We Asked You Answered

 

2023 Member Satisfation Survey

Lane-Scott Electric received a Touchstone Energy Top 5 ACSI score amongst all Touchstone Energy cooperatives in Q2 2023!

Lane-Scott recently conducted a member survey to gauge if we are meeting member needs and how we can better serve you, our members. As a member-owned and led co-op, we always try to improve transparency, which is we are sharing how your peers rated the co-op on satisfaction, service, reliability, rates, member service, co-op culture, feedback on communication preferences, and interest in energy trends such as behind the meter generation and electric vehicles.

Survey Overview

Part of Lane-Scott Electric’s Strategic Plan is to survey our members every few years to analyze what is or is not working, and form a benchmark of our performance over time.

We surveyed 251 members in our service territory, which includes:

 Ness county, rural eastern Scott county (including Scott Lake Park), all of Lane county (except for Dighton which is now served by KMEA), part of northern Hodgeman county, western Rush county (including McCracken), southern Gove county, northern Finney county, and a small portion of southern Logan co.

Of the 251 completed surveys, 162 responded online and 89 by phone. The survey was conducted by our 3rd party contractor to ensure impartial results.

Scoring Satisfaction

American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI)

The national benchmark used by all companies and cooperatives asks 4 main satisfaction questions. Here are the results for Lane-Scott Electric based on a 100% scale.

ACSI GraphCAPS Graph

How Do We Compare?

  • Lane-Scott is a Touchstone Energy cooperative, meaning we are a member of a national network of more than 700 electric cooperatives across 46 states. Lane-Scott’s 89 ACSI score received a Top 5 Score among all Touchstone Energy cooperatives in Q2 2023!
  • The average National ACSI score as of the end of Q2 2023 was 74.1, LSEC received an 89, and the highest score issued was a 93.
  • Touchstone Energy cooperatives who surveyed their members in 2022 received an average ACSI score of 84.9.
  • Known national brands and their scores: Apple = 83, Southwest Airlines = 80, Lowe’s = 78, Wal-Mart = 73, National co-op average = 73, Municipal utility average = 72, Facebook = 63

Performance Questions:

  1. Restores service quickly after an outage:                                                92
  2. Provides reliable electric service:                                                              92
  3. Has a goal to provide electricity at the lowest possible rate:              77
  4. Has knowledgeable/competent employees:                                          97
  5. Has friendly/courteous employees:                                                         97
  6. Makes it easy to do business with co-op:                                                95
  7. Committed to local communities:                                                             93
  8. Is transparent about what is going on at LSEC:                                       90
  9. Supports renewable energy:                                                                      75

Comparing trends from 2020 to 2023:  Our overall satisfaction rating of 9.2 and co-op culture score of 8.9 remained the same. Our electric service & rates increased from 8.9 to 9.0, and member service increased from 9.1 to 9.5! 

Regarding these performance trends, Richard McLeon, General Manager, said, “I am not at all surprised to see these high-performance scores. Lane-Scott has a very professional and talented group of employees and board of trustees who lead the way. We strive every day to provide great service to every single member on our line.”

Communication Takeaways

  • 46% of members surveyed prefer to receive co-op information by e-mail.
  • 63% prefer to be contacted by text for power outages.

Did you know?!  Our e-mail and text database is setup through SmartHub, our member web and mobile account management system! You must have a LSEC SmartHub account in order to receive e-mail or text messages from us. To learn more about SmartHub and how to sign-up, go to: www.lanescott.coop/smarthub.

Member Responses on Renewable Energy

  • 37% believe electricity generated by wind is reliable.
  • 51% believe electricity generated by solar is reliable.
  • Regarding behind the meter generation, 13% are considering installing equipment which includes wind, solar, generators, or other sources.
  • Of the 13% considering installing behind the meter generation, 67% were interested in solar, 58% in a generator.
  • Regarding electric vehicles, 96% have no plans to purchase an EV, while 4% said sometime in the future.

We want to address concerns brought up by members during the survey on a public platform. More than likely, if one member has a concern, others have the same concerns. See our responses to questions below in the FAQ section. As always, please contact us with any questions you may have during normal business hours. We are happy to help!

Thank you for all who participated in this year’s Lane-Scott Electric Member Satisfaction.

Member Satisfaction Survey Results - 2023

Member Concerns from Survey - Answered

The charge members may still see on their Lane-Scott Electric bill is being passed along to those who had electricity with us in February 2021 and is a result of the energy crisis and high natural gas fuel charges imposed upon all utilities utilizing natural gas in their generation mix.  Every month, our wholesale power provider has to recover its fuel costs. This is done through our billing in a pass-through ECA (energy charge adjustment) charge or credit. During Storm Uri, the Lane-Scott Electric’s February ECA was approximately $4 million, which at that time was typically $600,000-$700,000. The Lane-Scott Electric Board of Trustees voted at that time to spread the bill over the course of 42 months rather than require members to pay the entire amount in one month. Unlike Independent Utility Companies or municipalities, we are a cooperative which means we do not operate with a profit. Instead margins we do earn are paid back to our members in the form of Capital Credits. Because of the cooperative model, Lane-Scott was not able to absorb such a large amount.

