a product offered in cooperation with external partners as a response to requirement from retail customers, obtaining funding in particular from support programmes (PGNiG OD).
Our clients
During the pandemic, the PGNiG Group companies have been developing online communication methods so that the entire customer service process can be handled without direct contact.
PGNiG OD has been consistently building PGNiG’s image as a professional and trusted seller and supplier of gas, but also as a brand that is committed, friendly and, primarily, close to the customer. Aware of the large size of its customer base (over seven million customers), the company carries out all actions and initiatives focused on social issues with the utmost sense of responsibility and attention.
Priorities in 2021 were to ensure comprehensive customer service during the COVID-19 pandemic, i.e. to constantly develop communication with customers through digital channels and to ensure customer and employee safety at customer service offices. In addition, the existing long-running social climate initiatives (e.g. the ‘Informed Customer’ campaign and provision of comprehensive service to hearing-impaired customers) were maintained.
In 2021, PGNiG OD took a number of measures and initiatives, related in particular to mass communication encouraging the use of remote customer contact and service channels, and changes related to the operation of brick-and-mortar customer service offices during the pandemic resulting from new restrictions and guidelines. These included:
- Continuous update of information in Google search hits for changes in the working/closing hours of PGNiG CSOs.
- Campaigns promoting the activation and use of remote channels on the internet (January – December 2021) under the slogans: ‘Włącz wygodę’ (‘Switch to Convenience’) and ‘Przejdź na EKOfakturę’ (‘Switch to ECOinvoice’).
- Improved access for customers with hearing loss – PGNiG OD provides its customers with free access to the application of the Polish Association of the Deaf, Mazovian Branch – Online Sign Language Interpreter, via a video connection.
- The ‘Prosto po czyste powietrze’ (‘Simply Clean Air’) campaign, aimed at supporting customers in the process of converting to natural gas heating from heat sources using fuels that are not environmentally friendly. In the campaign, the company offered customers assistance in completing the documents to connect to the gas network and obtain funding from the ‘Clean Air’ governmental programme. The campaign is conducted in the Provinces of Katowice and Rzeszów, where the smog problem is particularly severe and the anti-smog resolutions passed by local authorities are the most rigorous.
- ‘Świadomy Klient’ (‘Informed Customer’) campaign – continuation of the ‘Informed Customer’ nationwide educational advertising campaign under the slogan ‘Grown ups! Remember the rules from your childhood’. The main objective of the campaign is to build consumer awareness of unfair market practices and network security.
PSG ran the information campaign ‘Przyłącz się do nas’ (‘Connect to Us’) aimed at raising Poles’ awareness of the use of natural gas as a heat source and encouraging those with an inactive service line to turn it on, and also at showing that gas heating is userand environmentally-friendly, and economical. The campaign was intended to dispel any myths related to the use of natural gas for household heating. The project was targeted primarily at municipal/village areas where PSG records the largest numbers of inactive gas service lines.
Service Connection Portal – PSG continues to develop this online tool enabling customers to apply for service connection without leaving their home. The solution has also helped shorten the application processing time.
In 2020, GSP implemented a project to enable the submission and review of applications for execution of Storage Services Agreements (SSAs), as well as their execution online, via the Application Procedure module on the Storage Services Platform (SSP). In 2021, work was carried out to modify the system to improve its functionality and performance.
Customer satisfaction surveys
The Group companies examine and strive to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction, with the scale and scope of such surveys varying from company to company..
Seeking to find out how consumers assess its products, PGNiG OD conducts satisfaction surveys both among its household and business customers. The Company also regularly undertakes a tracking survey of the brand awareness, image and effectiveness of advertising activities. In addition, the following surveys were carried out: ‘Survey of customer behaviour and experience related to the activation and use of eBOK/EKOinvoice at PGNiG’ and ‘Survey of the visual attractiveness and content of PGNiG Obrót Detaliczny’s Facebook account’. Other surveys concerning a product concept and communication method are also run at the stage of preparations for a product launch. In justified cases, pre-tests of product concepts are also carried out.
