CUSTOMER SERVICES
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CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT
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Customer Relationship Management (“CRM”) provides services to approximately 4
678,000 customers supported by THESL’s Call Center, Escalations Group, and Key 5
Accounts Team. The Call Centre handles an average of 41,000 written requests, 6
including e-mails and 850,000 customer telephone inquiries per year. The Escalations 7
Group successfully handles high level customer complaints including those received from 8
the OEB, THESL’s senior executives and local and provincial political representatives. 9
The Key Accounts team ensures all concerns of THESL’s high usage customers are given 10
immediate attention. 11
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Customer inquiries are handled by phone, email and in writing. Annually, THESL 13
responds to over 37,000 written requests and 4,000 e-mails from customers requiring 14
follow-up within time frames established by the OEB’s service quality measures. 15
Dedicated staff, process streamlining, and the use of technology has allowed THESL to 16
achieve a consistent performance level of meeting or exceeding the OEB Service Quality 17
target of responding to 90 percent of all written inquiries within 10 days, in each year 18
since Market Opening in 2002. 19
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In addition to written inquiries, the call centre receives an average of 850,000 phone 21
inquiries annually and has exceeded the OEB service quality target of responding to 65 22
percent of calls within 30 seconds consistently since 2002. The Call Centre average 23
service level from 2002 through 2006 is 78 percent of all calls answered in 30 seconds. 24
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Along with process improvements and technology, cost escalation has been mitigated by 26
utilizing an outsource Call Centre to assist in the handling of the daily call volumes. This 27
enables THESL to maintain the required number of staff to ensure service levels are 28
achieved. We are also able to react to forecasted demands of higher or lower call 1
volumes when necessary within a reasonable time frame. It is most efficient and cost 2
effective to add or reduce staff at the outsource call centre as call volumes dictate. 3
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After five years with the same outsource call center vendor, an RFP process was initiated 5
in late 2006 in an effort to achieve lower cost and improve service. A new vendor has 6
been selected and the switch to this vendor occurred in May 2007. Although higher costs 7
had been budgeted, costs are actually expected to decrease. The lower costs resulting 8
from this change will allow THESL to manage expected higher future call volumes 9
associated with conservation and demand management projects in a more cost effective 10
way. 11
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Customer inquiries to the call center cover a broad spectrum and involve most aspects of 13
THESL’s business including: 14
• Ensuring customer records are updated as required to track customer moves and 15
for other changes in customer information; 16
• Verifying information and explanations relating to billing, collections and meter 17
accuracy; 18
• Requesting meter checks; 19
• Responding to inquiries relating to Conservation and Demand Management 20
(“CDM”) Programs including Summer Savings , Peak Saver, Refrigerator 21
Bounty and other programs sponsored by THESL and/or the Ontario Power 22
Authority (“OPA”); 23
• Providing first contact for power outage calls. Using the Outage Management 24
System, Customer Service Representatives enter the information for follow up by 25
the Customer Service Dispatch team. The Customer Service Dispatchers review 26
the calls and determine whether the outage is an isolated incident or part of a 27
larger outage. They dispatch field service representatives to single outages, part 28
power calls and wires down. Larger outage information is passed to the Trouble 1
Dispatch team in System Operations for follow-up. 2
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The Escalations Group handles approximately 1,000 customer issues annually that are 4
escalated through the call centre during daily operations. Another 150 are received 5
through THESL’s Senior Executives and City Councilors and approximately 40 are 6
received directly from the OEB. These issues cover a wide range of customer concerns. 7
The two issues raised most frequently relate to power outages and high bills. 8
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The Key Accounts Team responds to issues raised by large volume customers and assists 10
with their energy management issues. The Team meets with customers as required, to 11
resolve billing issues, to coordinate planned outages and explore possible CDM projects. 12
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Relationships with retailers operating within THESL’s territory are also managed by the 14
Customer Relationship Management team. The manager and a coordinator oversee 15
ongoing communications with retailers and ensure that new retailers complete the 16
necessary paper work prior to set up. Ongoing customer issues and complaints related to 17
retailer activities in THESL’s service area are communicated to the retailers as 18
appropriate. 19
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Throughout 2007 and 2008, the Customer Relationship Management team will be 21
developing a strategy to improve customer service by being more proactive in its 22
communication methods. This will include improving the customer information 23
available on THESL’s WEB site; expanding the Interactive Voice Response (“IVR”) to 24
provide easier access to information on current programs; contacting customer groups 25
that will be impacted by changes before they occur; and conducting regular surveys to 26
measure the effectiveness of these changes. Once developed, this strategy will be 27
initiated through process changes and the use of new technologies. The most significant 28
benefit that can be achieved through this initiative is to get information to customers in a 1
timely manner in order to avoid the costs associated with increased call volumes. 2
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Costs
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Table 1: Customer Relationship Management Operating Costs ($ Millions)
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2006
Historical 2007 Bridge 2008 Test 2009 Test 2010 Test Customer
Relationship Mgmt 9.10 10.55 13.40 13.72 14.05 7
The increase in costs from 2006 to 2007 is $1.40M. Of this amount, $0.70M is due to an 8
increase in the outsource call centre budget to cover an expected increase in costs with a 9
move to a new vendor (actual costs are expected to be lower due to the negotiation of a 10
price lower than the budgeted amount), $0.20M represents an increase in allocated costs 11
for occupancy and IT and $0.40M is due to a contracted increase in labour costs and the 12
move of three staff into this area as a result of a department reorganization. 13
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From 2007 to 2008 the budget increase is $2.80M. Of this amount $2.20M is an increase 15
in the outsource call centre budget to cover the hiring of approximately an additional 35 16
staff to accommodate the higher call volumes expected when Time-of-Use billing is 17
initiated. This is to ensure that the required service levels are maintained. The balance is 18
$0.330M for a contracted increase in labour costs and a loss of $0.15M of labour-related 19
recoveries previously received from affiliates for Streetlighting and Rental Water Heater 20
work. The removal of this work has allowed for the reallocation of a small number of 21
resources to improve CRM service levels. 22
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The budget increase from 2008 to 2009 is $0.3M. This is due to anticipated increases in 24
labour costs. 25
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The change from 2009 to 2010 is also $0.3M. This too, is due to anticipated increases in 2
labour costs. 3