Power up
The people at Vaasan Sähkö understand what it takes for an electricity company to rank first in customer satisfaction ratings.
“Since electricity is a slightly bland product, the value in the customer relationship is formed through services,” says Olli Arola, Business Unit Director at Vaasan Sähkö.
The company has been getting top placings in customer satisfaction surveys for years. In 2017, it had the most satisfied customers of all Finnish electricity suppliers, according to an EPSI Rating survey. Around two thirds of all Vaasan Sähkö customers are from within its own electricity distribution area, but the company also has customers all over Finland, covering 98 percent of Finnish municipalities.
Vaasan Sähkö has more than 92 000 electricity supply clients, a large portion of which are companies. Although the survey recognition was for having the best customer satisfaction among private customers, Arola says that corporate clients also value the same things as private consumers.
“We do business with both private and corporate clients in the same way, since effortless operation and quality of service are important to both our client groups.”
There are of course variations in the amount of electricity consumed between the client groups, which increases the importance of cost benefits gained with the help of tailored services.
“Our prices are very competitive. By offering services for optimising peak loads, and by investing in profitable production, we can offer our clients affordable prices,” Arola says.
For many companies, the availability of emission-free energy is an important criterion when choosing an electricity supplier.
“Many companies are developing global solutions related to use of energy in our region, which is why they are also interested in using clean energy themselves,” says Arola. Increasing emission-free energy production and reducing carbon dioxide emissions have been strategic choices at Vaasan Sähkö for a long time.
“More than 80 percent of the energy we use in district heating is already emission-free, and that percentage is nearly 70 percent for overall energy production as well,” says Arola.
