Washington (Platts)--20Mar2008

Big increases in the utility bills paid by business customers contributed
to an overall decline in satisfaction with their gas utility service, JD Power
and Associates said in its 2008 Gas Utility Business Customer Satisfaction
Study.

The study found that overall satisfaction of business customers of the
nation's 40-largest gas utilities decreased by eight points to an average of
715 on a 1,000-point scale, down from 723 in the 2007 survey. Overall
satisfaction is measured through six factors: billing and payment;
communications; company image; customer service; field service; and price.

The study found that customer-reported bill amounts increased 31% since
2007 to an average of $4,124 in 2008. In contrast, customer-reported revenue
increased by only 16% in 2008.

"A myriad of reasons, including increased gas consumption, rising fuel
costs and rate increases have contributed to higher customer-reported bill
amounts," said Al Destribats, vice president of the energy practice at J.D.
Power.

But the study also found that business customers reacted less negatively
when they heard about rate increases directly from their utility company. The
ratings of utilities that warned business customers about increases averaged
nearly 100 points higher tha utilities that alerted business customers through
the news media.

Each of the highest-ranking utilities in 2008 was a top performer in
2007. KeySpan in the East ranked highest in customer satisfaction. Also
performing well were National Grid, Con Edison and Public Service Electric &
Gas.

Missouri Gas Energy was at the top in the Midwest region and CenterPoint
Energy-Minnesota, Columbia Gas of Ohio, Xcel Energy-Midwest and We Energies
rounded out the top five in the region.

In the southern region, Piedmont Natural Gas for the second year in a row
had the highest ranking, followed by Atmos Energy-South.

Southern California Gas achieved the highest ranking in the West,
followed by Pacific Gas & Electric and Southwest Gas.

J.D. Power, like Platts, is a unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies.

--Rodney White, rodney_white@platts.com