At Medina Electric Cooperative, we care about the people we serve.
That service has historically resulted in high marks in customer service surveys for electric cooperatives, which consistently deliver a higher level of service than other electric utilities nationwide. Research conducted by the American Customer Satisfaction Index in 2020 shows that members rated co-ops higher than did customers of investor-owned and municipal utility companies.
But the ACSI Energy Utilities Report revealed a distressing trend for energy utilities overall. Overall customer satisfaction with the energy utilities sector declined, even for electric cooperatives.
Challenges since 2019 likely affected people’s opinions of their utilities. Many have been hit hard by unprecedented natural disasters, including wildfires, hurricanes and winter storms, not to mention a pandemic that upended our day-to-day operations. Meanwhile, consumers, including co-op members, are expressing their desires for cleaner energy, smarter technology and energy-saving practices, according to the ACSI.
Electric cooperatives still rank higher in terms of customer satisfaction than their investor-owned and municipal counterparts. Cooperatives’ customer satisfaction score was a 73 out of 100. Medina EC did even better than that, with an average ACSI score of more than 89 during 2020.
Co-op members across the country have historically given their local co-op employees high marks for understanding their needs and having the flexibility to address their individual concerns. Co-op employees also typically get good grades for delivering state-of-the-art service and for caring about consumers and the communities they serve. We have seen those same results in the annual member surveys that we have done. In fact, in survey after survey, our employees get positive comments.
But at Medina EC, we always want to do better. Not just to be better than our utility neighbors but better for the sake of our members—the people we serve.
The trust and loyalty electric cooperatives have earned over our long existence give us the ability to continue to work for your best interests. Medina EC staff, management and directors are united in our desire to provide you with the best service available anywhere in the country, even if we have to work a little harder to get your approval.
The ACSI report says co-op members want better service, easy-to-understand bills and faster outage restoration. The feedback also shows that although cooperatives support their communities and provide energy efficiency information, members want more.
We encourage you to reach out to us when you have suggestions or comments about what would help us serve your needs. It’s the spirit of cooperation that helps make Medina EC unique and a great utility.
Electric cooperatives know that to be a great utility company, you have to make people your first priority. To be successful in this business, you have to care about the people you serve. Let us know what you think.
