Residential focus group wraps up
Fifteen of SLV REC’s residential members recently took part in a stakeholder engagement process by attending three focus groups. The participants were representative of the entire SLVREC service area and included complainants from the 2019 PUC complaint. Facilitated by Charise Swanson of Hometown Connections, all meetings were conducted virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first meeting, held in September, educated the participants on the electric industry, as well as rate making. Other discussions involved customer service, communication and rates.
Following the meeting, participants were invited to send questions to the facilitator for review and answering by REC staff.
Conversations during the second meeting, held four weeks later, involved the previous questions, along with SLV REC’s responses. Subsequently, participants were once again encouraged to send additional input or clarifying questions for REC’s review. Based on feedback from meeting two, an additional Zoom group was set up for interested participants to learn about REC’s most recent cost-of-service study.
In the final meeting, held on Nov. 18, participants were given a draft interim report developed by Charise. The document includes all participant questions, rate input, along with SLV REC’s responses and is available for viewing online at slvrec.com/about-us (see “2020 SLV REC Stakeholder Engagement Interim Report” button).
In early 2021 similar focus group meetings will be held with 8-10 agriculture and commercial members.