ORDER NO. 95-797

ENTERED JUL 31 1995

THIS IS AN ELECTRONIC COPY

BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION

OF OREGON

UW 47

DISPOSITION: REQUEST FOR RECONSIDERATION GRANTED

On May 31, 1995, the Commission entered Order No. 95-527 in this matter. On June 5, 1995, Avion Water Company, Inc. (Avion) filed a petition for reconsideration of the order. The petition requests the Commission to reconsider ordering paragraph 5 of Order No. 95-527, which requires Mr. Jan Wick to obtain training in customer relations, as well as the findings of fact upon which ordering paragraph 5 are based. On June 16, 1995, Mr. John Bloom, intervenor, filed a reply to Avion’s petition for reconsideration, requesting that it be denied.

ORS 756.561 and OAR 860-14-095 provide that any party may apply for reconsideration of an order by the Commission within 60 days from the date of service of the order. The Commission may grant an application for reconsideration if, among other things, there is an error of law or fact in the order which is essential to the decision.

OAR 860-14-095(3)(c).

Avion’s petition identifies as erroneous those findings of fact in the order regarding discourteous treatment of Avion customers which describe only the actions of the company’s president, Mr. Wick. In Order No. 95-527, it was not the Commission’s intent to distinguish management and non-management personnel in determining that Avion, as a company, is experiencing customer relations problems. Neither is it the Commission’s intent to distinguish management and non-management personnel in fashioning an appropriate remedy. For these reasons, the Commission grants Avion’s request for reconsideration of Order No. 95-527 and enters the following amendments to relevant portions of Order

No. 95-527:

The discussion regarding discourteous treatment of customers beginning on page 3 and continuing on page 4 of Order No. 95-527 is replaced with the following:

Discourteous treatment of customers. A number of customers complained about discourteous and rude treatment by the company. Avion’s customer relations problem is a recurring one. In a previous Avion rate case, the Commission found that discourteous treatment of customers by the company was "mentioned with enough frequency at the public comment session, and in related correspondence addressed to the Commission and staff, to require corrective action." Order No. 89-1276 at 3. The Commission ordered the company to take corrective action as follows:

Avion Water Company, Inc., shall review its treatment of customers seeking service and reporting service problems to the company and report the results of its review to staff before December 11, 1989. The company’s report shall include proposed actions to correct these problems. Staff is directed to review the report and, if necessary, to propose its own corrective actions. Order No. 89-1276 at 6.

 

On November 30, 1989, and on September 18, 1990, Avion filed reports with the Commission to comply with the above order. The Commission takes official notice of Avion’s reports.

The two primary components of Avion’s plan to deal with customers’ service complaints in a more courteous and responsive fashion were to (1) track the type and number of complaints, and (2) train Avion personnel in effective customer relations. It is the latter with which we are most concerned because it is the area which appears to have been inadequately addressed by Avion. In its September 1990 filing, Avion indicated that it had planned to enroll its staff in classes related to customer relations offered by the business department at Central Oregon Community College. These classes were subsequently canceled. The Commission takes official notice of the fact that on March 23, 1995, Avion’s office personnel received training in telephone skills through a workshop sponsored by The Bend Bulletin and presented by Success Seminars of Tuscon, Arizona. Certificates of completion for three Avion employees, not including Mr. Wick, have been filed with the Commission.

We are concerned by Avion’s recurring customer relations problems. In a competitive environment, discourteous treatment of customers who seek resolution of service problems would soon result in loss of business to the offending company. In effect, the situation would be self-remedying. However, where essential services are provided by regulated monopolies, the regulatory agency must fashion a remedy when customer service is deficient. While recognizing the training received by some Avion employees, it is important that all company employees who have direct contact with Avion customers have the opportunity to obtain appropriate and relevant training in customer relations or that Avion make other significant efforts to improve customer relations. The Commission will consider the issue of customer relations to be a matter for investigation in future rate cases.

The conclusion paragraph 4 on page 13 of Order No. 95-527 is replaced with the following:

4. Avion should be required to report to the Commission, within 180 days of the date of this order, the extent to which all employees with direct customer contact have received relevant customer relations training and the nature and extent of any other efforts by Avion to improve customer relations.

ORDER

The ordering paragraph 5 on page 14 of Order No. 95-527 is omitted and replaced with the following:

IT IS ORDERED that:

5. Within 180 days from the date of entry of this order, Avion Water Company, Inc., shall file with the Commission a detailed report describing the relevant training or instruction that Avion employees have received regarding customer relations and the nature and extent of other efforts Avion has made to improve customer relations.

 

 

Made, entered, and effective .

A party may appeal this order to a court pursuant to ORS 756.580.