In the first half of 2021, PGNiG OD carried out a ‘B2B customer satisfaction survey’. The customer satisfaction index (CSI) was 91% and was the same as in the previous year (2020). The net promoter score (NPS) for all B2B customers was very high and reached 25, having increased from 22 in 2020. Satisfaction in the individual customer segment is monitored as part of a regular brand tracking survey. In 2021, the individual customer satisfaction index was approximately 71%.
In 2021, PSG conducted its fifth survey to measure customers’ satisfaction with the gas network connection process. The average rating of customer satisfaction with the gas network connection process was 4.31 (on a scale from 1 to 5). In the previous survey, the rate was 4.20 and increased year on year. The survey covered the timeliness, quality of service, communication, and cooperation with the contractor. In the 2021 survey, customers using the Service Connection Portal were invited to participate in the survey for the first time. This group of customers was more satisfied with the service than the customers using the traditional service (4.39, compared with 4.28 in the case of the traditional service).
New solutions or products, special offers that have been introduced as a result of consultation or identified customer needs
In 2021, the PGNiG Group companies added the following solutions to their offering, after prior consultation, in response to the reported needs:
financial assistance in replacing a furnace (PGNiG OD).
a service for business customers created in response to the identified market need related to significant energy price volatility (PGNiG OD).
a service enabling the buy-back of electricity from a customer’s system with a power of up to 500 kW (PGNiG OD).
Pro-environmental and pro-climate products offered
Products offered by the Group contributing to environmental or climate improvement include:
- Natural gas – the main product, in the production of which most Company entities are involved. Being the main product of the PGNiG Group, natural gas is the most environmentally friendly fossil fuel, supporting a low-emission economy. It does not emit particulate matter or sulfur dioxide during combustion, nor does it cause generation of any environment polluting waste, such as ash, slag or soot. Natural gas is also the foundation for Poland’s transition towards a zero-emission power sector.
- Supplies of environment friendly CNG/LNG to public transport and municipal companies.
- Construction of CNG and LNG filling stations.
- GSP implemented a strategic ‘H2020’ project to design and construct a demonstration unit consisting of an experimental salt cavern interoperating with GSP’s own RES source and electrolysis unit at the Mogilno UGSF, and two salt caverns for hydrogen storage together with a surface facility at the Kosakowo UGSF. The new solution will respond to market needs driven by climate change and the EU policy seeking to increase the share of green energy in the mix and to ensure largescale storage of green energy.
- eBOK/EKOinvoice – numerous campaigns to encourage the use of electronic invoices instead of paper ones (PGNiG OD).
- At GSP a project is under way to reduce the air emissions of methane at the Mogilno UGSF. As part of the UGSF’s current technological process, the VentStack gas discharge system is continuously ventilated with methane to prevent an explosive atmosphere. Once the project is implemented, methane will be replaced by nitrogen, which is neutral to the environment and the atmosphere. The UGSF will then produce its own nitrogen for ventilation of the gas discharge system; additionally the nitrogen output will be used for other purposes. A unit equipped with a nitrogen generator will be built to produce nitrogen from air supplied from compressed air stations
- GSP launched the project ‘Reduction of noise generated by surface facility at Kosakowo UGSF’, designed to improve the acoustic conditions around the UGSF surface facility.
- PGNiG Termika ER is implementing its ESCO project aimed at energy savings. The purpose of the ESCO project is to improve energy efficiency, leading to measurable economic effects, while contributing to environmental protection. It involves the construction of power generation facilities (gas-fired boiler houses, gas-fired cogeneration systems, air source heat pumps, photovoltaic units etc.).
- Geofizyka Toruń uses an innovative nodal seismic data acquisition system. Given their small size and weight, nodal sensors allow surveys to be conducted in an environmentally-friendly fashion. They help to simplify the logistics of exploration activities, making them less onerous to the environment and local communities. As a result, the company effectively implemented, in its commercial activities in Poland and abroad, an Innovative Approach to Acquisition of Large-Volume Seismic Data (IMAS 2) based on the nodal technology.
- In 2021, Geofizyka also implemented technologies to identify the seabed structures for the construction of offshore wind farms and to carry out tasks related to the expansion of various onshore and offshore infrastructure items, including ports and installation terminals for RES purposes.