer Service” of IDGC of the North-West.

Disclosure of information

For the purpose of information disclosure the Company fully uses section “For customers” on the corporate websites of the Company and all branches, which contains information on:

• service area;
• network services and tariffs of the grid company;
• power transmission (regulatory base, standard document forms, information to be disclosed);
• technological connection (regulatory base, standard document forms, information to be disclosed);
• commercial metering (regulations, requirements for metering devices);
• additional paid services and pricing for services rendered;
• energy saving: advice on energy-saving is presented in an amusing interactive manner;
• customer service centers, including contact information for consumers, in particular, “hot line” telephone numbers;
• information for energy consumers on how to act in case of emergency shutdowns in the form of a “Checklist for consumers”.

Any person can have free access to this information.

In order to provide consumers of services with complete, accurate and relevant information it is planned to create a Unified Internet Reception “For Customers” of the Executive Apparatus and branches of IDGC of the North-West in 2013.

Interactive portal Internet Reception

In 2011 interactive portal Internet Reception was opened for customers on the Company’s website (Internet Reception) which provides detailed information of services of IDGC of the North-West and ensures customer feedback.

In 2012 a number of new services were launched in the Internet Reception, owing to which the number of the Internet Reception’s visitors has grown more than 3-5 times by the IV quarter of 2012.

Interactive portal Internet Reception

• Interactive guide on energy efficiency (Interactive guide on energy efficiency)
  The guide is unique for the industry. In 2011 it was granted two professional awards: the winner of the contest held by the Ministry of Energy “ConTEXt” (nomination “Energy Efficiency and Energy Saving”), the winner of award in the field of PR development RuPoR (nomination “Best Student Project”).
• Tool “To fill out an application of intent” (“To fill out an application of intent”)
  The service enables online customers to receive comprehensive consultation on how to fill out technological connection or restoration service requests or to obtain new technical conditions, applications for installation, replacement and operation of electric power metering devices;
• Electric safety portal “Make friends with electricity” (“Make friends with electricity”)
  The portal contains a single database of materials on child electrical injury: training materials, books, brochures, magazines, stationery products, videos, flash-applications and computer games.
• E-map of utilization of main substations (E-map of utilization of main substations)
  The map contains information about the presence or absence of free capacity and technical characteristics of each main substation.

In 2013 we plan to put into operation another online service “Customer’s Personal Account”, which is aimed to provide consumers with information on the progress of activities on applications for technological connection to the distribution network.

Survey of needs and feedback

Effective customer feedback is a tool enabling the Company to resolve any issues relating to its activities within the period specified in relevant regulations.

In accordance with the Standard of Analysis and Assessment of Customers’ Satisfaction on websites of branches of JSC IDGC of the North-West we conduct an interactive survey “EVALUATE OUR WORK” where consumers are offered to determine the degree of importance of certain services provided by the Company by principal activities (electricity transmission and technological connection) and the level of their satisfaction with them.

In addition, they are offered to evaluate the completeness and availability of the information contained on the website for various matters and provided with the opportunity to express their wishes or comments, make a complaint or a request.

Analysis of questionnaires allows to determine the “weak points” in working with customers in Company’s branches, which is necessarily taken into account when drawing up plans for on-site inspections of activities of the services of a branch involved in provision of services to customers.