Cooperative Response Center, Inc. (CRC) is pleased to announce South Central Power Company in Lancaster, Ohio, has joined its membership. South Central Power Company is a member-owned electric distribution cooperative serving 116,000 meters in 24 Ohio counties.

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 outage texting services, video monitoring of substations and a Payment Card Industry (PCI) compliance solution which utilizes live agents for billing calls. 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.

South Central Power Company joined CRC’s membership in August 2016, subscribing to CRC’s contact center overflow services. CRC’s overflow services are utilized by those utilities that have in-house 24/7 member services and/or an interactive voice response (IVR) unit and dispatch their own line crews. CRC is then utilized in times of need when call volume is too great for a utility to handle internally.

It was CRC’s focus on service excellence and live-agent call handling that was of interest to South Central Power Company. “CRC fulfills an important role in our member satisfaction plan,” said Rick Lemonds, president and CEO at the cooperative. “Even though we have 24 hour on-site dispatching, too often we were not able to give after-hours calls from our members the attention they deserved. Having a live agent from CRC available means our members can always reach someone who can help them get the answers they need.”

South Central Power Company has found that CRC’s services complement its operations and simplified the line crew dispatch process. “Our partnership with CRC has allowed us to enhance our live agent availability,” Lemonds explained. “A key goal was to have live agents available after hours to help members who need to speak with someone to report an outage. The process CRC offers has done so much more. Information from member calls is passed along in an efficient method allowing our team to prioritize them and make sure the member’s concern is handled in the most effective way possible.”

Chris Holt, CRC’s president and CEO, is appreciative of South Central Power Company’s membership and looks forward to a long partnership. “CRC was created to be of service to utilities, working together to lighten the load of employees and offer consumers the best service possible,” said Holt. “CRC has 24 years of experience partnering with cooperatives and offering solutions to meet the needs of our membership.”

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 420 members and associate members in 44 states, representing over 7.3 million consumers. Visit CRC on the web at www.crc.coop.

For more information about CRC’s services, contact Dan Otteson, senior regional business manager, at 800-892-1578, ext. 2137, or danotteson@crc.coop.