Cooperative Response Center, Inc. (CRC) is pleased to welcome Slash Pine Electric Membership Corporation in Homerville, Georgia, to its contact center membership. Slash Pine EMC is a member-owned distribution cooperative serving nearly 9,000 meters in Southeast Georgia.

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.

Slash Pine EMC 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. Prior to joining CRC, Slash Pine would occasionally receive an influx amount of calls due to either weather-related storms or other major events. With only one dispatcher on duty after hours, the situation could quickly become overwhelming.

“After our normal business hours, it would take time to obtain extra personnel to assist in answering these calls,” explained Tim Register, general manager/CEO at Slash Pine EMC. “This issue would result in numerous consumer complaints from not being able to reach our office.”

In addition to call handling and dispatching of outages, the reduced personnel costs by using CRC is another benefit the utility has experienced since joining its services.

“Since becoming a partner with CRC, consumers are able to report their power outages in a timely manner and, by not having to call-in additional personnel, we have seen a cost savings as well,” said Register.

Chris Holt, CRC’s president and CEO, says many of the utilities that join CRC’s services happily report the relief employees experience by not having to have ‘all hands on deck’ when the call volume warrants it. “In 1992, CRC was created by a group of utilities that struggled to provide good customer service because they were overwhelmed with incoming calls,” he said. “Our hope is that by partnering with CRC, our members have the peace of mind knowing their consumers are in good hands with CRC handling their calls. The cost savings of using our services is just an added bonus.”

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 over 490 members and associate members in 46 states, representing nearly 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.