To date in the South, only about half of the builders agreed that they knew who to call at the gas utilities wherever they build or that a gas representative called them periodically. Furthermore, just 46 percent of the Southern builders felt that gas utilities were equally, or more, effective than electric in maintaining a relationship with them. Utilities that score highly on the relationship dimension do, in fact, have higher penetration in multifamily. As a result, LDCs do have the potential to improve their penetration of multifamily through significant improvements on the relationship dimension. This is a key component of building relationships, and can significantly improve LDCs performance in the multifamily new-construction market.
Builders typically have very tight project schedules.
Delays adversely affect costs. Consequently, they are particularly sensitive to untimely and unresponsive utilities. Opportunity for improvement. The survey asked builders in the South how good their gas utilities were at meeting their needs along such dimensions as providing timely information upon request, meeting main and service extension schedules, and making rapid turnaround on engineering services. The study found that only 30 to 40 percent of the builders ranked LDCs as very effective along this dimension.