Our Management Approach
Every day the ENMAX group of companies (ENMAX) connects with people through the electricity and natural gas we sell to more than half a million residential customers and 50,000 businesses throughout Alberta. This process, from initial siting and public consultation for power generation facilities, to the way in which our customer care attendants respond to customer inquiries, engages us with the communities we serve. We make these connections with the goal of creating long-term, positive relationships and being the kind of neighbour who contributes to the quality of community life. That's how we generate success. More details on our approach to societal engagement are described below.
Our goals and performance with respect to societal engagement are discussed under each of the main sub-sections , Stakeholder and Aboriginal Engagement, Community Investment and Customer Care.
Strategy, Policy and Responsibility
ENMAX recognizes the important role we play in generating positive outcomes, whether interacting with stakeholders, communities, customers, government, industry peers or our shareholder. We see the value in building long-term, positive relationships to generate success in all that we do, and have specific policies in place for managing these diverse relationships within ENMAX. For instance, our Sponsorships and Donations Policy describes what types of organizations we support; and our Stakeholder Relations and Aboriginal Relations philosophies describe how we engage and manage relationships with our various stakeholders.
ENMAX Encompass, which leads our Customer Care centre, strives to deliver seamless customer care through the efficient deployment of people, processes and technology. To meet this objective we are committed to the:
- Retention of our existing customers and services;
- Growth of new clients, customers, and services; and
- Operational Excellence in everything we do... as we need to Do The Right Things Right!
Organizational Responsibility
Our Vice President of Marketing oversees the community investment program and the Manager of Sponsorship and Community Investment directs the daily activities of this department. The Director of Stakeholder and Aboriginal Relations, with his team, develop the systems to engage and manage relations with stakeholders. The Vice President of Customer Care oversees the billing and Customer Care centre.
Training and Awareness
A number of initiatives and programs are in place to raise the awareness of our stakeholders, through tools such as stakeholder engagement open houses and public safety programs.
Every customer service representative receives in-depth market, business and service training when hired. They are also provided with regular in-class updates, as well as quality assurance reviews and coaching opportunities on a monthly basis.
Monitoring and Follow-up
ENMAX’s goal is to provide “best-in-class” service. In 2009, we experienced challenges in providing this service, due primarily to the introduction of a comprehensive new billing system.
Our key performance indicator in 2009 was to have zero inappropriate customer service escalations through our Customer Care centre. ENMAX defines an inappropriate customer escalation as an escalation that ultimately reaches the executive level; follows an appropriate progression of touch points within the Customer Care organization; and was preventable at one of the touch points prior to reaching the executive level. For 2009, there were 23 inappropriate customer escalations reported.
The number of inappropriate customer escalations ENMAX receives has an impact on the annual variable pay plan for all ENMAX employees.
Another key performance indicator is our customer renewal rates. Our target in 2009 was to have 90% of large-scale customers and 99% of small-scale customers renew service contracts with ENMAX Envision, our subsidiary that provides high-speed data communication to commercial customers. Both of these goals were achieved.
Every year, we also assess how satisfied our customers are with our services through the use of surveys.
In 2009, a total of 430 customers connected to the ENMAX Power system in Calgary participated in a customer satisfaction survey. Key results include:
- 86% of customers surveyed were satisfied with the overall service provided by ENMAX Power in the previous six months; and
- Virtually all (97%) of ENMAX Power customers surveyed indicated they trust ENMAX Power to effectively maintain their wires and prevent reliability problems. This is compared to our 2008 survey of 400 customers, where 87% indicated they were satisfied and 98% indicated their trust in ENMAX Power's operations.
In 2009, 717 residential and 360 commercial ENMAX Energy customers who had recently engaged the Customer Care centre to place an order or make an inquiry were randomly selected to participate in a customer satisfaction survey.
Of the 1,077 customers who responded, 82.9% were either "very satisfied" or "somewhat satisfied" with their experience with the Customer Care centre.
In 2009, ENMAX Envision conducted its fifth annual customer satisfaction survey. ENMAX Envision's Calgary commercial customers have consistently reported a 90% or above satisfaction rate since 2005. The 2009 key results include:
- A 96% satisfaction rating, similar to 2008; and
- An overwhelming majority of current customers (93%) would recommend ENMAX Envision to other businesses.