Page 12 - Oil and Energy January 2013

12 • OIL&ENERGY
THE NATURAL GAS UTILITIES HAVE ENJOYED
the upper hand in the competitive struggle
with Oilheat in recent years, but they have
squandered some of their advantage by infu-
riating their customers in the
wake of Hurricane Sandy and
other recent storms.
The utilities continue to
enjoy a price advantage, and
they have a lot more to spend
on marketing, but they are
taking major hits on customer service, particu-
larly in New York and Massachusetts.
Oilheat dealers have always been much
better at service than the utilities, and now it
makes sense to push that advantage aggres-
sively in order to help customers think twice
about switching fuels.
An emphasis on customer service is also
a smart play for dealers who are diversifying
their services and pursuing customers beyond
the Oilheat base, because new customers will
be attracted to a company that really cares
about pleasing them.
SLOW RESPONSE
Like other powerful storms before it,
Hurricane Sandy caused an epic public rela-
tions disaster for the utilities. As one day
without power followed another and another,
consumers and public officials in New York
became infuriated with the slow response to
their outages.
Two weeks after the storm hit, New York
Gov. AndrewCuomo formed a special commis-
sion to investigate the performance of the
Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) and
its contractor for repair recovery work,
National Grid, which doubles as a
natural gas utility.
A recent story by WNYC radio
said that LIPA and National Grid
“weren’t prepared for and didn’t
adequately manage the recovery.”
Peter Schlussler, a member of the
LIPA Oversight Committee, told
WNYC that National Grid hasn’t
received the public scrutiny and
blame it deserves for the slow
restoration process. “I believe they
absolutely should be held just as
accountable. The scrutiny should
be equal to if not more so than
what LIPA has been enjoying –
quote unquote – for the past few
years,” he said.
National Grid is also
under heavy fire in
Massachusetts for its
handling of damage
in two major storms
in 2011. The state
Department of Public
Utilities recently fined the
utility a record total of $18.7
million for its non-performance,
which included failing to deploy an
adequate number of crews to restore
power and a general failure to prepare
and organize for the October storm.
Marketing
More Than Ever,
Great Service
Is the Key
The utilities are making you
look good; seize the moment
By Richard Rutigliano, PriMedia Inc.