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Thanks
For Your Input Every three years, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association conducts a national residential member survey. During the first quarter of this year, approximately 250 members of Farmers' Electric participated in that telephone survey. The results of this survey can be eye opening. We can see how our members view us today, and compare those results to previous surveys; and also how we compare to other cooperatives in the state and across the nation. I am proud to say that Farmers' Electric scored very high in this survey. We scored especially high in "Having friendly, courteous employees" and in "Having highly trained, professional employees". I think that we have a great group of employees working here, and I'm glad that our members also recognize that fact. As a Touchstone Energy Cooperative, Farmers' Electric also received a ranking on the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a recognized national index covering many companies and industries. Farmers' Electric's ACSI score is 87 - well above the Touchstone Energy average and utility industry standard. Touchstone Energy cooperatives nationwide had an average ACSI score of 80, and nationwide gas and electric investor owned utilities had an average ACSI score of 71.While this is all good news, we think that we can do even better. Our ACSI score of 87 is actually lower than our 2004 score, which was a 90.In the time period between the 2004 survey and the 2007 survey, we had one rate increase in late2004, and had already announced the rate increase that would take effect in the spring of 2007. We're sure that these two rate increases resulted in lower scores in 2007 for "Charging reasonable rates", which impacted our overall score. As mentioned in previous columns, we will see future rate increases. We will strive to keep these increases as minimal as possible, but we will not see another period of 13 years without a rate increase in the foreseeable future. Even with the rate increases, our average residential member pays less than $3.60 per day for their electric service, which I think is a good value for the money. We want to thank all of you that participated in the survey. We want to also thank you for all of the comments, both positive and negative. The positive comments show us the issues that we handle well, the negative comments show us areas that we need to improve upon. We will continue to work hard for you, our member-owners, and hopefully in three years we can report back to you that the 2010 survey showed an increase to our ACSI score. |
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