Benchmarking for service reliability and customer services in a deregulated environment

This session will explore the state-of-the art and key issues in setting baselines premium service. The first speaker will address the issues surrounding benchmarking of different companies. The second speaker will talk about how a distribution company can evaluate its different options for achieving a specific level reliability (that is, a distribution company should consider the cost of achieving a specific baseline of reliability, before it actually commits to providing that level of reliability), The third speaker will discuss various options for increasing customer satisfaction and methods to find the most cost-effective means for achieving such increase. There will also be a facilitated discussion on "What should the industry do to set baselines and influence regulatory decisions?"