2012 PSC Annual Report - Missouri Public Service Commission

REGULATORY ACTIVITYConsumer Services staff are actively involved in consumereducation efforts through a number of venues includingconsumer outreach forums, energy fairs, health and seniorservice fairs and Community Action Agency forums.The Commission received over 22,000 consumer-relatedcontacts in 2012, an increase of approximately 25 percentfrom the previous year. Contacts include complaints,inquiries regarding rules and regulations, informationrequests, non-jurisdictional requests, and public commentsrelated to pending utility cases.FY 22Top Complaint Issues - Discontinuance of Service2 - Denial of Service3 - High Bill4 - Disputed Bill5 - Rebill6 - Transfer Bill - Service Outages8 - Repair ServiceENGINEERING ANDMANAGEMENTSERVICESManagement Services StaffManagement Analysts in the Engineering and ManagementServices Unit (EMSU) participated in a variety of cases andaudit projects during 2012. EMSU staff performed analysisin conjunction with the review of numerous small waterand sewer companies to assist them in providing soundcustomer service as well as efficient and effective businesspractices.The audit program is designed to assist small companies(defined as having approximately 8,000 or fewer customers),in a variety of areas including: customer billing, paymentremittance, credit and collections, complaint handling,business office operations and record retention. Thisprogram is utilized by management analysts when a smallutility requests a rate increase.As part of the audit program, management analystsproduce a report which contains a description of thecompanies’ processes and procedures as well as auditfindings and recommendations for improvement. The auditprogram also includes implementation reviews, along withcontinued monitoring of the small utilities after completionof the audit reports. Such follow-up work was performedon a number of small companies during 2012.Management Analysts performed service qualityanalysis during 2012 on a number of small water andsewer companies in the context of rate increase requests,acquisition and new certificate cases.Service quality analysis was performed on the followingcompanies during the 2012 fiscal year: Meramec SewerCompany, Lincoln County Sewer & Water, LLC., US WaterLexington, Tri-States Utilities, Liberty Water Utilities,Midland Water Company, Canyon Treatment Facility,LLC, Saddlebrooke, Emerald Point Utility Company, KMBUtility Corporation, Noel Water Company, Valley WoodsWater Company, Lakeland Heights Water Company, Inc.,Oakbrier Water Company, Inc., RD Sewer Co., LLC, TheEmpire District Electric Company - water operations, TaneyCounty Utilities, Raytown Water Company, Rogue CreekUtilities, Gladlo Water and Sewer Company, Highway HUtilities, RDE Water, I.H. Utilities and House Springs SewerCompany.Management analyst staff was also involved in theMissouri-American Water Company rate case (Case No. WR-2-33, as well as associated customer complaints/inquiries and public comments. Staff’s involvement in thiscase was prompted by service quality matters, and thePublic Service Commission’s (Commission) order resultedin periodic meetings between the staff and company toaddress billing calculations, call center topics, includingcall escalation procedures, and other service qualitymatters.EMSU staff also meets quarterly with Kansas City Power& Light and KCP&L Greater Missouri Operations Companyto address service quality topics as a result of the GreatPlains Energy/Kansas City Power & Light Company/Aquila,Inc. merger. (Case No. EM-2-3. During the 2012fiscal year, staff also met periodically with Ameren Missouriregarding its call center performance and other topics.EMSU staff also participated in the Commission’sTelecommunications Department’s review of UniversalService Fund (USF) certifications for Northeast MissouriRural Telephone Company and Chariton Valley TelephoneCorporation. Staff analyzed a variety of processes andpractices during each of these reviews, including customerbilling and payment remittance, credit and collections, localbusiness office operations and the company’s handling ofcustomer complaints and inquiries. EMSU staff submitted anumber of data requests and performed on-site work.Management Analysts participated in Liberty Utilities’request to purchase the Missouri natural gas operations ofthe Atmos Energy Corporation (Case No. GM-22-3.In this case, service quality matters were reviewed to ensurethe sale would not be detrimental to the public interest.In a similar role, Management Analysts also participated inEnergy Transfer Equity L.P.’s request to acquire the equityinterests of Southern Union Company, doing business inMissouri as Missouri Gas Energy (Case No. GM-2-2.Management Analysts also attended a number of localpublic hearings regarding rate increase requests during26 PSC Annual Report