Member Assistance

in our offices equates to our representatives having personal one-on-one interaction with approximately 10,000 members each month, or almost one-half of our membership.

While we are constantly looking for alternative payment methods to offer greater convenience to our members, your cooperative is also committed to the communities we serve by continuing to keep our local offices open to maintain that personal touch through member engagement.

MEMBER ASSISTANCE During 2021, we continued to work with members who were struggling financially as they were beginning to return to work and emerge from the pandemic. We referred members to community programs designed to provide financial assistance with utility bills. Through these resources, we received a total of 1,043 payment guarantees totaling $397,255.89.

In late 2020, the moratorium on collection and disconnection of utilities was lifted and the cooperative returned to normal business practices with some modifications to assist our members who were struggling financially due to the pandemic. In October 2020, we modified our monthly billing process to allow members more time to submit their payments each month without incurring a late charge and to avoid potential disconnection of service. We also established our CARE Agreements which allowed members to make monthly payments towards past due balances on their accounts. These payments were spread over a 12-month period and finalized in late 2021. As a result of our member referrals for assistance and our CARE Agreements, we saw a $58,000 reduction in write-offs between