RG&E Announces Significant Improvements to Customer Service

120 new customer service representatives hired in 2022 to address billing issues, with more than 100 expected this year 

Rochester, N.Y. – January 9, 2023 — RG&E has made significant improvements to customer service recently, with increased staffing levels in our call centers leading to improved billing timeliness. The Company also recognizes that improvement efforts must continue and has resources dedicated to this ongoing activity.

“Our new hires are being trained now so that they will be able to respond to customer concerns, and we’re happy to be able to report this progress and to bring new jobs to the greater Rochester region,” said Patricia Nilsen, president and CEO of NYSEG and RG&E. “While billing exceptions cannot be avoided entirely, we’re adding more than 220 new staff members this year dedicated and focused on improving customer service.”

The company hired more than 120 new customer service employees in 2022 and is looking to hire more than 100 this year. 

The company also added 40 new billing specialists in 2022, all dedicated to exception processing. Billed amounts that fall outside of certain parameters create a billing exception. While the company has a process to review these exceptions, due to the pandemic, it experienced increased estimated meter reads and subsequent actual reads, which can cause delays. Increasing the number of meter readers has, and will continue to, reduce the number of exceptions. The additional billing specialists will reduce the time to resolve those exceptions. With stabilized staffing, RG&E expects billing issues to decrease.

“We take concerns raised by customers very seriously and we are committed to improving the customer experience,” said Theresa VanBrooker, vice president of Customer Service at RG&E.

The company also is making significant progress in reducing the backlog of new construction and upgrade jobs, from four to five months to completion in July 2022, down to four weeks or less at the end of November and continues working to improve this metric.

The installation of Smart Meters will begin this year in the Rochester area, an initiative that will reduce billing issues by significantly reducing estimates. These new tools will also help customers make more informed decisions about their energy usage. Knowing when and where you’re using energy in your home or business gives you the power to make real-time decisions to determine if there are ways to save, and energy options to explore.

RG&E has provided nearly $11.6 million in economic development grants in the Rochester area since 2019 and plans to make more than $2.2 billion in investments over the next five years. These investments will help achieve the state’s clean energy goals, including 70 percent renewable generation by 2030, and improve overall service and reliability.

With a renewed focus this new year, RG&E remains committed to its customers. Their concerns have been heard. The company will continue to improve the customer experience and anticipates being back to a steady state, with normal volumes of billing exceptions to be manually reviewed, in 2023.

 


 

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