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Current
A Publication of Cotton Electric Cooperative Inc.
“The Current - Informing Our Members Since 1957” VOLUME 68
February 14, 2025
NUMBER 6
A heartfelt thank you for our members’ valued feedback By Carli Eubank At Cotton Electric Cooperative, we are committed to serving you – our members – by delivering safe, reliable and affordable power while providing excellent member service and improving the quality of life in the communities we serve. Every fall, we check in with our membership more formally, conducting a random survey to see where we are excelling and where we can improve. We appreciate the members who participated in the survey conducted in October 2024 and offered constructive feedback and suggestions to help us continue growing and better serving you. Cotton Electric received an American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI®) score of 88 on a 100-point scale.* Our Cooperative Attitude and Performance Score (CAPS) rating is 93. Cotton Electric’s ACSI score of 88 is also much higher than all publicly measured municipal energy utilities and investor-owned energy utilities. In 2024, investor-owned energy utilities had a score of 74, with municipal energy utilities scoring a 75, per the industry ratings in the 2024 ACSI Utility Sector Report. Beyond the questions used to calculate the ACSI score, further survey responses showed an overall improvement in areas that focus on what is important to our members, like overall satisfaction, electric service and rates, member service and co-op culture. We are encouraged by this feedback and will continue to focus on what matters most to our members. From the survey, we learned one of the tools our members are particularly interested in is SmartHub. SmartHub allows you to manage your account easily from your smartphone or computer to pay bills, track energy usage, report outages, and more. To create a SmartHub account, visit www.cottonelectric. com/smarthub or download the app from Google
Play or the Apple Store. Another helpful resource for members is our Outage Center webpage, found at www.cottonelectric.com/outagecenter. Members have multiple options for reporting outages, including a dispatcher who is on call 24/7 and the SmartHub app. A new feature we’ve added is TextPower. This new outage texting system allows members to receive alerts about outages in the area or to report an outage by texting “OUT” at 580875-3351. To start receiving outage notifications via text, make sure your mobile phone number and contact information is up to date on your electric account. At our 2024 Annual Meeting, many members expressed satisfaction with the drive-thru setup, and survey results indicated interest in more community events hosted by Cotton Electric. We appreciate your input and look forward to exploring new ways to engage with our members. At Cotton Electric, your satisfaction as a member-owner is our top priority. Your valuable feedback is vital in helping us improve and ensure we continue to serve you to the best of our ability.
*Compared to publicly measured energy utilities in the ACSI® survey of customers rating their own energy utility. Results based on data provided by Cotton Electric Cooperative, collected between Oct. 1 and Oct. 30. ACSI did not regulate the survey administration or sample size. ACSI and its logo are registered trademarks of the American Customer Satisfaction Index LLC. For more about the ACSI, visit www.theacsi.org.
About the survey
88
Cotton Electric Cooperative
75 Municipal Utilities
74
Investor-Owned Utilities
Compared to publicly measured energy utilities in the ACSI® survey of customers rating their own energy utility. Results based on data provided by Cotton Electric Cooperative, collected between October 1 and October 30 in 2024. ACSI did not regulate the survey administration or sample size. ACSI and its logo are registered trademarks of the American Customer Satisfaction Index LLC. For more about the ACSI, visit www.theacsi.org.
Power Cost Adjustment Calculated The power cost adjustment now being applied to bills mailed after Feb. 1, 2025, is $0.00901 per kilowatt hours (kWh).
On a member’s average bill of 1,300 kWh, this will amount to a charge of $11.71 on the February bill.
The 2024 survey took place in October. Postcards and emails were sent to randomly selected members, inviting them to participate in the survey online or by telephone. Conducted by Inside Information of Smithville, Missouri, Cotton Electric has relied on their member research expertise to help with surveys since 2018. The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI®) is the only national cross-industry measure of customer satisfaction in the United States. Each year, the ACSI uses data from interviews with roughly 200,000 customers as inputs to an econometric model for analyzing customer satisfaction with approximately 400 companies in around 40 industries and 10 economic sectors. ACSI data have proven to be strongly related to several essential indicators of micro and macroeconomic performance. The ACSI publishes an annual Energy Utilities Study, which is an independent customer satisfaction measure of the U.S. top investor-owned, municipal, and cooperative utilities. The Cooperative Attitude and Performance Score or CAPS, is a cooperative performance model developed by Inside Information. It is an industry specific benchmarking tool used to gauge performance in service areas deemed most important by cooperative members: Trustworthiness, well-managed, cares about members.
January 2025 Temperature Extremes Day High Low Avg. 16 60 28 44 17 70 33 52 18 44 23 34 19 31 15 23 20 31 17 24 21 31 6 19 22 53 13 33 23 48 19 34 24 58 14 36 25 57 31 44 26 50 29 40 27 50 23 37 28 56 26 41 29 53 45 49 30 63 43 53 Source: srh.noaa.gov/oun/ 31 66 32 49 Average Daily High: 51 Average Daily Low: 25
Day High Low 1 48 25 2 60 23 3 56 34 4 62 51 5 61 19 6 38 16 7 39 16 8 41 16 9 32 25 10 41 23 11 57 20 12 55 29 13 47 20 14 56 20 15 56 28
Avg. 37 42 45 57 40 27 28 29 29 32 39 42 34 38 42
Did You Know? Cotton Electric Cooperative offices will be closed Monday, Feb. 17 for Presidents’ Day. Emergency calls will be answered at 580-8753351 or 800-522-3520.
Contact Us
Do you have a story idea for The Current, or do you need to place an ad? If so, let us know. We can be reached at 580-875-3351 or by email at TheCurrent@ cottonelectric.com. You can also drop us The next issue of The a line at Cotton ElecCurrent should arrive tric Current, 226 N. in mailboxes March 14, Broadway, Walters, OK 2025. 73572.
Mission Statement Our mission is to safely deliver reliable and affordable power, provide excellent member service, and improve the quality of life in the communities we serve.