Survey Questions - Edison Electric Institute

Chapter 1: Customer Expectations
Out of Sight, Out of Mind 2012
Historically, consumer expectations and desires have helped guide the development of the electric utility
industry, from its beginning in Thomas Edison’s workshop to the vast network of cables and wires that
currently comprise the modern electrical grid. The creation of the electrical grid and the priorities of electric
customers have shaped the development of the industry. Reliability of electrical service, public safety, cost
of service, and electrical system aesthetics have presented challenges and opportunities for electric utilities as
they have sought to balance customer expectations while providing reliable electrical service at a reasonable
price.
As a society, we are more digitally connected today than we could have comprehended 25 years ago. In the
late 1980s, cell phones were big, bulky items that only a few people had and email was just starting to
penetrate the business world as an effective form of communication. Today, most Americans have a cell
phone, a personal computer, and many other handheld electronic devices. The Consumer Electronics
Association notes that, in 2012, the average U.S. household owns 24 consumer electronic devices and this
number has been growing annually. To give a perspective on this growth, the chart in Figure 1.1, Total Sales
of Consumer Electronics, indicates that Americans have spent more than $169,000 million annually on
consumer electronic devices each of the last five years.
Billions
$250
$200
$150
$100
$50
$-­‐
Figure 1.1 Total Sales of Consumer Electronics
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012e 2013p
e-estimated, p-projected
Source - Consumer Electronics Association
As the demand for electronic devices has increased, so has the consumer’s sensitivity to electric outages.
These devices provide connectivity to information and communications that Americans expect to use for
business and leisure. When that connectivity is broken, such as during a power outage, there is little
tolerance for any prolonged outage duration.
Because of this sensitivity, an ongoing topic of discussion in the utility-customer relationship is the desire for
a more reliable electric system with fewer outages. Customers tend to think that if the electric system could
be migrated from an overhead to an underground electrical infrastructure, the outage issue would be
resolved. There are merits for making this transition, but there is significant cost involved to make it happen.
In some cases, the desire for undergrounding is driven by utility needs; in other cases, it is a request
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