DPU customer survey: high satisfaction overall, mixed support for higher bills to fund clean energy

Consultants from Great Blue presented the annual "voice of the customer" survey results to the Board of Public Utilities, reporting strong overall satisfaction with Los Alamos County utility services but mixed support for higher customer bills to fund accelerated decarbonization.

Catherine Vollmer and a colleague, identified as Sophia, told the board that 274 residential customers and 21 commercial customers completed the survey in mid‑January through February. Great Blue said the residential margin of error is ±5.7 percentage points, and the commercial margin of error is larger because of the smaller sample size.

Overall satisfaction and reliability ratings were high: the presenters said reliability and service quality for water, electric and natural gas scored well above a national public‑power comparison dataset. Great Blue's "NP+S" (advocate or satisfied customers) score was roughly 80% for residential customers and about 86% for commercial customers.

The survey found lower ratings in some communication areas. Digital tools showed mixed adoption: about half of respondents were aware of the Los Alamos Now app but fewer than 15% of residential and commercial customers reported using it; among users, satisfaction with the app was high. More than half of residential respondents reported using the utility bill and payment portal and most of those users said they were satisfied with it.

Regarding clean‑energy investments, the presenters said roughly three‑quarters of commercial respondents and about 60% of residential respondents supported the utility investing in clean energy even if it raised customer bills. When asked how much more they would pay per month for such investments, about a third of respondents in both groups said $0 per month; another third of residential respondents were willing to pay $1–$10 per month. Great Blue and board members discussed the challenge of framing willingness‑to‑pay questions and suggested larger price ranges for future surveys to capture realistic costs.

Board members and consultants noted a drop in residential responses from prior years, and Great Blue said survey fatigue and timing (other county surveys and outreach) likely contributed. The presenters recommended targeted communications to raise awareness of the Los Alamos Now app and suggested user‑experience testing to increase adoption.

Member Matt Heffner and others said the utility’s forthcoming electrification study could provide concrete cost scenarios that would make future survey questions about willingness to pay more actionable. Great Blue recommended repeating the survey with refined questions once those cost estimates are available.