APPA Business & Financial Conference Interactive Voice Response Systems:

1. APPA Business & Financial Conference Interactive Voice Response Systems: Inbound & Outbound Capabilities Presented by Christie Rodriquez IVR Coordinator, Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) Austin, TX September 25, 2007

2. About SMUD • Sacramento Municipal Utility District • 6th largest publicly owned utility in the country (customers served) • Sacramento County & a portion of Placer County • 900 square mile service area • Over 540,000 customers • 2,300 employees • 700 non-represented professional & supervisory • 800 represented physical force • 800 represented clerical and technical employees • Mission • To empower our customers with solutions & options that increase energy efficiency, protect the environment, reduce global warming and lower the cost to serve our regions.

3. Major Touch Points Web & Kiosk Outbound Calls IVR Completed Contacts* 16% Completed on Web 35% Route to IVR payment option E-mail to Agent Transfer to Agent ~60% Residential Contact Center 45% Commercial Contact Center 4% 2006 Statistics *Customer must perform at least one transaction and hang up in order to be considered “Completed in IVR”

4. Structure • Residential Services • 115 Seat Contact Center • 7 AM to 7 PM Monday – Friday • ~1M contacts per year • Commercial Services • 8 Seat Contact Center • 8 AM to 5 PM Monday – Friday • ~72K contacts per year IVR • 2 Technology Developers • 1 Business Liaison • 24 hours a day 7 days a week • ~320K contacts per year

5. Technology • Intervoice IVR • Siemens PBX • Genesys Computer Telephony Integration (CTI) • Integrated with SAP Customer Service System • 21st Century High Volume Call Answering (HVCA) • West Corporation Proactive Customer Contact • Custom Developed Softphone • Integrated with Kubra (payment processing system) • Oracle DB

6. Outbound Collection Calls Process Flow 1. 2. 3. 4. SMUD provides a single XML file to West Corp. West Corp. creates a custom parser that would ingest the file and parse it into several smaller files based on SMUD specifications. West Corp. places the call to the customer. Customer calls SMUD’s toll free number. This is an important message from SMUD your electric service provider.Please call our office at 1-888-847-7683 to speak to a customer service representative. 5. The call is answered by SMUD IVR. • Stats • 1,000 accounts p/day • 1,400 calls made p/day • 76% successful contact (<1% pay on initial contact) • 33% result in inbound calls • 29% disconnected for non-payment

7. IVR Functionality 2007 YTD Automated Transactions • Account Balance - 66% • Check By Phone - 8% • Report Outage - 6% • Credit Cards –5% • Payment Arrangements - 5% • Assistance Program Info - 4% • Stop Service - 2% • Miscellaneous Programs/Services 2% • Office & Pay Station Info - 1% • Report Meter Read - 1% 2007 YTD IVR Completed Contacts 19% Residential English 15% Residential Spanish 9% Commercial English 5% Commercial Spanish 19% Total (all customers & languages)

8. Financial Transactions • Account Balance • First option in menu (highest volume) • Commercial & Residential customers • English & Spanish speaking customers • Not provided if disconnected for non payment • Messages based on specific account status • Past due • Not past due • Payment arrangements • Credit on account • Account paid in full • Last payment amount • Date last payment received • Proceeds to payment options • Make a payment • Make payment arrangements • Stats • 311K transactions p/year* • 80% success rate** • Payment Arrangements • Commercial & Residential customers • English & Spanish speaking customers • Not provided if disconnected for non payment or in danger of disconnect • Not available to customers on Budget Billing or Custom Due Date programs • Balance must not exceed $600 • Cannot have any current installments • Installments w/in the last 6 months have all been paid • Oldest amount due cannot be older than 3 months • Customer can chose to extend for 1-2 billing periods • If 2 billing periods, amount is divided and customer is informed of specific amounts • Stats • 24,000 transactions p/year* • 17% success rate** * Transactions p/year estimated based on actual stats from Jan-March 2007 **Success rate based on Residential English transactions as of June 2007.

