Consumer research group JD Power has released the results of its 2014 study of retail electricity providers in states with electric choice.   The highest ranking company in this year’s survey was Green Mountain Energy, a Texas green energy provider.  Overall Texas outperformed the other states in the survey by a large margin; with an average score of 706 on a 1,000 point scale.  New York had the lowest average score of 599.

The group surveyed over 30,000 consumers for their opinions on price, communications, billing and payment, and other parameters.   I was a somewhat surprising result that despite rising electricity rates in many parts of the country, overall consumer satisfaction with their power providers increased.  Improved customer communications was cited as an important factor in the increase in satisfaction.

This was the first time in 5 years that a provider other than Champion Energy took the top spot in Texas.  In addition to the 1,000 scale, JD Power also assigned each company a rating based on a 5 point scale.  Green Mountain and Champion were the only 2 companies to receive a 5 out of 5 rating.  Other results include:

Green Mountain Energy – 5 out of 5

Champion Energy Services – 5 out of 5

Cirro Energy – 4 out of 5

Bounce Energy – 4 out of 5

Direct Energy – 3 out of 5

Reliant Energy – 3 out of 5

First Choice Power – 3 out of 5

TXU Energy – 3 out of 5