American Gas - December 2013/January 2014 - (Page 10)

digest Continued from page 9 produce up to 100,000 gallons of gasoline a year. The plant will use a proprietary catalytic process that directly converts syngas derived from natural gas to gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, or aromatic chemicals, without need for further treatment. Primus claims the approach is more cost-effective than traditional gas-to-liquids techniques. The U.s. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous materials safety Administration recently awarded nearly $800,000 to universities for research into improved pipeline safety. The list of recipients: Texas A&m; University of Tulsa; sUnYBuffalo; University of coloradoDenver; north Dakota state University; columbia University in the city of new York; iowa state University; and Ohio University. PHmsA Administrator cynthia Quarterman said in a statement that the program should "not only result in exciting new developments in the field, but also inspire bright young researchers and engineers to consider pipeline safety as a cutting-edge and rewarding field of employment." A second Houston-area disabled veteran has received a standby natural gas generator through centerPoint energy's Powering Heroes program. Under the program, a portion of the proceeds from the purchase of generators by centerPoint customers from select dealers was donated to buy a generator for Dillon cannon, a U.s. Army specialist who was paralyzed from below the chest while serving in iraq. in may, the program funded a generator for marine corporal Jesse medina, who was severely wounded in Continued on page 12 10 corporate citizenship category includes communications regarding the environmental and economic advantages of natural gas "Clearly, the industry has done a good job telling its own story," Conklin told American Gas. The utilities that rate highest are using a variety of channels to communicate with customers, Conklin said, including all the "e-channels": websites, social media, Twitter, Facebook, and text messages. "The best practitioners are using every channel available." Among individual utilities, Conklin said DTE Energy stands out for having risen to second place in overall customer satisfaction in the Midwest, after having ranked 17 out of 20 in its peer group in 2005. MidAmerican Energy is first in the region. "DTE Energy is probably one of the most improved brands in the country in any sector," he said. "It's very impressive." DTE Energy President and COO Jerry Norcia told American Gas that the utility achieved significant gains through a carefully crafted strategy that included a renewed focus on customer communications, developing an extensive community outreach program, and improving customer experiences. "We ask our customers if we met or exceeded their expectations after we provide service. We then use this feedback to engineer positive future experiences," he said. "These efforts have produced strong customer satisfaction results." Northwest Natural Gas and Southern California Gas Company held the top spots in the West. Oklahoma Natural Gas and Centerpoint EnergySouth were first and second, respectively, in the South. In the East, UGI and New Jersey Natural Gas were rated highest. -J.P.T. u P d at e s Paid on the Run More consumers are paying on mobile devices t he percentage of consumers paying bills via their smartphones has doubled in the past year, but most billers-including utilities- don't yet offer mobile bill-payment options, ac- AmericAn GAs December 2013/january 2014 cording to a recent study by Fiserv and Blueflame Consulting. A survey of more than 50 billers (including utilities, municipalities, financial service providers, insurance companies, and telecommunication providers) indicated that 16 percent of consumers paid at least one bill using a mobile device. That's up from 8 percent in 2012, Eric Leiserson, senior research analyst at Fiserv, told American Gas. Twenty-one percent of utilities surveyed said they had deployed a mobile bill-pay channel. Nineteen percent said they planned to do so in the next six to 12 months. Twenty-three percent said they would in one to two years. More than one-quarter said they had no definite plans to offer mobile bill payment but were considering it. The final 11 percent said they were not considering offering mobile pay at all. Leiserson said those numbers are fairly consistent with billers across all industries. So were the top reasons given for not going mobile: lack of sufficient IT resources, conflicting priorities, security, and complexity. But that represents a change from last year, when utilities cited lack of a business case as their top reason for not developing a mobile bill-pay option. Leiserson said some doubted they would receive a solid return on investment for mobile bill pay, believing that it would simply attract customers who were already receiving and paying bills online. "Now, however, it has been pretty well established that mobile bill pay can help drive

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Gas - December 2013/January 2014

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American Gas - December 2013/January 2014