KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Office of Utilities Regulation (OUR) says its 2020 Mystery Shopping survey has revealed a general improvement in the performance of utilities service providers, with an overall performance score across all service providers of 74 per cent compared to 66 per cent in 2019.

However, the body said most of the utility providers continued to underperform in service provided to customers in store.

The findings were revealed by Market Research Services Limited (MRSL) at a webinar hosted by the OUR on Thursday, July 29.

The survey examined the quality of service provided to them in store, via telephone calls to call centres and online chats with utility providers’ representatives.

The combined figures indicate that the National Water Commission (NWC) was the best performing utility provider with 80 per cent, followed by the Jamaica Public Service (JPS) with 76 per cent, FLOW with 70 per cent and Digicel with 68 per cent.

Utility providers, however, received the lowest scores for in store performance, with NWC having the highest score in this area, at 71 per cent, followed by JPS, 66 per cent; FLOW, 59 per cent and Digicel, 57 per cent.

In 2020, only NWC showed any significant improvement in this area, moving up by nine per cent from 62 per cent in 2019. Both JPS and FLOW saw marginal reductions in their in store performance in 2020 compared to 2019, while Digicel recorded a three per cent increase.

The OUR said the best area of performance for the utility companies was the utilisation of the online chat platform in which, NWC scored 98 per cent, followed by Digicel, 91 per cent; FLOW, 85 per cent and JPS, 77 per cent. 

When assessed for their COVID-19 measures, the regulatory body said it was found that utilities, for the most part, have put in place measures, resulting in an overall score of 72 per cent. However, all utility providers received low scores for sanitation of customer service areas.

The OUR said JPS achieved the highest score for its COVID-19 measures with 80 per cent, NWC received 74 per cent, while Digicel and FLOW received 68 per cent and 66 per cent, respectively. The COVID-19 measures considered included whether there were any visible social distance markers in store, whether masks were required upon entry, and if sanitisation was being done while in-store as well as at points of entry.

Utility providers’ overall service improve, but work needed in stores — OUR survey