In this knowledge email, we would like to share how The Hongkong Electric Co., Ltd., the winner of 2014 Customer Relationship Excellence Awards in the category of "Public Service of the Year (Public Utility)", achieves Customer Relationship Excellence.

The Hongkong Electric Co., Ltd. (HK Electric), principal operating subsidiary of HK Electric Investments, was incorporated in January 1889 and commenced operations in 1890, and is one of the world’s longest-established utility companies. HK Electric is committed to protecting the environment and supporting sustainable development by conducting our business in an environmentally responsible manner. We strive to protect the health and safety of our employees, customers, contractors and the public by conducting our business in a safe and socially responsible manner, while delivering reliable electricity supply and excellent customer services. Hence, HK Electric won various corporate and individual CRE Award since 2005 and was the six-year consecutive winner of the CRE Awards under Public Service of the Year (Public Utility) from 2008-2013 and won the highest honor, Customer Relationship Excellence – Outstanding Achievement in 2010.

• HK Electric considers satisfying our customers as one of the highest priorities in our operations, and has established a set of pledged customer service standards since 1993. In 2014, HK Electric again achieved or even surpassed all 18 of the pledged customer service standards, a track record we have kept since introducing these standards more than a decade ago.

• By combining the operations of Customer Centre and Call Centre, the frontline professionals with multi-skills can back up each other, especially during the peak hours, in handling customer enquiries and service request.

• In addition to the Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS), we have the Customer Services Hotline that is answered by Customer Services Representatives, with a service standard of answering the calls within 9 seconds. This arrangement is highly appreciated by the customers who prefer to talk to an agent directly.

Proactive in gathering the customer feedback and trade practices for improvement

• Arrange regular meetings to communicate with the members of Customer Liaison Group (CLG) on the latest service development and to understand their views and suggestions.

• Hold “We Meet on Friday” sessions once a month at the Customer Centre for customers to share their views on specific service areas.

• Invite customers to complete “Give-Me-5” customer survey by answering five simple questions on various aspects of on specific service area.

• Launched the “In-Touch Program”: arrange ambassadors to get in touch with customers to follow through the whole application of supply process, join the on-site inspection to experience the services together with the customers, in order to explore the room for improvement.

Caring Our Customers and Community

• Offer concessionary tariff schemes for the elderly, the disabled, single-parent families and the unemployed.

• Offer a number of barrier-free services for the needy. For example, Braille bills and brochures, special e-bill services for the visually impaired, text-only mode and mono mode of the corporate website, special facilities at our Customer Centre.

• Publish customer service pamphlets in seven minority languages, including Indonesian, Tagalog, Urdu, Japanese, Thai, Nepalese and Korean.Setup the “Good Neighbour Fund” encourages employee-led initiatives for those in need.

• Partnering with the Hong Kong Council of Social Service, HK Electric’s U3A (University of 3rd Age) Network aims to promote lifelong learning and volunteerism among retirees, especially the young-olds.