Silicon Valley Power, Portland General Electric, Florida Power & Light Co., and Tacoma Power took top honors in the 2010 E Source Gap and Priority Benchmark: A Survey of Utility Large Business Customers. Silicon Valley Power's large business customers gave the utility uniformly high scores in every measure, including satisfaction with the utility and their account representative and the value provided by the utility relative to the price paid for energy. Silicon Valley Power received an overall rating of 9.0 on a scale from 1 to 10.

Portland General Electric, Florida Power & Light, and Tacoma Power tied for second place with an overall rating of 8.6. Portland General Electric's customers were notably satisfied with their account representatives, who were among the best in the industry. Florida Power & Light's account management team also led its utility to high marks because the utility's customers rated their account representatives highly in the value provided relative to the price paid for energy. Tacoma Power performed particularly well in the satisfaction and value provided by the utility itself, although it's important to note that the account management team also scored highly in satisfaction.

The annual E Source Gap and Priority Benchmark is based on survey responses from more than 1,400 U.S. utility large business customers. In addition to indicating their most important priorities, customers were asked to rate their satisfaction and the overall value provided by their utility and their utility account representative.

According to the 2010 survey results, reliability continues to be of top importance to large business customers, and they still strongly feel that their utilities aren't doing enough to keep prices down. Perceived fairness and attentiveness to customers' needs are the prime drivers of satisfaction this year.

Mike Hildebrand, director of E Source Business & Residential Market Services, explains, "Utilities can take quick action by understanding the three main pieces of the customer service puzzle provided by the survey results: what's important to their large business customers, what improves satisfaction the most, and the gap between where they are now and where their customers want them to be."