If you’ve been a South Central Power Company member for some time, chances are you’ve been invited to participate in some type of survey. Many of our members ask us: Since I don’t get to choose my electric provider, does it even matter? We think it does. As a cooperative, we are owned by the members we serve, and our goal is to be your electric provider of choice. We take member feedback seriously, and benchmark how we are doing against others in our industry. We also use surveys to identify trends in member sentiment and preferences, which inform our operations and strategy.
Here are a few types of surveys that your cooperative might ask you to participate in, and how we use the feedback we receive.
- American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) — Several times a year, a random sample of South Central Power members are offered the opportunity to participate in the ACSI Survey, a national benchmark that allows us to see how we rank against not only other utilities but businesses in many types of industries. While the industry average for energy utilities is 75, South Central Power members consistently rank the cooperative higher, with an index score of 83 in 2024. While the measure is part of our balanced scorecard to track the overall progress and success of the cooperative, we also follow up with any member who takes the survey and provides contact information and expresses a specific problem or concern.
- Net Promoter Score (NPS) — when a new member signs up for electric service, or an existing member subscribes to fiber internet, they are asked a single question that allows us to benchmark against others based on their recent experience of becoming a member or subscriber. Known as the Net Promoter Score, this question helps us identify and address trends in overall satisfaction following common transactions with our members. As of May 2025, new electric members gave us a NPS of 85, compared to an average of 61 among other similar cooperative utilities.
- Transactional surveys — Following a phone call or web chat with one of our member service representatives or fiber customer service representatives, you’ll be given the opportunity to take a one-question survey and let us know how we did in providing you with assistance. We use the feedback collected for ongoing training and continuous improvement efforts. Later this year, we’ll be offering transactional surveys following other kinds of interactions with our systems and staff. We hope to hear from you!
- Ohio Cooperative Living readership survey and other communications surveys — Readers of this magazine occasionally receive surveys through the mail regarding your views on this magazine and other communications preferences from your cooperative. It’s our goal to provide you with useful information — we hope to deliver on that, as well as continue to improve.
Do you have feedback for us but haven’t received a recent survey? You can always reach out online to share feedback, or voice a question or concern. Visit southcentralpower.com/contact to contact us any time, or use the message feature in the South Central app.
From the July 2025 issue of Ohio Cooperative Living.