North East Mississippi Electric Power Association in Oxford, Mississippi, recently joined the ranks of Cooperative Response Center, Inc.’s (CRC’s) contact center membership. NEMEPA is an electric distribution cooperative serving over 27,000 meters in northern Mississippi.

CRC offers utilities across the country seamless contact center and alarm monitoring solutions, including call management, line crew dispatch, AMI/CIS/OMS integration, CRCLink® outage communication software, and alarm monitoring. CRC also offers dynamic greetings, outage texting services, video monitoring of substations, a Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance solution which utilizes live agents for billing calls, and English proficiency translation services. From outage calls to billing calls, disconnects to emergency locates and more, CRC is there for its membership 24/7/365. By partnering with CRC, members find peace of mind as well as a cost-effective solution to their call handling needs.

NEMEPA joined CRC’s membership in October 2019, subscribing to its energy dispatch contact center services which include inbound call management as well as dispatching of line crews. Although NEMEPA had heard good things from other electric utilities about CRC, the benefit of using its services was greater than expected.

“North East has grown tremendously over the last few years,” explained Keith Hayward, general manager/CEO at NEMEPA. “While we did not have a bad situation, we were looking for a new solution to after-hours call handling and dispatching. After talking to other systems in our area, we engaged CRC.

“We discovered CRC could not only provide a better solution for after hours, they could help solve some overflow issues we were experiencing during the day,” he added. “This allowed us to postpone the hiring of additional employees, which is always a good thing. We are very pleased with the progress we have made with CRC’s help.”

Chris Holt, CRC’s president and CEO, appreciates NEMEPA’s kind words as well as their partnership with CRC. “For nearly 30 years, we’ve worked very hard at creating and offering services that help our utility partners serve their consumers the best way possible,” he said. “We’re here around the clock to serve as an extension of our membership, offering call-handling solutions to meet their needs.

About CRC
CRC is a nationwide, cooperatively owned, 24/7 contact center and alarm monitoring center. Founded in 1992, CRC has steadily increased the size and scope of its operation with offices in Austin, Minn., Dunlap, Tenn., and Abilene, Texas. CRC serves nearly 500 members and associate members in 47 states, representing over 10 million consumers. Visit CRC on the web at www.crc.coop.

For more information about CRC’s services, contact Cheryl Haney, regional business manager, at 800-892-1578, ext. 8707, or cherylhaney@crc.coop.