RSS FeedGRANTS - The results of a consumer survey conducted by Continental Divide Electric Cooperative were recently released by the utility, indicating general satisfaction with services.
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The figure of 500 responses represents nearly 3 percent of the co-op's 16,500 members. The survey was enclosed in the October, 2009, CDEC newsletter, which is sent to customers' homes.
According to CDEC spokesman Mac Juarez, some of the questions were demographic in nature, in the event that the utility received enough replies to analyze member satisfaction by age, location and length of service. “Nearly three-fourths of the surveys were received from homeowners aged 55 and up with 10 or more years of service from CDEC,” he said.
Touchstone Energy Cooperatives, a national alliance of about 700 electric cooperatives, including CDEC, across the country reported that co-ops tend to achieve higher levels of satisfaction nationally with older members than younger and middle-aged customers.
These older members typically support a “balanced approach to meeting future energy needs and are knowledgeable about programs and services offered by the cooperative to help them manage their energy costs,” according to Touchstone's 2008 national survey.
According to Juarez, nearly 50 percent of all CDEC survey respondents said they are familiar with energy efficiency brochures offered by the co-op, and 33 percent reported familiarity with safety publications available from CDEC. Conversely, 33 percent said they are not familiar with any of the available programs, services and information.
“This is an important demographic,” Juarez said. “It enables us to rethink some our messaging strategies to reach this group.
One survey question asked if CDEC members would pay their monthly bill by Internet, credit card or debit card if a fee was charged for the service, fewer than 10 percent replied yes.
“CDEC management and its board have struggled with such payment options because of the cost associated with electronic processing,” Juarez explained. “In addition, the board has felt that paying utilities with credit cards simply puts people further in debt.”
The cost of an electronic processing system remains an obstacle for smaller, rural co-ops. Although the cost of processing electronic payments is only about 30 cents each in contrast to the $1.40 cost to process a paper payment, that doesn't include the cost of contracting with a third party to offer e-payment. That cost can be as high as $5 per transaction or as much as 4 percent of the bill amount, according to Chartwell Inc., an industry analyst.
For more information on the survey, call CDEC at 285-6656.
CDEC is planning an additional mail-in survey to be mailed to consumers toward the end of the year.
Comments
anonymous wrote on Feb 16, 2010 8:36 PM:
R.U. Freel wrote on Feb 15, 2010 9:17 AM:
anonymous wrote on Feb 14, 2010 10:18 PM:
Common Sense wrote on Feb 13, 2010 4:07 PM:
Certainly the association with the Tri-State Cooperative could produce some sort of affordable payment processing arrangement? The question should have been presented to CDEC customers without the additional fee designation and the results would have been quite different I'm sure. In fact this should have been simply put in place without some convoluted survey, which was clearly worded to achieve the desired result for CDEC of not having to change with the times.
I can only express my utter disappointment that this common method of paying a bill, which exists in other parts of the state with a smaller customer base, will be denied to the citizens within the CDEC's service area. "
anonymous wrote on Feb 13, 2010 1:41 PM:
Disgusted wrote on Feb 10, 2010 8:14 AM: