In an effort to augment its staff, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District’s Board approved up to $2 million for a three-year contract with the Burleson Consulting for environmental regulatory support services. The contract was approved at the board’s February 5 meeting. It goes into effect March 1 and lasts through February 28, 2012. “The agreement allows SMUD to assess special expertise to supplement work being done by staff,” board director Larry Carr said. The board put off to a future meeting discussion of cost reduction measures, including possibly temporarily reducing board member compensation. No date has been set to take up the issue, but it could be discussed at the next board meeting, scheduled for February 19. Also during the meeting, general manager John DiStasio informed the board that SMUD had achieved the “number one” position in California for the fifth time in six years among major electric utilities, according to the annual Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study conducted by JD Power & Associates. The annual study surveys customers from the nation’s largest electric utilities. Overall satisfaction scores are based on six factors: power quality and reliability, customer service, company image, billing and payment, price, and communications. “The whole western region slipped pretty significantly in the customer ratings and SMUD did as well,” DiStasio said. “Last year we recorded the highest score ever recorded in the United States. We fell off of that some, although we still retained our spot as ‘number one’ in California and (were) sixth in the nation.”