A survey of consumer satisfaction in the Hungarian electricity industry

Major utility companies have recently been privatized in Hungary. Government agencies are now faced with the problem of protecting consumers' interest in a 'semi-monopoly' environment without directly interfering into company affairs. The Hungarian Energy Office ordered the newly privatized electricity supply companies to annually conduct a survey on their business and non-business customers to assess their satisfaction with the electricity supply and related services. The paper describes the methodology of the survey, the 'importance - satisfaction' analyses, and the results of the first comprehensive survey. These results give an up-to-date picture about the differences in the expectations and perceptions of the consumers about the service quality in the field of electricity distribution.