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-------------------------------------------------------------- This story was printed from ZDNet Australia. --------------------------------------------------------------
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Australian energy companies aren't fired up by Net February 15, 2002 URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/soa/Australian-energy-companies-aren-t-fired-up-by-Net/0,139023166,120263498,00.htm
NSW and Victorian electricity companies are failing to capitalise on the Internet to compete effectively, according to a new survey. Conducted by Melbourne-based research group Global Reviews, the survey of nine electricity retailers was timed to greet new industry regulations that allow NSW and Victorian consumers to choose their energy supplier, and tested each company's capacity to meet customer needs. After examining each company's Web site, e-mail feedback and phone service, only one company in the survey earned a customer satisfaction rating over 60 percent. Only four of the nine companies surveyed bothered to respond to e-mail queries, and of those that did, two took over four days to reply. Integral energy scored highest with a rating of 72 percent, the next highest competitors were Country Energy and TXU, scoring 57 and 55 percent respectively. Godovich's summary of the findings paints a disappointing picture. "No-one is really doing a great job and there's an opportunity there to break out of their situation and make an impact on the customer," he said. Among some of the survey's other interesting findings, it noted that energy companies are giving a greater priority to improving brand awareness than educating consumers on the changes to the industry. Global Reviews founder Adam Godovich believes that this is because energy companies aren't ready for the changes. According to him call centre staff contacted during the survey stumbled when it came to answering queries about switching suppliers, some telling researchers to call back in a month. Godovich believes that the companies want to compete as softly as possible and maintain the "status quo", contradicting the goals of the new regulations. "They're trying to create brand awareness but avoid a price war," he said. The survey gave a thumbs-down to the industry's efforts overall.
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