The largest percentage of respondents felt that the eThekwini Electricity Department provided service on time and that there was consistency as the department maintained its level of service at the same standard throughout the day. According to the respondents, staff at the eThekwini Electricity Department were knowledgeable and competent, but there was room for improvement in ensuring that the behavior of staff instilled trust.
INTRODUCTION
According to the government's White Paper on Local Government Services Partnerships, household inequality in South Africa is among the most extreme in the world. Government policy to improve the living conditions of poor households by urgently increasing access to basic services is taking place alongside the slow process of transformation and capacity building at the municipal level (Shinga, 2011).
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
However, the problems of administrative and institutional capacity limitations, ineffectiveness, inefficiency, lack of adequate financial resources within public institutions and the inability to adequately respond to citizens' needs have forced policy makers and political leaders to reconsider the role of public institutions.
STATEMENT OF THE RESEARCH PROBLEM
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
KEY RESEARCH QUESTIONS
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Demographic questions were included in the study because they would help during customer profiling and data analysis. Webb (2001) suggests that a good questionnaire authentically achieves the objectives of the research without errors and injustice, and it can be designed.
STRUCTURE OF THE DISSERTATION
This chapter provides the theoretical framework for this study through a related literature review. This is followed by a description and interpretation of the results using quantitative and qualitative methods.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
The literature related to the conceptualization and implementation of the customer satisfaction framework from numerous books, and especially from recently published journals, reports, internet, magazines, government newspapers and research companies are explored. This chapter explains the different research methods used in this study to provide a guide to the fieldwork.
CONCLUSION
INTRODUCTION
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
A gap occurs when the perception of the service provided is not the same as what the customer expected. They suggested that the SERVQUAL model could be extended to measure quality gaps and thus could be used as a diagnostic tool to enable management to identify deficiencies in service quality.
SERVICE
EThekwini Municipality employees should show that they care about their customers and give them individual attention. Eskom sometimes faces insufficient generation capacity due to the very high demand for electricity in urban areas.
LOAD SHEDDING
THE APPLICATION OF THE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION FRAMEWORK
In the private sector, a client can move from one organization to another because there is more than one sector. The actual service, which is considered the "actual quality" that the customer receives, may not meet his expectations and is considered perceived quality.
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
- Steps to Customer Satisfaction
- Levels of Customer Satisfaction
- How to Measure Customer Satisfaction
- Increasing Customer Satisfaction
According to Bhengu (2011), the customer satisfaction process cannot be separated from the overall business development and management process. The eThekwini Municipality's Electricity Department must show that it cares about its customers and put a smile on its customers' faces.
SERVICE EXCELLENCE
- Service Evaluation
- Improving Service Delivery
- Application of the Batho Pele principles
The customers evaluate the service by looking at the quality of the service and the level of satisfaction obtained. The employees of the eThekwini Municipality must not deny the citizens the right to quality service that is provided.
ETHICS IN GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS
Violation of the Constitution means that the office holder is behaving unethically. Employees of the Electricity Department of the eThekwini Municipality are public servants and must therefore comply with the Public Service Regulations 1999.
TRAINING AND CODES OF CONDUCT
- Professionalism
- Service failure
- Financing electricity distribution
Diplomacy means that the staff of the eThekwini Municipality's Electricity Department must be tactful in dealing with people and thus maintain excellent relations with the customers. Manner, in professionalism, means that the staff of the eThekwini Municipality will treat people according to what the customers accept as good behavior.
- INTRODUCTION
- Qualitative Method
- Quantitative Approach
- RESEARCH TECHNIQUES
- Observational Research
- Conducting Interviews
- Research design
- THE RESEARCH INSTRUMENT
- PROBLEM STATEMENT
- OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
- RESEARCH ETHICS
- CONCLUSION
Establish the eThekwini Municipality's responsiveness in handling complaints about the provision of electricity services; and. Ownership of the ethical approval certificate does not, however, guarantee that the researcher will act ethically.
INTRODUCTION
ANALYSIS
PEARSON CORRELATION
- Correlation
The table below illustrates the relationship between age and the eThekwini Electricity Department keeping to its promised response time. The table below illustrates the relationship between age and eThekwini Electricity Department insists on fault-free service. The table below illustrates the relationship between age and the behavior of staff at eThekwini Electricity Department instills confidence.
