Members of Lorain-Medina Rural Electric Cooperative who were surveyed in the spring continue to give the cooperative high marks for its overall service.
The cooperative conducts consumer satisfaction surveys annually, using the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association’s Market Research Services. A total of 418 members were surveyed in May by phone and online. The margin of error is plus or minus 5 percent. 

The survey results were presented to the LMRE Board of Trustees at its September meeting. The satisfaction results are included in the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a cross-industry measure of customer satisfaction in the U.S. Lorain-Medina achieved an ACSI score of 86, the same as the previous two years. This was the eighth-highest score among Ohio’s 23 electric cooperatives that participated in the survey. The average Ohio electric cooperative score was 84. Nationwide, Touchstone Energy® Cooperatives — electric cooperatives that are members of a national alliance — collectively scored a 79. Investor-owned utilities like FirstEnergy and American Electric Power scored 73. Municipal utilities, similar to Oberlin, Wellington, Grafton, Lodi, and Seville scored 78. 
Seventy-one percent of the members surveyed gave the cooperative a satisfaction rating of 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale, which is the same as in 2017.  

General Manager Markus Bryant said the cooperative conducts the satisfaction surveys three times a year so it can react to trends faster, rather than waiting a full year to see if dissatisfaction trends are developing. 

The cooperative received excellent ratings in 12 of 17 categories. Using a scale of 1 to 5, LMRE scored an excellent rating of 4.5 or higher for keeping members informed; resolving issues or problems; having friendly, courteous, and highly trained employees; being easy to reach; minimizing long outages, restoring power quickly; minimizing blinks or momentary outages; having convenient payment options and accurate and understandable bills; environmental concerns; and community support. 
“From the employees’ standpoint, it’s gratifying to see that our members recognize and appreciate that we work hard to deliver quality service and truly have their best interests at heart,” Bryant said.

 
The cooperative’s outage record remains strong. In 2017, the number of outages increased slightly due to a high number of major storms. However, cooperative’s long-term maintenance efforts have provided members with highly reliable service. 
“Our emphasis on maintenance is obviously being noticed by our members,” Bryant said. “Plus, because of the technology we have invested in over the last decade, we can isolate outages and restore power faster. That’s made a huge difference.” 

Lorain-Medina’s lowest satisfaction ratings were for keeping members informed on the status of outages (rated at 3.99) and charging reasonable rates (rated good at 4.02). The cooperative uses Facebook and its website 
to provide outage updates when there are 50 or more outage calls.

Bryant said they are closely watching the bottom end of the satisfaction scale in which 7 percent of the members gave the cooperative a rating between 1 and 5. “We would like that number at least cut in half,” Bryant said. “When members give us a rating of 7 or below, we’re asking them why. The reasons for the lower scores are all over the place. The cost of electricity is the most common issue members noted and yet our rates compare favorably with other utilities serving the state.”