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Revitalized communications promote efficiency, ease rate hikes
The daunting task of explaining a steady stream of rate increases to its members turned into an opportunity for Continental Divide Electric Cooperative to strengthen its ties to the community and educate a new generation about public power. It is a critical time for the 61-year-old, northwestern New Mexico co-op and its power wholesaler, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, explained CDEC Member Services Representative Mac Juarez. Tri-State plans to build new generation and transmission to meet growing demand, but the projects are still several years from completion. In the meantime, member co-ops must buy expensive supplemental power, while the future holds rate increases to pay for construction of the new facilities. "We have to prepare our customers for that, and tell them what they could do to help control the costs," said Juarez. "That's going to take a larger presence in the community than we've had for several years." Success begins at annual meeting To start the ball rolling, Juarez brought back CDEC's monthly newsletter. This gave the co-op a way to communicate directly with its members and begin the process of consumer education. "I remember seeing it when I was a kid, but it hadn't been published since the early '80s," he said. The newsletter's first mission was to promote CDEC's annual meeting. It was part of an intensive three-month outreach campaign to reverse a history of poor attendance. It had been 10 years since enough members attended the meeting to achieve quorum. The previous year, fewer than 225 members showed up—far short of the 501 needed to conduct the business meeting and vote for long-overdue changes to the bylaws. Along with the newsletter, TV, radio and newspaper ads targeted new co-op members. "There's a whole generation of members that don't know the history of the rural electric co-op," said Juarez. "I think we were able to introduce them to what co-ops stand for." Personal contact played an important role in establishing the utility's identity. "Attending town councils and public meetings helped to put a face on CDEC and reminded members that we are part of the community, too," Juarez acknowledged. The meeting itself was scheduled on a Saturday afternoon instead of the evening to make it more convenient to attend. Members enjoyed family activities including a ring toss, jumping castle, face painting and photo ID kits for kids, a craft fair, hotdog lunch and entertainment. CDEC gave away a trip for two to Las Vegas, Nev., and goodie bags containing compact fluorescent lights, among other things. The value of outreach became clear when registration ran through 515 goodie bags. Almost 900 members attended the meeting, achieving quorum for the first time since 1995 and rebuilding lines of communication with the community. "That's when our communication strategy really began to change," Juarez said. Push to promote wise energy use CDEC did not wait to capitalize on its new rapport with its members. In July, the co-op launched Operation Eff-Con — efficiency/conservation — a program to educate consumers about wise energy use and promote peak-shaving technologies. A one-page Home Energy Savings Guide is the central piece of the educational component. CDEC drew the information from several resources, including a multi-page guide produced by Touchstone Energy Cooperatives. "We couldn't afford to mass produce Touchstone's booklet, so we whittled it down to one page of facts that fit in with the electric bill," said Juarez. The mailer tells consumers about Operation Eff-Con and gives tips for managing home energy use. "The emphasis is on what members can do to reduce energy costs—theirs and ours," Juarez stated. Touchstone provides other outreach material that Juarez was able to brand for CDEC's campaign, including TV, newspaper and radio ads. Although the co-op is using Touchstone TV ads for the first time—"They were too 'Midwestern' in the past," Juarez noted—radio is CDEC's main medium. "It's more cost-effective, and the coverage is much wider in our service territory," said the member services representative. Three measures targetedOperation Eff-Con focuses on three measures to help homeowners reduce their consumption: compact fluorescent lights, electric thermal storage heating and time-of-use rates. CDEC has partnered with 14 schools in its territory for a CFL fund-raiser. Students sold the energy efficient lights for $3.50, and the school got two dollars, one from each sale and a matching donation from the co-op. "The schools raised $6,300 by selling more than 3,100 bulbs, helped raise awareness about energy efficiency and saved families money on their electricity bills," Juarez said. "The promotion was a winner for everyone." The electric thermal storage promotion encourages co-op members to install the highly efficient heaters and take advantage of CDEC's time-of-use rates. Although the units will increase the utility's load, they will shave its peaks, which will help CDEC control costs. And, of course, "They save our members money, too," Juarez pointed out. When members win, the co-op wins—and vice versa. That's a message that Continental Divide will continue to share with its members as it meets new challenges in the months and years ahead. It is easier to win the game when everybody knows the game plan.
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