___________________________________________________________________
Access the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power's Website, and you'll be greeted by a photo of a LADWP employee.
"Welcome to the DWP! I'm Pete, Senior Electrical Mechanic, and your Home Page host. All of us at the DWP have made it our goal to give our customers the very best service."
This text accompanies the photo. It gives a large, municipal utility with thousands of employees and a vast customer base a small-town feeling that suggests personalized service. Other employees are featured throughout the Website.
This customer focus continues into the content of the Website as well as its form. The online 1995-1996 annual report tells customers, "Our strategy has one focus: our customers. We're listening and responding to their needs. We're approaching them in new ways and partnering for innovative, mutually beneficial solutions."
Comments from satisfied customers lend credibility to this statement. These customers explain how the utility has worked with them to find creative solutions to individual problems.
One case study explained that CBS, the television network, installed two thermal energy storage systems, resulting in the shifting of 976 kilowatts from on-peak to base period rates. This change resulted in significant savings, since taping sessions sometimes require temperatures as low as 50 degrees F.
Comments from customers enhance the message of accessibility and customer focus that the Website seeks to convey.