9. Payment Transactions • Check by Phone • Residential customers only (due to fee structure) • English & Spanish speaking customers • Account cannot be disconnected for non payment or have “Do Not Accept Check / ACH” indicator • Transaction can be turned on / off as needed • Checking account info is stored for future use • Name on check must be the same as name on acct. • If no checking info is on file the customer is asked: • Where is check # located in the line at the bottom of the check? • Different messages are played depending on the location of the check # • What is the 9 digit bank routing number? • System re-prompts if not 9 digits • What is the checking account number? • Checking account # must be > 4 digits • Value must be > 0 • What is the check number? • What is the dollar amount? • * used as decimal • Amount >$0.00 & <$10,000 • Implicit verification of all data • Payment posts w/in 2 business days • Confirmation letter is sent to customer Stats • 41,000 transactions p/year • 80% success rate* • Credit Card Payments • Visa Consumer Credit Cards only • Residential customers only (due to fee structure) • English & Spanish speaking customers • Account cannot be disconnected for non payment or have “Do Not Accept Credit Card” indicator • Transaction can be turned on / off as needed • Credit Card info is not stored for future use • Name on card must be the same as name on acct. • Customer is asked for: • 16 digit account number • System confirms card is Visa • Expiration date (mm/yy) • 5 digit zip code • Payment amount • * used as decimal • Amount >$0.00 & <$10,000 • Implicit verification of payment amount & last 4 digits of credit card only • Error handling varies based on return code from payment processor (card #, expiration date, zip) • Payment posts w/in 2 business days • Confirmation letter is sent to customer Stats • 40,000 transactions p/year • 45% success rate* * Transactions p/year estimated based on actual stats from Jan-March 2007 **Success rate based on Residential English transactions as of June 2007.

10. Assistance Programs • Limited Income & Medical Discount Rates • Residential customers only • English & Spanish speaking customers • Brief message about program • Application & qualifying guidelines sent to customer Stats • 10,500 transactions p/year • 100% success rate • Bill Payment Assistance • Residential customers only • English & Spanish speaking customers • Brief message about program • Telephone number provided for more information Stats • 10,000 transactions p/year • 100% success rate Office & Paystation Info • Office Info • Physical address • Cross streets • Lobby hours • Mailing address • Option to repeat • Paystation Info • By zip code • 1 to 3 locations provided • Name of location • Physical address • Cross streets • Telephone number • Stats • 4,800 transactions p/year • 88% success rate * Transactions p/year estimated based on actual stats from Jan-March 2007 **Success rate based on Residential English transactions as of June 2007.

11. Lessons Learned • Assign ownership • Define responsibilities • Establish a focus • Cost vs. Customer Satisfaction • Create a strategy • Market Research • Marketing Strategy • Objectives • Evaluation Process • Learn best practices & human factors • Enterprise Integration Group • Incoming Calls Management Institute • Sterling Audits • SpeechTek • Benchmark • Ascent Group Inc. • E-Source • Adopt a philosophy & create guidelines • Voice • Pleasant & Professional • Consistent • Information Delivery • Relevant Info (No Jargon) • Quick Response Times • User Friendliness • Menu Options Consistent • Concise Messages • Specific to General • Evaluate business rules • Enhance reporting

12. Future • Interactive Outbound Collection Calls • Add right party verify • Improve voice mail process • Connect to SMUD for payment processing • Expand credit card options • Enhance Financial Assistance Programs • Provide guidelines • Automate enrollment • Offer status information • Leverage Genesys • Intelligent Routing within IVR • Proactive Communication • Payment arrangement reminders • Evaluate Speech Recognition technology • Consider expanding Language Options

13. Extras Infrastructure and Capital Project costs not included in cost per contact.

14. IVR Evolution Enhancements • Replacement issues • Spanish Automation • Commercial Options • Improved menu • EnergyHelp • Modify business rules Telephone number Update • By Televox Enhancements • Minor script changes • IVR brochure created • Spanish Focus Group IVR Implemented • CCS Firstline CCIP • Brite Platform • Expanded applications • Screen pops • Limited reporting Enhancements • Improved menu • Added functionality • Improved reporting Usability Testing • By Sterling Audits Satisfaction Survey Interactive Outbound Calling Satisfaction Survey • By Quantum IVR Replacement • Intervoice Platform • Improved reporting • Standard Interfaces IVR Replaced • Intervoice Platform Outage Redesign • Eliminate TSR calls after hours Assessment • By EIG 1991 1995 1999 2000 2001 Baseline established 2002 15% increase 2003 20% increase 2004 15% increase 2005 29% increase 2006 21% increase 2007 Reengineering • Channel Management • IVR Coordinator • Web Coordinator Cost Per Contact Model • IVR • Web • Residential Contact Center (Commercial added in 2004) Outbound Calling • Collection Calls Assessment • By Sterling Audits Complete Contacts *Customer must perform at least one transaction and hang up in order to be considered “Completed in IVR”

15. Cost Per Contact Model • IVR • Telephone charges • Based on % of completed contacts • Maintenance agreements • Payment processing fees • Labor • Supervisor • IVR Coordinator • Support Staff • Advertising Staff • Promotional materials • Outside services • Postage Infrastructure and Capital Project costs not included in cost per contact.

16. Questions Infrastructure and Capital Project costs not included in cost per contact.