Seeking satisfaction

Surveys can be a little nerve-racking. When you ask people what they think of you, you have to be prepared to hear the good and the bad. At Wiregrass Electric, we believe both are important.

Earlier this year, we conducted our biennial Member Satisfaction Survey, giving randomly selected members an opportunity to tell us how they feel about their cooperative. There is a lot to be proud of in the results as a whole. Our members express a high level of satisfaction. They tell us they trust their cooperative, believe we genuinely care about our members and think WEC is well managed. Those results are especially meaningful because they reflect confidence in our employees, management and board of trustees.

Reliability remains one of our greatest strengths. More than 90% of those surveyed agree that Wiregrass Electric provides reliable electric service and restores power quickly after an outage. Keeping the lights on doesn’t happen by accident. We continually invest in our system and technologies that help us operate more efficiently and respond quicker. Advanced metering, automated equipment and SCADA give our employees greater visibility into our system. These technologies sometimes allow us to identify problems, isolate outages and restore service remotely before a truck ever arrives on site.

Technology gives our employees better tools but will never replace the people who serve our members, who overwhelmingly described employees as knowledgeable, competent, friendly and courteous.

Our commitment extends beyond poles and power lines. Our employees live here and support the schools, organizations and businesses that make the Wiregrass home. That’s why we invest our time and resources in economic development, education, charitable programs and partnerships throughout our service area. Operation Round Up is a great example. Through the generosity of members who round their monthly electric bills to the next dollar, approximately $100,000 in grants were recently approved for organizations serving our communities — a record for Wiregrass.

Affordability is also at the forefront of every decision we make. Families and businesses are paying more for nearly everything, and Wiregrass Electric faces those same pressures. Equipment, materials, generation capacity and wholesale electricity all cost more. Our rates remain competitive, and our survey shows many members recognize the value we provide. But we aren’t satisfied with simply being competitive. We will continue looking for ways to keep electricity as affordable as possible.

One tool for doing that is managing peak demand, our highest electricity use for the year. Wiregrass Electric began placing greater emphasis on peak demand because it significantly affects what we pay for wholesale power. That strategy is working. Our system traditionally peaks on the coldest day of the year. When we asked members to reduce electricity use during this winter’s critical peak, they responded. The result was our lowest system peak since 2022.

Managing peak is helping us avoid millions of dollars in wholesale power costs that otherwise would have to be recovered from our members. For years, Wiregrass Electric routinely had some of the highest wholesale costs among the 22 distribution systems served by PowerSouth Energy Cooperative. Recently, Wiregrass Electric had the 11th-lowest wholesale power cost.

Wholesale power is only part of the equation. We operate the distribution system that delivers power to your home or business. We continually look for ways to operate more efficiently, use technology wisely, manage expenses and make responsible investments in our system.

The combined efforts — members helping control wholesale power costs and WEC efficiently managing distribution — result in a retail electric rate that is competitive among our peers.

Does the survey show areas where we can improve? Absolutely. Some members remain concerned about rates or don’t understand demand. Others want clearer communication and more information about their electric service. We need to hear that, too.

But we shouldn’t lose sight of the larger message: Wiregrass Electric is a strong cooperative. Our members overwhelmingly recognize the value in the work of our employees, management and board of trustees. That doesn’t mean we become complacent — actually, the opposite. We want to communicate better, use technology in new ways to improve reliability and service and strengthen our communities. And we will never stop looking for opportunities to operate more efficiently and keep electricity as affordable as possible.

The last two years haven’t been easy. Costs have increased, expectations have changed and our industry continues to evolve. Against that backdrop, we appreciate the high marks, constructive criticism and the trust our members place in us every day. We’ll keep listening. We’ll keep improving. And we’ll keep working for you.