Clark Public Utilities Jobs – Last June, Lena Wittler became the first female CEO and Managing Director of Clark Public Utilities. She was promoted after a 21-year career immersed in utility analytics, human resources and communications efforts.
That same month, J.D. Power recognized Clark Public Utilities for its 12th consecutive year of customer satisfaction among midsize electric utilities in the western United States. According to the announcement, the J.D. Power study measures customer satisfaction with electric utilities by examining six key factors: power quality and reliability, price, billing, and payment, corporate citizenship, communication and customer service. In all of these categories, customers gave Clark Public Utilities the highest score in the Western midsize segment.
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We spoke with Wittler about his professional journey, how his team achieved such success, and his predictions for the future of public service.
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ME: You’ve worked for Clark Public Utilities since 1999. What was your education and professional background that brought you into the energy industry?
Lena Wittler: I got my undergraduate degree in communications from Willamette University, then got an MBA from the University of Portland. It was a huge benefit to work for a while and then go back to graduate school. I’ve done a lot of public service in my career, initially for the United States. I then studied abroad in Guam and worked for Multnomah County in Portland as a lawyer. I have been involved in many utility jobs, worked for Clark Public Utilities for 21 years and found many opportunities for growth here. Being able to provide a critical and essential service is something that I take great pride in.
ME: You’ve had a variety of roles throughout your career. What experience do you use the most in your new position?
Wittler: My career path has given me a unique 360 degree view of utility. I have worked in communications, finance, human resources, analytics and government relations. My background in analytics allows me to dive deep into our own KPIs to compare what’s working well and what’s not. This analysis and research informs our public service decisions about future programs and priorities. It’s not just about reviewing the information, but about interpreting and implementing it. We are flexible and nimble enough to trust research and act accordingly.
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Wittler: It ranges from outage response, customer satisfaction, and other metrics that all utilities track. Years ago, we set up our own internal payment system instead of contracting with a third party. We found that with our own system, we were better able to respond to customer suggestions and make changes to improve service quickly. We give a lot of power to our people and our customers can get help without going through layers and layers of processes and people. The result is better service and happier staff because they can make decisions to do what’s right for customers.
Wittler: I want people to understand that despite the leadership transition, we are stable. Wayne Nelson has been here for 30 years, was our general manager for 20 years, and we’ve worked together during that time. If people don’t see a difference, that’s a good thing. We’ve been operationally strong, and our reliability and customer satisfaction rates are phenomenal. Nonetheless, we will continue to experience a wave of retirements and we want to ensure that there are talented, trained people in place to step into these leadership positions smoothly.
Wittler: As a working mom, flexibility and non-traditional work environments have been key to my career success. In my new role, I continue to look for creative ways to help our employees stay productive and engaged throughout their lives, at all levels. For example, we will continue to expand our remote customer service approach, where some employees work from home almost full-time. Seasoned reps who don’t need a lot of supervision can apply for these positions and we’ll set up offices in their homes. There are about 16 out of about 70 reps working from home now. We always track call quality and productivity, so it’s like they’re in the office and productivity and customer satisfaction are higher. This is a benefit for the employee, the customer and the public service. We are a relatively small organization and we don’t have a lot of physical space in our offices. Remote reps allow us to have more reps on the phone during an outage or emergency, and quickly scale up and down our staff as needed.
As our workforce changes, we also know that the younger generation also wants flexibility, and we are looking for ways to incorporate new approaches and expectations. In this economy, we compete with Portland businesses to recruit and retain workers, especially for IT and customer service jobs. Creativity and flexibility are therefore essential.
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Wittler: For our industry, smart grid technology is a hot topic of analysis. We’re not there yet, but many utilities are adopting smart grid structures and we can learn from what they’re doing. As a utility, we are not in competition with others, so we use other utilities as resources to help us prepare for what comes next.
Me: For 12 consecutive years, JD Power has rated Clark Public Utilities the highest in customer satisfaction among midsize electric utilities in the western United States. Constantly performing feats?
Wittler: One thing I appreciate about the JD Power survey is that it assesses several things. We are very reliable and we are in the community to help maintain this with proactive tree pruning. Our customers very much appreciate our efforts in reliability, affordability and safety.
Our customers also like to know that we are involved in the community, even if they don’t participate. This comes out a lot in the polls. Many customers will donate to the programs we have because of this commitment. We have been producing and hosting the Home and Garden Ideas Fair for nearly 30 years. It is a free large-scale home and garden show in our county exhibition center and more than 20,000 people come every year to learn how to make their home more aesthetically pleasing, comfortable and energy efficient. For the past six years, we have hosted the Race for Warmth, which benefits the Operation Warm Heart program that helps our limited income clients. People don’t even have to run – they can sleep, stay warm and donate to the run – we got $3,000 through the option last year. The event raises over $50,000 annually with nearly 1,500 runners and walkers.
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Our solar car challenge is also great. It is similar to a pine derby contest but for solar powered mini toy cars. Anyone in the school district can start an after school club to start one. We offer this program to elementary, middle and high school students and have seen incredible enthusiasm and diversity in participation. I like to be a greeter when families are passing by. You can just see the pride on the faces of the students. They don’t just build a model car, they give a full presentation of their design and innovation process, and learn about engineering and renewable energy. We provide teachers with training workshops and a kit of materials, and students bring their passion and innovation. This is our future workforce and we are investing in their understanding of careers in this industry.
Me: What new services are customers looking for? What services are you most looking forward to launching for them in the short or long term?
Wittler: Customers are interested in real-time data. We can provide some on our website, such as our outage map. SMS capability is implemented for billing and outages. We have programs to supply and install free NEST thermostats for qualified income homes, where we benefit from conservation and where customers get warmth and savings in their homes.
According to our research, customers are happy to be able to call us 24/7. We found in the last round of research that the younger generation, 18 to 24, calls when they have a question. This is a reversal of the trend away from live customer service and we are proud to have chosen this option. It’s a great opportunity to have that connection with new customers.
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Me: About 63% of your electricity comes from hydroelectricity and 30% comes from natural gas. What is your initial game plan for meeting Washington’s new decarbonization rules?
Wittler: We are very involved in the ongoing regulatory processes. We know the goals and we will absolutely achieve them. Twenty years from now, we hope there will be new technologies that will help make compliance cost-effective and reliable. We pay attention to conversations about the adequacy of local resources. We listen to what people in the area are saying and we have open lines of communication with the environmental community to prepare for the integration of new resources and technologies. I am grateful to our experienced staff for moving us forward on this issue.
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