Member newsletter for Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative

Transform the member experience

SMECO has kicked off initiatives for the 2023–2027 Strategic Plan, which is comprised of five pillars: Transform the Member Experience; Build a Smarter Grid; Engage, Empower, and Equip Employees; Lead Sustainably in Our Community; and Innovate and Grow. These pillars create a framework for your cooperative to advance its vision to sustainably energize Southern Maryland. SMECO strives to provide superior customer service, working continually to anticipate member needs and improve their experience. Our customers—our members—come first, and that is represented in the initiatives outlined in the pillars.

Our effort to transform the member experience includes expanding outreach efforts and utilizing behavior-driven data to learn more about what our members need and how well our systems perform to serve those needs. Using comprehensive data to refine our business processes can lower operating costs, increase reliability, allow better deployment of capital, and provide faster and more precise customer service.

A key component in this pillar focuses on improving the ease of doing business with us. SMECO has added a number of digital options for members over the years and we plan to expand these options to include chat tools and voice recognition, as well as providing additional functionality to our mobile platforms. By 2027, we plan to offer a digital option for 100 percent of our core member engagements.

We recognize that some members prefer personal interactions with their cooperative, and we have no plans to remove our in-person locations in Hughesville and Leonardtown or our in-house call center where members can speak directly to our customer care team.

We know our members’ expectations for their utility are evolving and we are evolving with you.