Report from General Manager Regarding Recommendations on the Customer Service Call Volume Issue:(See C-13/1):

A meeting of Staff was held to review the “Customer Service Call Volume” Report. Staff members in attendance were: Paula Rarden, Russ Colwell, John Higginbotham, Ed Hancock, Karl Pitzer, Herbbie Bannister, Dave Brown, Jeff McCrystal, and Warner Caines.

In addition to reviewing the report, the purpose of the meeting was to develop a list of “Quick Action/Short Term” items that could be implemented immediately in order to reduce the number of phone calls in Customer Service.

It was agreed that several of the Long Term Recommendations listed in the “Committee Report” have merit but more time will be required for research and evaluation. Staff will continue to meet and report to the Board as to the status and progress of the Long Term solutions.

The following is the list of “Quick Action/Short Term” items that Staff developed and will address in the near future to reduce Customer Service phone calls:

FPB Customer Meetings – Meetings, open to the public, will be held at the Clubhouse on a quarterly basis with the first meeting scheduled for Tuesday, August 1st at 6:30 p.m. to discuss issues related to services provided by the Plant Board.

The meetings will begin on time with an agenda related to customer concerns determined by customer questions to Customer Service and other Departments. The meeting will be limited to two hours and will be recorded for later viewing on Frankfort Plant Board cable.



Advertise Plant Board Services – Use TV channels to provide Plant Board information to customers related to Plant Board services such as FPB web page, major outages, scheduled outages, “FPB Customer Meetings,” new services, rate increases, etc.



On-line Services – Make available to customers the ability to add and disconnect services by internet. After information is received on the internet, this will require a CSR to contact the customer but the customer can in most cases, provide information over the internet without coming in or calling the main office.



One Stop Shop – Begin training CSRs in the ability to sign customers up for all services and answer questions related to billing. Today, individual CSRs are trained to: (1) Sign up Electric and Water, (2) Sign up Telephone and Television, and (3) Resolve Billing Issues.



Receptionist – Eliminate Receptionist Position. As it is now, the Receptionist is the newest employee with the least knowledge of Plant Board operations. The Receptionist has been considered as an entry position. Receptionists of the past have transferred to other departments or have become CSRs when there are openings. In order to correct this problem, the Receptionist’s position will be eliminated and the present Receptionist will become a CSR in training. The CSRs will, in turn, rotate to the Receptionist position on a weekly basis. This will not only provide an employee with knowledge of Plant Board operations, but will provide another CSR during emergencies.



Retirees – Recent Retires will return to assist on peak days such as the 1st of the month (new bills), 15th of the month (last payment date) and cutoff (late payment). Recent Retirees are Susan Conway, Phyllis McClain and Margaret Young.



Frequently Asked Questions – Provide list of “Most Frequently Asked Questions” to customers. This could also be discussed at FPB Customer Meetings or TV.



Implement $1.00 Fee – Customers receive a bill from the Plant Board, but many customers fail to bring their bill to the office with their payment. CSRs cannot process a payment without a bill; therefore, they have to print a bill for the customer. This requires time and delays the CSR representative from waiting on other customers or answering phone calls.

In the future, Staff would like for the Board to consider approving a new Tariff where customers are charged a $1.00 for a bill to be printed. Several months would be required to educate customers before such a tariff would go into effect.



Summer Help – Upon receipt of a new service order, the customer is notified of a time and date the service will be installed. When the time approaches for the service to be installed, numerous calls are received from customers related to scheduling issues. A summer help person has been employed to contact new customers and remind them as to the time and date the service installer will be at their location.

The objective is to provide the customer with at least a 24 hour reminder prior to the installation.