Delivering excellent service to BC
January 3rd, 2012 was an exciting day for customer service at FortisBC. That’s the day we opened our two newest customer service centres. Located in Burnaby and Prince George, these centres serve natural gas customers throughout BC.
Benefits of in-house customer service
New jobs in local communities
FortisBC has created 300 permanent new jobs in Burnaby and Prince George to staff our new customer service centres. Employee training started in October 2011, and in-house customer contact and billing operations began on January 3, 2012.
Added flexibility to meet our customers' future energy needs
The new facilities support natural gas customer service needs, from account inquiries to emergencies to customer moves.
Bringing customer service in-house along with an updated customer information system provides:
- more flexibility for future service offerings
- future capability for enhanced communication channels and self-service options
- consolidated billing and electronic payment capabilities for commercial customers
Good for BC
An economic impact assessment conducted by KPMG, measuring direct, indirect and induced economic impacts of FortisBC’s in-house customer service model, determined:
- approximately 400 permanent new jobs were created (approximately 300 direct jobs with FortisBC and 100 indirect jobs)
- over 650 short-term new jobs were expected to be created during the establishment of the new customer service model in 2010 and 2011
- contribution to provincial GDP in 2012 and beyond is expected to increase by over $25 million annually
- tax revenue at all levels is expected to increase by approximately $4.5 million annually
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