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Web Sites of 19 U.S. Electric Utilities reviewed by J. Howe
New England Power Service Company, E-Business Group (December, 1999)
Introduction
Nineteen Web sites were reviewed. Eight were on a recent trade publication's list of the top utility sites for 1999; six were suggested by M. Siegel, one by J. Diveglia. Five were discovered during my research. While all the sites are owned by companies that distribute electricity at retail, most differ from NEPSCO in number of customers; products and services; relationships with parent companies, partners and affiliates; geographic location; regulatory status; and other factors. Any comparisons between the sites should be made with those business differences firmly in mind.
Methodology
Six criteria were used to rank the sites:
• Information design - organization and labeling of content areas and applications
• Interface/navigation design - ease of navigation and visual orientation within site
• Interactivity - interactive forms and applications that add value to visitor experience
• Audience approach - attitude toward visitors as reflected in graphic design and content
• Graphic Design - page lay-out (color selection, fonts, choice of graphics, production values, etc.)
• Content - information potentially useful and/or interesting to visitors
Summary of findings
The Potomac Electric Power Company (Pepco) received the highest score. Boston Edison, Carolina Power & Light, Central Maine Light and Power, Florida Light & Power, Niagara Mohawk, Salt River Project, and Southern California Edison were of comparable quality in most respects. While scoring lower overall, each of the other eleven sites had at least a few innovative, useful content areas or applications.
KEY
* = utility in deregulated environment
• = site on industry trade publication "Top Ten" list
company names at top of each page are linked to reviewed Web sites
total score: 26
rank: 15
| Score |
Aspect
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Comments
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5
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Information Design |
Level 1 areas: Home, Search, Contact Us, About BG&E, News & Information, Financial Information,
Products & Services, Natural Gas, FERC Tariffs, Job Opportunities
- "News & Information," "Financial Information" - "information" in label almost always confusing
- No separate Customer area - just "Products and Services" - miss chance to direct traffic
- logic and prioritization of L1 areas is confusing
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| 3 |
Interface/Navigation |
- Home: miscellaneous list of unprioritized links + yellow area linked to storm information
- Global nav.: menu at top of screen with frame below for lower level pages
- No local navigation. - disorienting
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| 3 |
Interactivity
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- Forms: only "Report streetlight outage", and view account information (i.e. "Account Window")
5 Audience Approach standard - bland
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| 4 |
Graphic design |
- Uninspired; inconsistent between levels
- Sloppy/fuzzy gifs.
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| 6 |
Content |
- Nothing different or striking, though fairly well-rounded/complete for retial utility
- Consider for NEES redesign: Financial Information. Jobs, Products & Services |
total score: 42
rank: 7
| Score |
Aspect
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Comments
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| 8 |
Information Design |
Home - 3 menus for Level 1 content
1. Company, News, Your Home, Your Business, Community, Your Account
2. Y2K, Energy Survey
3. NStar, Customer Service, Site Map, Financial Information
- Intuitive, user-centered labels - e.g. "Your Home"
- Missed branding opp. re no intro. text to some pages (e.g. "Your Home" entry - more links)
- "Customer Service": separate L1 area with services, #'s, etc., linked to from L1 "Your Home,"
"Your Business"
- Safety Info. - in "Your Home" only
- Community (+ Environment) - L1
- Your Account - L1 area (same as "Account Window")
- Supplier Info. - in "Your Business" area (not in "Your Home")
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| 8 |
Interface/Navigation |
- Clean, attractive, consistent
- Problem re big top global nav. with content in frames below takes 1/3 of pages, causes use of
small, illegible font
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| 7 |
Interactivity
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- Pay online - CheckFree partnership/site
- EnergySmart residential audit - operative
- NB: Cambridge Electric, Commonwealth Electric (other NStar retails) have forms for Budget Billing,
Starting/Stopping Service, Direct Payment
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| 5 |
Audience Approach |
- Standard, clean expression, but missed opportunity for branding in text, headers
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| 7 |
Graphic design |
Okay - not outstanding |
| 7 |
Content |
- Detailed NSTAR (parent company) financial info.!
- More detailed environmental info. than current NEES, i.e. not just policy statement
- Freshness: news releases only
- Comgas has "Marketers Corner" for gas suppliers |
total score: 48
rank: 2
| Score |
Aspect
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Comments
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7
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Information Design |
Home:
- Global nav. bar: About CP&L, Investor Information, Products & Services (Bus + Res.), Customer
Support (Account info. and forms and other support), Employment, In the Community
- Left column: Recent Company news - text with links
- Right column: nav. bar areas with L1 areas featured
- Products and Services (Bus., Cust., Wholesale, etc.) cf. Customer Support - confusing
- Environmental information in "Community" area
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9
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Interface/Navigation |
Completely consistent; easy to learn; allows for 'feature' links throughout
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8
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Interactivity
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- Account Access (like NEES "Window");
- Print-out applications: Direct Payment
- E-mail request forms: Apply for Service, Transfer Service, Disconnect Service, Address and Phone
Change, Request Duplicate Bill, Average Monthly payment
- Variety of product order forms
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7
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Audience Approach |
- Up-front branding - big slogan on Home page
- Cordial, respectful
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9
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Graphic design |
Graphic design Neat, clean, consistent
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8
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Content |
- Education Series (in Customer Support): Electricity basics, Dereg., Safety, Energy-Saving Tips
- "In the Community" area - huge!
- Good use of fresh content on almost every page - newsy look and feel |
etc. re: 16 more sites
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© 2004 Clearwater Communications
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