Report Rates Northeast Utilities Second Lowest for Customer Satisfaction

Northeast Utilities saw a 21-percent decline in customer satisfaction from this time last year, according to a recent national survey of energy customers. Only 59-percent of customers say they were satisfied with the company's performance last year - the second worst score in country, according to the survey.

David Van Amburg, managing director of the American Consumer Satisfaction Index says the drop is not surprising given the lengthy power outages that followed tropical storm Irene and the late October Nor'easter which pummeled the area. He says only improved performance will help the company right its image.

"If the weather is good, customers can be forgiving. If they have outages and see that power is restored quickly then that will tend to cancel out a bad experience in the past. It's up the the utility really to make those necessary improvements and do better by them in the future essentially."

Northeast Utilities subsidiaries like Western Massachusetts Electric Company and Connecticut Light and Power serve tens of thousands of customers in the two states. Parent company spokesperson Deborah Beauchamp says the company is carefully analyzing its response to last year's storms.

"They include reviews by our Connecticut governor's office a two-storm panel report. We're doing our own internal reviews and there are also ongoing regulatory reviews. The goal across the board is to look for strengths to build on and areas that we can improve upon."

The recent survey says that nationwide, more customers than ever are pleased with the performance of their energy providers.