CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (Dec. 14, 2022) – J.D. Power awarded EPB Best Customer Satisfaction for Residential Electric Service in the South among Midsize Utilities for the seventh consecutive year, according to the J.D. Power 2022 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction StudySM.

“In addition to leading as the winner in the South among Midsize Utilities for overall Customer Satisfaction for seven straight years, EPB ranked highest across four study factors including ‘Power Quality & Reliability’ and ‘Price’ factors,” said John Hazen, Senior Consultant — Product Management & Development — Energy Practice at J.D. Power. “This is quite the achievement that reflects the commitment of multiple departments and employees that work together to make this long-time distinction possible.”

Among the South Midsize segment, EPB ranked best in four of six study factors: Billing & Payment, Price, Power Quality & Reliability, and Customer Care. EPB also scored particularly well for Corporate Citizenship and Communications.

“I’m extremely thankful for our customers’ feedback about our services and proud of EPB Team Members who work hard every day to meet our community’s needs across our service area,” said EPB President & CEO David Wade. “This recognition reflects the ownership all of our employees take to provide services reliably, efficiently and courteously at the best possible value.”

During a time when global factors contributed to increasing electricity prices across the nation, EPB continues to offer programs free of charge to residential customers to help improve home efficiency and help lower monthly energy costs:

• Levelized Billing – Levelized Billing calculates monthly bills on a rolling average of customer power usage over the past 12 months. This means bills won’t fluctuate dramatically month to month and customers can more effectively budget knowing approximately how much their electricity bill will cost.
• 30 Minutes with a Pro – EPB Energy ProsSM will address residential customer questions or concerns via phone on topics from HVACs to solar, and anything in between.
• EPB Home Energy CheckupsSM – EPB Energy Pros perform thorough in-home analysis and provide detailed reports on ways to save on home energy bills.
• DIY Home Energy Assessments – Residential customers can use an online evaluation at epb.com where they can input information about their homes and receive a personalized report with energy efficiency recommendations.
• Home Uplift – EPB Energy Pros and TVA EnergyRight® work with neighbors in need to provide substantial home energy upgrades at no charge to reduce their energy bills and improve the air quality.

EPB’s Customer Relations and Tech Support are available 24/7/365 to connect customers to these and other resources, via phone, text/SMS and online chat.

In 2021, an independent study quantified that EPB’s Smart Grid and community-wide fiber optic network delivered $2.7 billion in value to the community during its first 10 years of operation. In fiscal year 2022 alone, EPB continued to deliver measurable value including:

• Utilizing the Smart Grid to prevent and reduce customer outages by 27.5 million minutes.
• Providing HCS EdConnect fiber optic internet at no charge to 16,000 students who with their families include 28,000 people who benefit from access to online educational opportunities as well as job opportunities and telehealth.
• Paid more than $21 million to local governments in support of education and other public services.

Eleven states comprise J.D. Power’s South category for which EPB was named best Midsize Utility: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

About J.D. Power and the Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction StudySM

The 2022 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study is based on responses from 102,879 online interviews conducted from January 2022 through November 2022 among residential customers of the 145 largest electric utility brands across the United States, which represent more than 105 million households.

J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. A pioneer in the use of big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic modeling capabilities to understand consumer behavior, J.D. Power has been delivering incisive industry intelligence on customer interactions with brands and products for more than 50 years. The world's leading businesses across major industries rely on J.D. Power to guide their customer-facing strategies.

J.D. Power has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more about the company’s business offerings, visit JDPower.com/business. The J.D. Power auto shopping tool can be found at JDPower.com.

About EPB

EPB delivers advanced smart city infrastructure and world-class energy and connectivity solutions, including the most resilient smart grid power distribution system in the United States and the fastest internet in the world. EPB gained national notice when it deployed America’s first community-wide Gig-speed internet in 2010, later expanding the ubiquitously available service to 10 Gig in 2015 and 25 Gig in 2022. Ever committed to keeping Chattanooga on the cutting edge, in 2022, EPB established EPB Quantum NetworkSM powered by Qubitekk, America’s first industry-led, commercially available quantum network designed for private companies as well as government and university researchers to run quantum equipment and applications in an established fiber optic environment.

EPB utilizes its fiber optic network as the communications backbone for more than 200,000 smart switches, sensors and other devices. As a result, the Chattanooga area’s power distribution system is the most advanced and highly automated smart grid in the nation. This led the U.S. Department of Energy to name EPB a living laboratory for pioneering smart grid technologies. Since then, EPB has partnered with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and more than 20 other national research partners to play a critical role in more than $155 million in smart city research, earning such recognitions as the R&D 100 Award for its work to apply quantum technologies to securing America’s electric grid. EPB was also the first major power distribution utility to earn the GBCI’s PEER certification for having a highly automated, modernized electric power grid in 2015 and followed up in 2021 by re-certifying at PEER Gold.

EPB is an independent board of the City of Chattanooga which began serving customers in 1939 and today reaches a 600-square-mile service territory that includes the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, and the surrounding area. Visit epb.com for more information.