Results from CREC’s 24th/AECI Triennial Member Satisfaction Survey
Conducted in 2019, CREC's member satisfaction survey results showed that reliability is still the top service priority according to members who participated in the survey. Handling problems quickly was second, and the fact that CREC gives money back (capital credits) was third.
When asked if they would choose CREC again if they could, 86 percent of participants said they would. Regarding identity, 52 percent said they considered themselves more than a customer.
The 2019 triennial survey was facilitated by Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. (AECI) and was conducted by TSE Services, with fieldwork by Bellomy Research, both independent research organizations. The project sought opinions from a randomly selected group of residential members by using a hybrid strategy to obtain responses by phone and online with a 95 percent confidence level.
In addition to electric service attributes, the survey assessed member satisfaction and perceptions of the cooperative's performance with a focus on cooperative contact experiences, problem handling and resolution, service reliability, outage restoration, rates and value, and cooperative principles.
The survey included the four questions developed by the ACSI that focused on the following attributes: overall satisfaction, confirmation of expectations, comparison to an ideal utility company, and intention to choose CREC again. Members rated each on a scale of one to 10, with 10 representing the highest rating. The ACSI used the first three questions to calculate the Customer Satisfaction Index score (ACSI®) on a scale of 0-100 and derived a customer retention percentage using the fourth question.
Other key findings were high ratings (a score of 8, 9, or 10) for:
- CREC as a name you can always trust (9.22)
- Good value for the money (8.99)
Respondents who had contact with the co-op in the last year rated their satisfaction with CREC at 9.16 on a 10-point scale.
When it came to how respondents felt about environmental/renewable energy, nearly 76 percent said they felt the co-op should continue to take a balanced approach to generation. Just over 51 percent of respondents supported environmental regulations that limit coal but may raise their bill, and just over 50 percent said that CREC should provide more renewables even though it may raise their bill.
In looking at electric vehicles, 49 percent of respondents said they were not likely to purchase an electric vehicle.
Members also responded to questions about Co-op Connections, the national discount program offered to members through Touchstone Energy®. Only six percent participate in the program but are very satisfied with it, and 73 percent said they were not aware of Co-op Connections. Other questions were asked about how the cooperative provides information, including the Current Times/Rural Missouri, website use, the MyCuivreApp, and media preferences. About 65% of respondents said they always or usually read Current Times/Rural Missouri, and 67% prefer the newsletter and bill stuffers as a method of receiving information about their co-op.
In response to the 2019 survey and smaller informal polls conducted throughout the year, CREC is reviewing results and addressing areas in need of improvement. In 2020, the co-op continued to gain member feedback and conducted transactional surveys. Surveys were emailed to members immediately following their contact with the co-op -- reporting an outage, calling about their account, or setting up service. Results of the year-long transactional survey program will be forthcoming. The next triennial survey to be facilitated again by AECI is slated for 2022.
To learn more about CREC's survey projects contact the Communications Department at 800-392-3709 or email mwilson@cuivre.com. To learn more about the American Customer Satisfaction Index and other industry scores visit: theasci.org.