You recently published the results of the 2016 Customer Satisfaction Survey. What does it tell us?

Hervé Mignon : The results are very encouraging. The overall satisfaction rate reached 86%, an increase of 3 percentage points compared to the previous year, with a significant improvement for Consumer and Producer customers. As in every other year, we received extremely positive feedback on customer relations and the availability of our dedicated business contacts. But we want to do better, particularly with regard to our Distributor and Marketplace customers who expect easier access to our IS, and a simplification of demand response mechanisms.
As part of its corporate project, Impetus and Vision, RTE’s aim is to be among the top-ranking industrial service companies with regard to customer satisfaction over the next five years. What actions do you plan to take in 2017?

H.M. : The year 2017 presents a major marketing challenge, with the publication of our service commitments, the implementation of the new TURPE 5 transmission system access tariff for all our customers, and the deployment of our digital service offers.
The primary guideline for our action is a commitment to listen to our customers and their needs, so that we can work together to deliver tailored solutions. This implies a good knowledge of their business segment and their environment. This “customer knowledge” is a top priority and constitutes an area of differentiation that must be reinforced by our operational organization.

 

Our second guideline is a desire to make our technological innovations available to our customers.  The goal is to boost their own performance through new services, such as connected “continuous or smart” metering systems, or by making data available in real time on our new Services and Data portals, along with real-time notification. The number of connected smart meters should reach 2,000 by September. More than 150 companies came forward in just a few weeks and our portals were queried nearly 3 million times. This success illustrates our corporate project’s commitment to interconnect electrical and digital infrastructures.

Can you tell us more about your service commitments ?

H.M. : Our aim is to go beyond our contractual obligations and improve the quality of the service we offer our customers. Our service commitments are designed to specifically meet the expectations expressed by our customers; they cover the connection process, power quality, metering, and access to the grid and the marketplace. The commitment charter is our means of operationalising this new ambition. It reflects three main themes – transparency, support and timeliness – through eight concrete commitments.

All the company’s business segments contributed to its design. This collaborative approach provided a powerful means of mobilising all teams, with the shared ambition of satisfying our customers.

Key figures

• 94% – The satisfaction rate of Producer customers in 2016, up significantly compared to 2015. Satisfaction levels reached 92% for Consumers, 76% for Distributors, and 75% for market parties.
• 88% – The customer satisfaction level reached in two areas (connections and power quality). up significantly compared to 2015. This increase marks the culmination of the groundwork accomplished by RTE’s teams.
• 66% – The satisfaction level of market parties with regard to RTE’s information system, a low score that needs improvement via measures that are already being deployed by RTE’s teams (i.e. the two new Services and Data portals).

A new service related to power quality: customers are notified in real time of incidents on the grid.

RTE made this commitment during the 2016 Customer Encounters. This is already a reality for several industrial customers in France’s PACA and Greater West regions: they are now automatically informed in real time – by email and/or a text message – in the event of an incident that could affect their operations (e.g. an outage or voltage dip). Approximately twenty customers involved in the project’s pilot phase already have this service, which has enjoyed a very favourable reception from the operators of the subscribing sites. The need to be informed more rapidly in the event of an incident was expressed by many customers during the previous customer survey, and this need was further refined via a Design Thinking approach conducted with some of our customers. The deployment of this feature to RTE’s 500 industrial sites is underway and should be completed by the end of 2017.

June 01, 2017