J.D. Power and Associates Recognizes Cinergy for Call Center Excellence

J.D. Power and Associates has certified Cinergy's
(NYSE:CIN) customer service call centers in Indiana and Ohio for the
second consecutive year.
   Cinergy is one of only two energy companies in the nation
currently certified; the other is Duke Energy, the company Cinergy is
joining in a merger first announced in May 2005.
   To become certified initially, Cinergy's call centers were
required to pass a detailed audit of their processes in areas such as
quality assurance, process improvement initiatives, recruiting,
training, employee incentives, and management roles. In addition, J.D.
Power and Associates conducted a random survey of Cinergy's customers
who recently contacted its call centers. For re-certification, J.D.
Power and Associates conducted the customer research phase of the
certification process. In order to receive certification, a call
center must perform within the top 20 percent of customer service
based on J.D. Power and Associates' cross-industry customer
satisfaction research. Certification is valid for one year.
   "In the review of our Call Center, it was noted that Cinergy's
operations demonstrate a remarkably strong commitment to the
satisfaction of its customers," said Todd Arnold, Cinergy's vice
president of Customer Care. "Our call centers handled more than 5
million customer contacts in 2005, and our target is excellence."
   J.D. Power and Associates launched the Call Center Certification
Program in 2004 to evaluate overall customer satisfaction and help
call centers in various industries increase their efficiency and
effectiveness by establishing best practices for handling service
calls.
   There are more than 75,000 call centers in North America and an
estimated 125,000 worldwide that help customers with product and
service questions across a multitude of industries, ranging from
credit cards, financial services, investment services, utilities,
service warranty and insurance to telecommunications, healthcare and
office products.
   Cinergy is the parent company of PSI Energy in Indiana, The
Cincinnati Gas & Electric Co. in Ohio, and Union Light, Heat & Power
Co. in Kentucky. Combined, these companies serve 1.5 million electric
customers and about 500,000 gas customers.