Quality Measurement

The process whereby service characteristics that are valued by consumers are identified and quantified. The focus should be on dimensions of quality that can be expressed as objective, observable, and verifiable performance measures. The process involves selecting indicators to use in an incentive scheme; determining the number of measures to be included in the scheme; and determining the benchmarks to be used to compare the utility’s performance (yardstick approach where a company’s performance is compared to that of peer companies).