The Proposed Settlement on Performance Indicators

The proposed settlement on performance indicators addresses safety, reliability, customer satisfaction, and call center responsiveness, as well as certain customer service guarantees. Performance indicators offer rewards and penalties for specific actions, as described above. Other than service guarantees, each of the performance indicators described below has a symmetrical reward and penalty. (See Appendix B for a comparison of each party's position and the settlement position.)

The proposed settlement agreement identifies certain performance indicators which SDG&E has agreed to withdraw. SDG&E agrees to provide to the Commission and to the settling parties an annual report which provides quarterly data for various items related to customer service, emergencies, and call center responsiveness. Because tracking systems for several of these measures are not yet in place, SDG&E proposes to begin tracking this data two months after issuance of this decision. The first report will be submitted in early 2000, addressing data through December 31, 1999. SDG&E agrees to withdraw its proposed competition enhancement and environmental citizenship performance indicators. Finally, no party opposes SDG&E's proposal to gather data for the purposes of developing an electric system maintenance performance indicator.

We describe below each of the performance indicators proposed in the settlement agreement.

Safety Performance Indicator

The employee safety performance indicator is based on an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) frequency standard. This standard compares SDG&E's regulated OSHA-reportable lost time and non-lost time injuries and illnesses to SDG&E employee working hours, as adjusted for personnel changes due to the approved merger between Enova and Pacific Enterprises. The settlement agreement recommends the following parameters:

Benchmark: OSHA-reportable rate of 8.80

Deadband: +/- 0.20

Liveband: +/- 1.20

Unit of change: 0.01

Incentive per unit: $25,000

Maximum incentive: +/- $3 million

Reliability Performance Indicators

Reliability is measured by various benchmarks which apply to SDG&E's facilities and exclude planned outages and major events (as defined in D.96-09-045).⁷ These benchmarks include the System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI), the System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI), and the Momentary Average Interruption Frequency Index (MAIFI).

The following measures are recommended for the SAIDI:

Benchmark: 52 minutes (excluding underground cable failures) for each year 1999, 2000, 2001. 73 minutes (including underground cable failures) for 2002.

Deadband: 0

Liveband: +/- 15

Unit of change: 1

Incentive per unit: $250,000

Maximum incentive: +/- $3.75 million

The following measures are recommended for the SAIFI:

Benchmark: 0.90 outages per year

Deadband: 0

Liveband: +/- 0.15

Unit of change: 0.01

Incentive per unit: $250,000

Maximum incentive: +/- $3.75 million

The following measures are recommended for the MAIFI:

Benchmark: 1.28 outages per year

Deadband: 0

Liveband: +/- 0.30

Unit of change: 0.015

Incentive per unit: $50,000

Maximum incentive: +/- $1million

Customer Satisfaction Performance Indicator

SDG&E's Customer Service Monitoring System (CSMS) indicator measures overall customer satisfaction with recent service transactions. The proposed CSMS measure is recommended with the following parameters:

Benchmark: 92.5% very satisfied

Deadband: +/- 0.5%

Liveband: +/- 2.0%

Unit of change: 0.1%

Incentive per unit: $75,000

Maximum incentive: +/- $1.5 million

Call Center Responsiveness Performance Indicator

This performance indicator measures SDG&E's responsiveness to customer telephone inquiries. The settlement agreement recommends the following parameters:

Benchmark: 80% of calls answered in 60 seconds, as measured on an annual basis

Deadband: 0

Liveband: +/- 15%

Unit of change: 0.1%

Incentive per unit: $10,000

Maximum incentive: +/- $1.5 million

No standard is recommended for emergency calls at this time.

Service Guarantees

The settling parties recommend that certain service guarantees be implemented but agree that in order to provide adequate time for implementation, SDG&E will begin these guarantees approximately two months after the issuance of this decision, but no sooner than April 1, 1999.

SDG&E makes appointments for services when access is required to the customer's premises and the customer requests to be present. These appointments may be set for a four-hour window when requested by customers or they may be set for a particular day. If SDG&E is not able to meet the appointment commitment, the customer's account will be credited with $50. However, if the customer is notified at least four hours before the end of the appointment period, SDG&E is excused from applying the credit. For establishment of service (turn-on orders), the customer will be credited with the applicable service establishment charge ($15 or $30) rather than $50. This guarantee does not apply to gas pilot light appointments, or if SDG&E documents that the service person missed the appointment due to natural disaster, labor strike or was called to work on an Emergency Order, including fire or explosion, broken or blowing gas line, high pressure gas, emergency carbon monoxide, and hazardous leaks. Emergency Orders are excluded from this guarantee, due to SDG&E's public safety obligations.

When a customer requests a date for a permanent new service establishment, SDG&E will turn on the new service on the day promised (prior to midnight) or credit the customer's account with the service establishment charge ($15 for electric service; $30 for both gas and electric service). The credit will not apply if at least 24 hours' notice of a date change is provided to the customer. Notice provided by message left on an answering machine or voice mail is sufficient. For the guarantee to be valid, there must be open access to the facility and the meter panel or gas service; all required inspections must be completed and approved; there must be no threats of harm to employees; and credits will be paid only when the customer is currently without service. SDG&E agrees to develop a centralized complaint tracking system and will provide annual reports to the Commission and to settling parties on results achieved.