COPEL believes that a company should win market share and greater recognition by respecting its customers. Both national and international surveys attest to this approach.
COPEL ranks among the three most admired and respected utilities in the world, according to a survey conducted in 20 countries by PriceWaterhouse Coopers in association with the Financial Times.
In addition, the Brazilian Institute of Customer Relations (IRBC) confirmed, through a study carried out at the end of 2003, that COPEL is indeed the utility that respects its customers the most. Around 1,800 people were surveyed in five Brazilian capitals about their feelings on which state-controlled utilities respected the customer the most. COPEL was mentioned by 38% of all people surveyed in Curitiba.
All customers, whether captive (i.e., those who cannot choose their supplier), potentially free (unregulated) or telecom users, are afforded proper attention by COPEL.
In order to achieve the best rates of satisfaction, COPEL identifies customers needs and wishes through surveys of all customer categories, including potential customers and customers supplied by our competition.
COPEL has been investing continuously in its customer support system. All contacts by our customers are systematically followed up. The different customer relations channels are chosen based on cost, customer category, specific requirements (agility, comfort, and flexibility), complexity of service, customer preferences, and compliance with both ANEEL regulations and Company strategies (innovation and customer loyalty). To implement these channels, COPEL takes into account each customer category's profile, the number of customers, and the demand.
Main Customer Relations Channels
Call Center
The toll-free (0800) Call Center, which accounts for 90% of all support requests, is the main customer support channel. Its quality assurance system is NBR ISO 9002-certified. It receives an average of 700 thousand calls a month.
In 2003, COPEL promoted a public competitive examination to hire 225 new customer service phone operators to replace previously outsourced labor. This measure was designed to further improve the Company's customer support staff, which has undergone intensive training to ensure the quality of service.
COPEL also decentralized the management of call center personnel by appointing supervisors to four additional areas within the Regional Administrations of Ponta Grossa, Cascavel, Londrina, and Maringá, while keeping the Curitiba Main Office in charge of coordinating and standardizing call center operations throughout the State.
In addition, the Company developed intensive in-company training courses for call center supervisors and new employees.
The levels of performance of the call center services are closely monitored with the aid of specific monthly reports, which point out how the flow of incoming calls is being handled, the number of calls, and several other quality indicators.
Customer Service Offices and Branches
In 2003, in order to increase the levels of customer satisfaction and improve its relations with the community, COPEL opted for reopening customer service offices and branches in several locations throughout the State, thus providing customers with an additional means of reaching the Company. This initiative will be further extended in 2004.
Other Customer Service Channels
Fax - COPEL has a team charged exclusively with customer service via fax. This team handles an average of 500 documents a day. Each message is promptly replied to by the fax service or, if required, forwarded electronically to the relevant departments. All documents received by the fax service are digitized and stored in a proper database.
Virtual Office - COPEL has pioneered in the use of the internet in the Brazilian power sector. Its website allows customers to update their records, issue copies of their bills, and request electricity connections and disconnections. Customers can also check the progress of their service requests, their account status, their debits, and their consumption history, in addition to sending e-mail to COPEL. The website already accounts for 9% of all customer support requests handled by the Distribution unit. Customers can contact the Company by means of an online form available at www.copel.com or send e-mail to atendimento@copel.com .
Mail to COPEL - Since 1999, customers can have their letters or documents addressed to the Company delivered within 24 hours to COPEL's distribution unit just by visiting any Brazilian Postal Service Office, where they will find special postage-paid envelopes available in personalized Company racks.
Alternative Collection Points - COPEL offers customers an alternative network of 3,400 collection points such as drugstores, supermarkets, lottery shops, and other authorized establishments throughout Paraná where they can pay their electricity bills.
Specialized Support - the Company offers special technical and commercial support to medium and large industrial and commercial facilities.
Franchisees - COPEL's franchisees provide general Company services in their particular regions and offer special products and services tailored to the surveyed needs of our customers, such as the supply of electric equipment, wiring, and switches.
COPEL Ombudsman Office - Set up in 1994 and restructured in 2003, the Ombudsman Office is charged with receiving, reviewing, and addressing complaints, opinions, and suggestions by customers, the general population, and employees about the services and the conduct of business by the Company. The Office is fully committed to receiving all inquiries, complaints, and suggestions, replying within predetermined schedules, and recommending improvements to the Company, so that the causes of the problems at hand may be eliminated, thus ensuring the due respect to the rights of its public/customers.
In 2003, the Ombudsman Office received 4,294 messages, a number 73% lower than that of 2002 (15,999). After its restructuring, the Office managed to achieve speedier replies to its customers' queries. The average reply time was cut from 21.8 days in the first half of 2003 to 13.5 days in the second half.
Aneel - The Aneel Ombudsman Office and its Administrative Mediation Superintendency can be contacted at 0800-7272010, Mondays through Fridays, from 8 a.m to 8 p.m. Further information is available at www.aneeel.gov.br . All the complaints by COPEL's customers received by Aneel are forwarded to the Company's Ombudsman Office, which will register them and pass them on to the relevant areas of the Company, monitor their progress, request additional information, and then reply to Aneel.
State General Ombudsman Office - The State of Paraná has its own means of receiving complaints, requests, suggestions, or compliments regarding the public services it provides, in order to become aware of, provide guidance on, furnish additional information about, and, whenever possible, solve the problems presented to it by the public. The Office can be reached at 0800-411113.
Customers Council - The Customers Council is composed of representatives of COPEL's main customer segments. It is charged with studying issues regarding power supply, power rates, and service to the final customer. In addition, the Council ponders the relevance of the needs of each customer or customer group.
Customer Relations Management
Below are some of the improvements achieved in the customer relations process in 2003:
Organizational Restructuring - Customer Relations offices were set up to provide service to large-scale industrial and commercial customers within the areas of the Company's five Regional Administrations, which are strategically located in Curitiba, Ponta Grossa, Londrina, Maringá, and Cascavel. COPEL's aim was to provide adequate technical and commercial support to those customers who utilize electricity as one of the main inputs for their production process.
Customer Seminar - Every year, COPEL invites its largest customers to a seminar where current issues in the power sector are discussed, with a view to promoting a closer relationship between them and the Company and learning more about their particular needs.
Customer Relationship Management - CRM - COPEL is currently implementing this marketing tool, which integrates the different information systems that hold customer data, in order to learn more about the market and its customers so as to manage more effectively such relations.
Monitoring of Call Center Indicators - The drop in calls from 2002 to 2003 was due to a better routing of customer campaigns-related calls.
