NEWARK, N.J., Jan. 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) ranks highest in electric service business customer satisfaction among large utilities in the eastern United States, according to the annual J.D. Power study announced today.

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PSE&G ranked highest in the segment with a score of 685, above the segment average of 659 for electric utility business customers. The J.D. Power study ranks companies on a 1,000-point scale. The East Large group consists of 12 electric utilities.

The award recognized PSE&G's strong performance in five measures of customer satisfaction: power quality and reliability, billing and payment, corporate citizenship, price, and communications.

"PSE&G employees strive to provide excellent service to our customers day in and day out," said PSE&G President and COO Ralph LaRossa. "From making major investments in our electric infrastructure to making it easier to do business with us, our employees are continually improving our customers' experience. We truly value their contributions - and the trust our customers have in our ability to meet and exceed their expectations."

LaRossa noted that the utility's $6.8 billion transmission capital investment program to replace aging infrastructure and strengthen the power grid will ensure that customers have safe, highly reliable power to run their businesses. "Power quality and reliability is the most important driver of customer satisfaction, and we went up by 36 points in this latest study," he said. "We also improved substantially in customer satisfaction with our billing and payment options, as well as how well we communicate with our customers."

PSE&G believes the satisfaction scores recognized a number of targeted improvements PSE&G implemented for business customers, including the Business Solution Center -- a dedicated, toll-free number staffed by knowledgeable, well-trained professionals to address energy questions and concerns. Last year the utility also launched its enhanced, mobile-friendly Outage Map (pseg.com/outagemap) that provides more detailed information about power outages as well as estimated restoration times.

Other enhancements include:


    --  Pseg.com/business - online access to programs, products and services to
        help businesses in a variety of ways, including saving energy and money.
    --  The ability to conduct PSE&G business online through My Account at
        pseg.com to access current and past bills, make payments at your
        convenience, report power outages and much more.
    --  PSE&G's free, monthly e-newsletter for businesses, EnergeLink, as well
        as email updates during severe weather events for customers who provide
        their email address.
    --  MyAlerts service that allows customers to report outages via text
        message and receive outages updates and payment notification by text and
        email.
    --  PSE&G's mobile website that makes it easy and convenient for business
        customers to access important information and services related to their
        PSE&G account, wherever they are.

"These enhancements are only effective if business customers know about them," explained LaRossa. "Direct mail, email, digital media, bill inserts and newsletters were used to raise awareness about the many tools that are available to help our business customers stay connected. PSE&G executives and our customer account reps are also meeting with customers one-on-one to better understand their needs. We look forward to working with our business customers in the future to help them continue to grow and succeed."

Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) is New Jersey's oldest and largest regulated gas and electric delivery utility, serving nearly three-quarters of the state's population. PSE&G is the winner of the ReliabilityOne Award for superior electric system reliability. PSE&G is a subsidiary of Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated (PSEG) (NYSE: PEG), a diversified energy company.

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SOURCE Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G)