Since the storm, we did receive a credit from Sunflower Electric which we passed along to members in March 2023 from settlements they had been involved with from various lawsuits over Uri. To find out how much remains on your account, please call our office. Members are welcome to pay some or all of it off at any time!

Please call Lane-Scott with any service-related issues and we will dispatch a crew to resolve the issue. We won’t know if your light is out unless you call in, or we happen across it.  If it is for a private streetlight not included in a Lane-Scott tariff, we can put you in contact with one of our electricians, or you can hire an electrician of your choice.

The customer charge is determined per rate to cover the expenses associated with having electric service, regardless of how much electricity is used.  It is analyzed during our cost-of service study and includes factors such as: a portion of fixed costs associated with distribution (such as wire, poles, substation expenses); equipment such as transformers, meters, and service drops; software, technology, processing, and consumer accounting; a portion of administrative and general expenses of the cooperative.

Equipment costs especially have sky-rocketed due to the effects of inflation. Please know Lane-Scott does everything possible to keep these fixed costs down while still ensuring reliable service to our members. In fact, LSEC had the 5th lowest residential rate among Kansas cooperatives in 2022, with a rate of $0.1354 / kWh based on total revenue (which includes customer charge).

This is a hard question to answer for a couple of reasons.  First, there is the legal consideration.  Electric services can be disconnected without notice where a known dangerous condition exists and for as long as the condition exists.  That’s an easy call to make when it there is bad wiring, low clearances, etc.  on the member side of the meter, but who makes the call on the weather?  Do we disconnect for tornados, windstorms, floods, or hurricanes?  If so, does everyone get disconnected and when?  What about emergency services and community water systems?  Do they have back-up generators, or do they rely on the power grid?  What if you disconnect someone at home on oxygen or other life-support?

Secondly, it really is a double edge sword. High-wind events are widespread, meaning to turn off power to all affected areas, we would have to turn off ALL meters. This would include meters connected to water wells, communication towers, and gas stations which are vital when dealing with a wild-fire situation.  Also, if a widespread outage of this magnitude were to occur it would take us longer to turn everything back on.  It isn’t just a simple turn of the switch to get everything back up and running.  Let’s also consider this is Kansas, our high wind events can happen for extended time periods, 60+ mph winds can continue for days at a time. When power is out for days there are other well-being issues to consider including medical equipment, lack of air conditioning or heat depending on the season, and food spoilage.

Our goal is to always provide safe, reliable, electric energy at reasonable prices.  Sometimes the weather just doesn’t cooperate with power delivery so consider your risks and needs.  You may need to make adjustments to protect yourself and your property.

Cost and pricing is hard for anyone to truly be satisfied with. The cost of everything has gone up, from transformers and poles to groceries and fuel. Some of these have risen so dramatically so quickly, it’s financially hard for businesses or individuals to adjust. Lane-Scott does everything we can to keep our rates as low as we can while still being able to continue being your cooperative.

In fact, at the end of 2022, which is the last available data, Lane-Scott had the 5th lowest residential retail rate among all electric cooperatives in Kansas, and 4% below the co-op/IOU average.

Renewable energy we are embracing as makes sense for our cooperative and its members. This is partially why our survey included questions regarding member interest in renewable energy, behind the meter generation, and electric vehicles. We want to gauge member interest and involvement to guide what our next steps are.

 

Currently, Sunflower Electric, our Generation and Transmission Cooperative utilizes both wind and solar in the electricity generation mix. Approximately 13.96% of Sunflower’s portfolio is wind. They do not own or operate wind farms; however, buy wind energy through a Power Purchase Agreement from Smoky Hills Wind Farm, located in Lincoln and Ellsworth counties, and Shooting Star Wind Farm, in Kiowa county. The Johnson Corner Solar Project came online in 2020 and provides 1.57% of the mix. On the horizon for Sunflower are two new solar projects, one in Russell, and one in Fort Dodge, that will add more solar to Sunflower and Lane-Scott’s portfolio.

 

Not only do we support a diverse fuel mix, Lane-Scott is happy to assist any member in their journey to interconnecting behind the meter generation to the grid. We have a process in place to ensure the safety of all involved, can provide your past energy use, help calculate your energy needs to help determine if behind the meter generation makes sense for you, and have a net meter and parallel generation tariff. We encourage you to contact our office before entering any contracts with vendors!

Our crews must have access to all our equipment including transformers and meters. If they are driving on your property, it is to get to equipment that serves you and others. All members sign our service agreement that gives access to Lane-Scott to install or work on such equipment as necessary.

Even if your electricity is working fine, a 3-phase transformer may be on your driveway. Three phase transformers serve 3 meters. You might have power on your phase, but your neighbor connected to the other 2 might be having service issues.