NStar Gas, a subsidiary of Northeast Utilities with roughly 300,000 gas customers in Eastern and Central Massachusetts, said it was ranked high in a customer satisfaction study conducted by J. D. Power and Associates, a global marketing information services company.
In seeking to measure the satisfaction of residential customers with their gas utilities, California-based J.D. Power broke down the results of its study by both region and size. Among midsize utilities in the East, NStar received J.D. Power’s top score.
In compiling the rankings for its 2012 Gas Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study, J.D. Power said it focused on six factors. Listed in order of importance, those factors are billing and payment; price; corporate citizenship; communications; customer service; and field service.
In the new study, overall satisfaction with natural gas utility companies increased slightly, averaging 634 on a 1,000-point scale, compared with 627 in 2011, J.D. Power said.
NStar Gas received a 646 score.
“Our unyielding attention to customer satisfaction and reliable service is clearly having a positive impact on how our customers view us,” Rod Powell, president of NStar Gas and Yankee Gas, said in a statement.
(Yankee Gas, a subsidiary of Northeast Utilities in Connecticut, ranked second among midsize utilities in the East.)
Another gas utility serving parts of Massachusetts is National Grid. It received a 614 score from J.D. Power.
J.D. Power placed National Grid in a category for large utilities that operate in the East, a different peer group from NStar’s. The average score for large utilities in the East was 616.
In a statement, National Grid said: “In the most recent JD Power Natural Gas Residential Customer Satisfaction Survey, the company saw an overall 13-point increase in customer satisfaction rating points over 2011. There were significant increases in several factors measured in the survey. These include a 21 point increase in Price Satisfaction, 19 points in Communications, 10 points in Corporate Citizenship, and seven points in Customers Service. National Grid is focused on improving in all factors measured by JD Power, and we will continue to do all we can to meet and exceed customer expectations.”