The recently released 2018 Water Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction study from JD. Power ranked the city of Atlanta Water at 28, with a score of 675, below the category average of 716, according to a press release.
This study, now in its third year, measures satisfaction among residential customers of 88 water utilities, delivering water to a population of at least 400,000 people and is reported in four geographic regions: Midwest, Northeast, South and West. Overall satisfaction is measured by examining 33 attributes within six factors (listed in order of importance): delivery; price; conservation; billing and payment; communications; and customer service.
The key finding is that 30 percent of residential water utility customers indicate they have water quality issues, a rate far higher than what has typically been reported in the EPA’s Consumer Confidence Reports produced by local water authorities. Among the 30 percent of residential water utility customers who mention a quality problem, 12 percent cite low pressure; 11 percent cite bad taste; 8 percent cite scaling/water hardness; 8 percent cite discoloration; 6 percent cite bad smell; and 4 percent cite high lead/mineral content.
There’s also a reported wide variation in water quality across the nation.
Problems with water quality and other issues can cause customer satisfaction to drop, which can be remedied by better and more frequent communication.
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