In early 2024, Cuivre River Electric Cooperative (CREC), along with 50 other co-ops in Missouri, participated in a refreshed Member Satisfaction Survey conducted by our power supplier, Associated Electric Cooperative, Inc. (AECI). Formerly known as AECI’s triennial survey, the assessment used to be conducted every three years but has been updated and will now be conducted every other year.
In general, the survey focused on measuring member satisfaction and cooperative performance in several service and operations areas. This included contact experiences, handling problems, service reliability, outage restoration, rates and value, and fuel sources for water heaters, and heating/air conditioning homes. Feedback on additional areas such as communications, online account management, renewable energy, electric vehicles, and household energy use was also collected.
In key findings, on a scale of 1-10, CREC achieved high marks from members in these areas related to our co-op:
• Keeping blinks/outages to a minimum: 8.67
• Knowledgeable employees: 8.66
• Restores power quickly: 8.61
• Gives money back: 8.25
In other areas, reliability was scored as the most important when it came to views on three qualities of electricity (reliability, affordability, zero-carbon/renewable). When asked about time-of-use rates (a rate that charges less during off-peak times of day), 68% of respondents said they would be somewhat or very interested. Over 50% of respondents also said they either use or plan to use the CREC website/ MyCuivre app to access their accounts/manage their monthly bills.
Related to communication, email, and texting remain the top two preferences for how members wished to receive the majority of their cooperative news. Readership of the state/co-op’s publication, Rural Missouri/Current Times, is slightly higher than in 2022 when the last survey was completed. Participation in social media remains high, with Facebook,
YouTube and Instagram being the most popular channels used by CREC members.
Survey results help to inform the cooperative’s strategic planning. By analyzing this as well as past and future surveys, CREC can identify key areas to enhance member satisfaction and engagement. “Member feedback is invaluable,” said Doug Tracy, President & CEO. “It helps us understand your priorities and improve our services. We’re incredibly grateful to those who participated in the survey,” he said.
For more information, please contact Mary Wilson, V.P., Strategic Communications at 636-695-4830, or mwilson@cuivre.com.