How to construct a service quality index in performance-based ratemaking

Electricity Journal

Volumn 9, Issue 3, 1996, Pages 46-53

  Alexander, Barbara R ^a,b  

^a Maine Public Utilities Commission ^*

^b NARUC Staff Subcommittee Consum A

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COMPETITIVE ELECTRICITY MARKETS; INNOVATIVE PERFORMANCE; PERFORMANCE BASED; PERFORMANCE TRACKING; RATEMAKING; SERVICE QUALITY; SERVICE QUALITY INDICES; TRACKING METHOD;

QUALITY OF SERVICE;

EID: 0043095195     PISSN: 10406190     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/S1040-6190(96)80408-8     Document Type: Article

References (21)

1. See, e.g., the FCC price cap plan for AT&T, as well as some of the early US West incentive plan orders.
2. Telcos' Halo Fading on Customer Service, MULTICHANNEL NEWS, vol. 16 no. 47, Nov. 20, 1995 at 1.
3. The Wisconsin Public Service Commission, having seen deterioration of Ameritech's service - in terms of time of service restoration and time to answer customer calls-recently brought suit against Ameritech in state court to compel it to improve its performance.
4. See, e.g., US West Accused of Service Violations, GAZETTE TELEGRAPH, Sept. 29, 1994; Balky Phone Service Again Bedevils City, ARIZONA DAILY STAR, Oct. 12, 1994; Leon Satterfield, Don't Run the U.S. like US West, LINCOLN STAR, Aug. 29, 1994.
5. See, e.g., US West Accused of Service Violations, GAZETTE TELEGRAPH, Sept. 29, 1994; Balky Phone Service Again Bedevils City, ARIZONA DAILY STAR, Oct. 12, 1994; Leon Satterfield, Don't Run the U.S. like US West, LINCOLN STAR, Aug. 29, 1994.
6. See, e.g., US West Accused of Service Violations, GAZETTE TELEGRAPH, Sept. 29, 1994; Balky Phone Service Again Bedevils City, ARIZONA DAILY STAR, Oct. 12, 1994; Leon Satterfield, Don't Run the U.S. like US West, LINCOLN STAR, Aug. 29, 1994.
7. Even where the commission has the authority to assess fines and penalties, the length and cost of such litigation and further court appeals is not an effective response to poor service quality. The Montana Public Service Commission voted to sue US West in October, 1994 and the case is not yet settled or litigated.
8. Pa. Pub. Util. Comm'n, A Proposal for Quality of Service Standards, Bureau of Consumer Services, (undated).
9. Staff Subcommittee on Telephone Service Quality, Model Telecommunications Service Rules (Nat'l Reg. Res. Inst., July 22, 1987).
10. T1A1.2 Working Group on Network Survivability Performance, A Technical Report on Analysis of FCC-Reportable Service Outage Data (prepared by Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions, formerly Exchange Carriers Standards Association Report No. 38) (Aug. 1994).
11. Maine Pub. Util. Comm'n, Order After Investigation into Regulatory Alternatives for the New England Telephone and Telegraph Co., Docket 94-123 (May 15, 1995).
12. Robert E. Burns, Alternatives to Utility Service Disconnection (Nat'l Reg. Res. Inst., May, 1995).
13. Maine PUC, supra note 9, at 79.
14. Ed Rodger, Deputy Director, Consumer Services Division, New York Public Service Commission, (presentation to NARUC Staff Subcommittee on Consumer Affairs) (Tampa, Fla., Sept. 1995).
15. Maine Public Utilities Commission, Detailed Opinion and Subsidiary Findings, Proposed Increase in Rates (Phase II) - Central Maine Power Co. (Jan. 10, 1994).
16. New York Public Service Commission, Order After Proceeding on Motion of the Commission to Investigate Performance-based Incentive Regulatory Plans for New York Telephone-Track 2, Case 92-C-0665 (Aug. 16, 1995).
17. Id.
18. Maine PUC, supra note 9, at 85.
19. ALEX HENNEY, A STUDY OF THE PRIVATISATION OF THE ELECTRICITY SUPPLY INDUSTRY IN ENGLAND AND WALES (EEE Ltd., London, 1994).
20. Oversight Group Agrees on US West Benchmarks, CONNECTIONS, Dec., 1995 at 4 (newsletter of Colo. Pub. Util. Comm'n).
21. The New York PSC's decision on New York Telephone's alternative rate plan increased the penalty dollars at risk such that had these amounts been in effect during 1994 the company would have paid a $80 million penalty. Case 92-C-0665 at 39-43. Part of the justification for the substantial increase in penalties was that a prior 1994 Service Quality Plan offered the company a potential incentive payment of up to $121 million. The company's actual service quality performance in 1994 was so poor that almost none of these dollars were earned.