Customer Satisfaction with IPL is dropping
The past year (2018) was difficult, at best, for IPL.
Here's a quick list as way of a reminder.
City Council decisions regarding IPL came into question on a variety of different topics: community solar, Missouri Valley power plant decommissioning, senior staff cuts, indecision on AMI and expensive out-of-town travel to energy-related conferences.
Many of these issues found themselves the highlight of investigative stories.
There was also turmoil within IPL: the sudden departure of IPL Deputy Director Andy Boatright and issues with the new billing system.
Clearly the most significant development was the 2% across-the-board rate reduction approved in December.
The focus, the conflict and internal turmoil had a profound effect on public attitudes towards the public utility.
The 2018 Citizens Satisfaction Survey showed a decrease in overall satisfaction for electric utility service from 67% in 2013 to 44% in 2018. This is the largest drop in community satisfaction for any city service over the five-year period.
The lower satisfaction with IPL was a widely held as evidenced by the map showing responses from the randomly selected 700 households which answered the survey distributed in the fall of 2018.
The survey was distributed prior to the 2% rate reduction.
