Welcome
RKS Research & Consulting is a national leader in marketing research and opinion polling. Since 1974, we have helped clients achieve strategic business advantage through sampling customer opinions, quantifying trends, analyzing implications, and delivering actionable findings. Our research and modeling methods help clients set meaningful measures for communications effectiveness, customer satisfaction, product and service enhancements, brand positioning and corporate image among others.
Below we spell out some exciting projects that we are providing to our clients now. Please call Ray Tricarico (845-228-8482) or e mail him (rtricarico@rksresearch.com) for more information.
For most of these utilities, the hardware or equipment acquisition decision takes the most time and attention.
But it is axiomatic that the success of a utility’s Smart Grid/Smart Meter system will depend upon the effective melding of several different parts including
1. Equipment selection and installation,
2. Employee training and
3. Customer outreach.
Effective customer outreach is absolutely critical to the success of any utility’s Smart Grid/Smart Meter program because it will focus on the customer – attracting and incenting customers to participate. If customers do not participate, then the program will never reach success.
An essential ingredient in customer outreach is customer research to learn what messages and/or incentives are needed to 1) attract customers to participate in the first place and 2) to retain them in the program.
The research necessary to support effective customer outreach has two components:
RKS is a pioneer in conducting customer surveys on behalf of municipal and regional water systems, privately owned suppliers, and state associations. Beginning with a news-making statewide assessment of customer perceptions nearly 10 years ago, we have developed competencies and proprietary methodologies for measuring the perceptions and preferences of residential and business users of water.
In 2007,RKS completed a benchmark survey of households served by water providers in the nation’s 10 largest cities—more than 2,000 separate responses. Results from these studies helped individual water systems benchmark performance and customer metrics against the Top Ten suppliers while establishing a foundation of actionable data for management planning and decision-making.
In Fall, 2009 RKS is conducting a follow-up survey of households and business users in the nation’s largest water markets. This effort represents the first time, that a separate survey will probe satisfaction and concerns among a significant sample of business users of water. Participation in both projects is open to all metropolitan water systems, regardless of size or service area population. Sponsors will be able to measure customer satisfaction and critical dimensions of system performance against peer organizations
RKS Research & Consulting is a national leader in marketing research and opinion polling. Since 1974, we have helped clients achieve strategic business advantage through sampling customer opinions, quantifying trends, analyzing implications, and delivering actionable findings. Our research and modeling methods help clients set meaningful measures for communications effectiveness, customer satisfaction, product and service enhancements, brand positioning and corporate image among others.
Below we spell out some exciting projects that we are providing to our clients now. Please call Ray Tricarico (845-228-8482) or e mail him (rtricarico@rksresearch.com) for more information.
STATE UTILITY REGULATORS
- 107
telephone interviews with State utility regulators (97 with commissioners)
- Covers
52 separate jurisdictions
- Covers
both electric and natural gas
utility issues
- Trends
results against most recent (2007) Regulator Survey
- On energy efficiency’s impact on the jurisdiction’s load profile:
- Few Regulators believe EE has had a major impact to date;
- Opinions divide on how much of the market value of savings from energy efficiency initiatives State Regulators are willing to allow into rates
- On public awareness of costs associated with pending federal and individual state initiatives on climate change and energy efficiency, regulators are clearly concerned:
- Most believe the public is uninformed
- They worry about sticker shock
- They strongly believe utilities, among others must take a leadership role in educating the public about what is coming
- On setting rates, most regulators acknowledge a need to develop new rate-making methodologies:
- Experience with decoupling is divided
- Disappointment prevails among those permitting decoupling
- On the next generating plant:
- Regulators express definite preferences on the types of generation they encourage within their jurisdictions and the types they discourage
- On volatile conditions in credit and capital markets:
- Regulators are divided about whether current conditions will continue, or whether conditions will go back to being more predictable as in the past
- On recovering costs for specific capital investments such as smart grid and other public policy initiatives:
- Regulator opinions divide
between relying on tracker/surcharges and the next general rate case
SMART GRID/SMART METER
For most of these utilities, the hardware or equipment acquisition decision takes the most time and attention.
But it is axiomatic that the success of a utility’s Smart Grid/Smart Meter system will depend upon the effective melding of several different parts including
1. Equipment selection and installation,
2. Employee training and
3. Customer outreach.
Effective customer outreach is absolutely critical to the success of any utility’s Smart Grid/Smart Meter program because it will focus on the customer – attracting and incenting customers to participate. If customers do not participate, then the program will never reach success.
An essential ingredient in customer outreach is customer research to learn what messages and/or incentives are needed to 1) attract customers to participate in the first place and 2) to retain them in the program.
The research necessary to support effective customer outreach has two components:
- Benchmark phase
- Ongoing tracking
- To obtain solid, statistically reliable information across all customer groups that will materially help any utility in:
- Developing effective
communications that will attract customers to participate in smart grid
programs
- Setting realistic
goals regarding customer participation and retention levels for the
program
A NEW, EMERGING ISSUE-- WATER
RKS is a pioneer in conducting customer surveys on behalf of municipal and regional water systems, privately owned suppliers, and state associations. Beginning with a news-making statewide assessment of customer perceptions nearly 10 years ago, we have developed competencies and proprietary methodologies for measuring the perceptions and preferences of residential and business users of water.
In 2007,RKS completed a benchmark survey of households served by water providers in the nation’s 10 largest cities—more than 2,000 separate responses. Results from these studies helped individual water systems benchmark performance and customer metrics against the Top Ten suppliers while establishing a foundation of actionable data for management planning and decision-making.
In Fall, 2009 RKS is conducting a follow-up survey of households and business users in the nation’s largest water markets. This effort represents the first time, that a separate survey will probe satisfaction and concerns among a significant sample of business users of water. Participation in both projects is open to all metropolitan water systems, regardless of size or service area population. Sponsors will be able to measure customer satisfaction and critical dimensions of system performance against peer organizations