This coefficient shows that there is a strong and positive relationship between age and the behavior of eThekwini Electricity Department staff. This inspires confidence. The table below illustrates the relationship between the age and the staff of the eThekwini electricity department that provides you with fast service. The table below illustrates the relationship between age and knowledge of eThekwini Electricity Department staff.
This coefficient indicates that there is a strong and positive relationship between age and knowledge of staff in the eThekwini Electricity Department. The table below shows the relationship between age and overall rating of the eThekwini Electricity department. The table below shows the occupation and skill ratio of staff in the eThekwini Electricity Department.
INTRODUCTION
GENERAL CONCLUSIONS FROM THE STUDY
- Determine the Responsiveness of the eThekwini Municipality in Dealing with
- Customer Perceptions on Service Delivery
- The Response from the Business People
The employees of the Electricity Department of the Municipality of eThekwini showed professionalism in their work and gave due respect and dignity to the customers. After reviewing the outcome of the survey, it is clear that more people believe that the physical facilities in eThekwini Electricity Department were visually attractive as 38.9% of the 88 respondents agreed that the facilities were visually attractive . A large number of respondents were neutral (39.8% of 88 respondents) regarding the response time promised by the eThekwini Electricity Department; 35, 2% of respondents felt that eThekwini Electricity staff showed genuine interest in solving their problems.
A third of respondents were also neutral on whether eThekwini's electricity department insisted on error-free service. Regarding staff competence, most respondents remained neutral in their belief that staff behavior met customer expectations; 37.3% of respondents agreed that staff members provided prompt service, while 43.2% believed that eThekwini Electricity Department staff members were knowledgeable. The biggest concern is that 30.7% of respondents felt they had not received advance notice of electricity outages, especially those from the townships.
Although 28.4% of respondents said that customers do not get value for money, 37.5% were quite satisfied with the overall service delivery of the eThekwini Electricity Department. Another question from the questionnaires was, "About how long did you have to wait before you spoke to a representative?" The answer to this question according to responses was generally that people waited between five and ten minutes before seeing the representative. The employees of the Isipingo Electricity customer service were friendly and served people respectfully even towards the end of the day.
RECOMMENDATIONS
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH
The researcher limited the study to the eThekwini Municipality and found that the treatment received by people in the city of Durban was not the same as the treatment received by people in the villages. A question that can then be asked is: What about people who are in rural areas or on the outskirts of Durban. eThekwini Municipality covers a very small area in KwaZulu-Natal; this requires a study of other areas or of the quality of service offered to people in the suburbs.
The eThekwini Municipality's Electricity Department supplies electricity to more than 640 000 customers in an area covering almost 2 000 square kilometres. As can be seen on the map below, this covers the area of the eThekwini Metropolitan Region and some adjacent areas. Further research can also be done on how improved, innovative ways can be introduced to solve technical problems effectively as a tool for improved customer satisfaction.
The study may henceforth also include a survey aimed at highly paid people if they would prefer to pay more for a faster service. The banks offer such a service, namely private banking, where a certain class of people get exclusive service for which they pay more.
CONCLUSION
Du Toit D., van der Waldt G., 2007, Public Management and Administration – The Grassroots, 2nd Edition, Kenwyn, Cape Town, Juta and Co.,. Eberhard, A., (2011) The Future of South African Coal: Market, Investment and Policy Challenges, Program on Energy and Sustainable Development, Stanford Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Parasuraman et al (1985) suggested that, “The SERVQUAL model can be extended to measure gaps in quality and thus can be used as a diagnostic tool to enable management to identify service quality deficiencies.
eThekwini Municipality staff also need to improve their approach day by day. In the case of the EThekwini Department of Energy, the main stakeholders were electricity users. 4.1.10 (a): The eThekwini Electricity Department maintains its service levels at the same standard for all times of the day.
The employees of the eThekwini Municipality must implement the policy of putting people first. It is therefore recommended that:. eThekwini Municipality must deliver on the promise of fast and efficient service as this is one of the tools to satisfy customers; the lack of follow-up calls or keeping the customer waiting, especially if there is a technical issue, needs to be resolved. The eThekwini Municipality should organize workshops for the technical staff so that they can improve their problem solving skills. Since technology is advancing every day, eThekwini Municipality should also research whether there are new, advanced ways in other countries to speed up the process of solving technical problems.
