The annual Customer Satisfaction Survey conducted last fall showed significant areas of improvement while highlighting some of the challenges facing the energy industry in the current environment.

Market research firm Ipsos Reid once again conducted the survey via telephone interviews and web-based questionnaires. The results were augmented with one-on-one interviews with a group of industry executives asked to provide candid feedback on TransCanada’s performance. The executives were also invited to provide their perspective on industry trends and the role they see TransCanada playing in working with its customers and stakeholders to address the changing dynamics in industry and the marketplace going forward.

The results from this survey are also used in the development of TransCanada’s objectives for 2008 and beyond.

Operational Excellence - A Focus on Continuous Improvement

Overall satisfaction rose significantly from 2006 levels. Customers gave the highest marks to our Call Centre, transactional systems and staff. This reflects our commitment to customer service, with a particular focus on making it easy for customers to do business with us.

“We’re very proud of these results and would like to thank customers for their feedback as well as for recognizing our efforts in 2007,” says Steve Emond, vice-president, System Design and Commercial Operations. “Core to our Operational Excellence strategy is a continuous improvement mindset and the survey results reinforce that we’re on track. We also understand that customers have high expectations of us to maintain and even improve on this performance. We’re up to the challenge!”

The following graphs show TransCanada’s performance in core business processes over the past several years.

We are also proud of how customers rank TransCanada’s performance relative to our industry peers.

TransCanada thanks those who participated in the 2007 survey. The feedback from the survey provides an important snapshot of where we're clearly hitting the mark, where we have made gains and also where we need to change to achieve further improvement.

Taking a Leadership Role in our Industry

Customers who deal with TransCanada’s senior management acknowledged efforts to improve communications and build relationships, which was a focus in 2007.

Also, feedback from our survey and one-on-one executive interviews clearly affirmed the challenges facing the energy industry today.  Uncertainty on many fronts such as commodity price volatility, material and labour costs, regulatory policies, environmental issues, etc., means the decision-making process is increasingly complex.

“Over the past few years, we have made it a focus to strengthen relationships at the senior management level,” says Max Feldman, senior vice-president, Canadian and Eastern U.S. Pipelines. “Through this survey, industry collaborative processes and one-on-one discussions, the feedback tells us we are on the right path and reinforces the need to continue our productive dialogue. Building on this framework of trust and collaboration is essential to address many of the challenges we have in common.”

Our focus in 2008 will be to sustain high levels of performance in core areas while continuing to progress our performance in senior management relationships, proactive communication, and working collaboratively to exceed customers’ expectations in an increasingly complex marketplace.

For more information on the 2007 Customer Satisfaction Survey, please contact Patrick McCausland at 403.920.5831.