Georgia Power delivers the best customer experience in the utilities industry, according to the 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings, an annual customer experience ranking of companies based on a survey of 10,000 U.S. consumers. 

Georgia Power took the top spot out of the 19 utilities included in this year's ratings, earning a score of 78% and coming in 28^th place overall out of 331 companies across 20 industries. Alabama Power Company and TXU Energy tied for second place, each receiving a score of 75% and an overall rank of 60^th.

The ratings of all utilities in the 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings are as follows:

• Georgia Power: 78%

• Alabama Power Company: 75%

• TXU Energy: 75%

• Dominion Virginia Power: 73%

• Florida Power & Light: 72%

• Southern California Edison: 71%

• Southern California Gas Company: 71%

• Columbia Natural Gas: 70%

• Duke Energy Progress: 70%

• PPL Electric Utilities: 69%

• Ameren Missouri Company: 68%

• Atmos Energy Services: 68%

• CenterPoint Energy: 68%

• DTE Energy Electric Company: 67%

• Commonwealth Edison: 66%

• PSE&G: 66%

• Ameren Illinois Company: 65%

• Appalachian Power Company: 62%

• Consolidated Edison Company of New York: 61%

"Congratulations to Georgia Power for making the most improvements over the last year and taking over the top spot for customer experience in the utilities industry," states Bruce Temkin, managing partner of Temkin Group.

Overall, the utilities industry averaged a 68% rating in the 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings and tied for 10^th place out of 20 industries. The average rating of the industry improved by 11 percentage-points between 2016 and 2017, going from 57.3% to 67.9%.

Of the 15 companies in this industry that were included in both the 2016 Ratings and the 2017 Ratings, all of them saw their scores increase over the last year. Columbia Natural Gas improved the most, gaining 27 points, while Southern California Gas Company and Consolidated Edison of New York improved the least, each gaining only four points.

Now in its seventh year of publication, the 2017 Temkin Experience Ratings is the most comprehensive benchmark of customer experience in the industry, evaluating 331 companies across 20 industries: airlines, auto dealers, banks, computer & tablet makers, credit card issuers, fast food chains, health plans, hotels & rooms, insurance carriers, investment firms, parcel delivery services, rental cars & transport, retailers, software firms, streaming media, supermarket chains, TV & appliance makers, TV/Internet service providers, utilities, and wireless carriers.

To generate these ratings, Temkin Group asked 10,000 U.S. consumers to evaluate their recent experiences with a company across three dimensions: success (can you do what you want to do?), effort (how easy is it to work with the company?), and emotion (how do you feel about the interactions?). Temkin Group then averaged these three scores to produce each company's Temkin Experience Rating.

In these ratings, a score of 70% or above is considered "good," and a score of 80% or above is considered "excellent," while a score below 60% is considered "poor."