By Louis Porter
Washington Electric Cooperative reports annually to state regulators on how well it provided service to its members over the last year. The Service Quality and Reliability Plan, or SQRP, report consists of 12 categories designed to take a snapshot of where we are doing well and where we need to improve.
While this report is filed with the Vermont Public Utility Commission, it is also a useful tool for those at WEC and for those it serves to track performance and highlight trends.
In 2025, WEC met all of its SQRP metrics with the exception of the SAIFI (System Average Interruption Frequency Index or Customers Out/Customers Served) metric, and only missed that by the narrowest of margins.
WEC has a SAIFI goal of 3.8 and just barely missed it with a score of 3.9 in 2025. We did meet our CAIDI (Customer Average Interruption Duration Index or Customer Hours Out/Customers Out) goal of 2.7 with a score of 2.3. Both measures exclude major storms, so the lack of major storms in 2025 did not have an impact on these metrics. A lot of credit goes to the operations and engineering folks at WEC, including our great line crew members, for outages through improved system and right-of-way management, and also for getting speedy restorations done.
WEC’s goal is to answer calls within 20 seconds, and to keep the percentage of calls not answered in that time to less than 15%. This is a very stringent standard and a metric which we often struggle to meet, despite making a variety of changes over the last several years. In 2025 we met our goal, and answered all but 13.8% of calls within 20 seconds. Good work by the WEC member services team got us there, and a lack of major storms locally and across the region likely helped, as the speed of calls answered reflects data from both WEC and the Cooperative Response Center, Inc. (CRC), which answers member calls after working hours.
Here are the details for the other service quality statistics.
- Work Safety Performance. The safety of WEC workers and of the general public is of great importance and is a top priority for WEC. The jobs of any electrical utility workers can be difficult, strenuous and pose significant risks. WEC had two injuries which caused lost work time, and so met its standard of less than six. Our total days of lost time was three, meeting our standard of less than 39.
- Outage Incidents. The “System Average Interruption Frequency Index,” or SAIFI, measures the average number of outage incidents that occurred per member, exclusive of major storms. Our goal is no more than 3.8 outages per member, and we averaged 3.9 when rounded up. Although we failed to meet our standard in this measure, it was by the barest margin.
- Outage Duration. The “Customer Average Interruption Duration Index,” or CAIDI, measures the average time it takes to restore power when there was an outage, exclusive of major storms. Our goal is to restore power in 2.7 hours, and in 2025 we met this standard with a score of 2.3.
- Calls not answered within 20 seconds. One of our requirements from regulators is that we answer calls to WEC within 20 seconds in all but 15% of cases. In 2025, we did meet that measurement, with 13.8% of calls lingering too long. That was an improvement over 2024, when we missed this metric.
- Bills not rendered in seven days. Our goal is to have no more than 0.1% of bills (one in 1,000) issued more than seven days after they were supposed to go out. No bills were issued late in 2025, or in 2024, to WEC’s members.
- Bills found inaccurate. No more than 0.10% of all bills (one in 1,000) sent out can be inaccurate. We met that goal with 0.07% of bills inaccurate.
- Payment posting complaints. Our target is no more than 0.05% of members (one in 2,000) having complaints about payments not being posted promptly and accurately to their accounts. We had no complaints in 2025.
- Meter readings a month. Although there are situations in which a meter cannot be read and WEC has to issue an estimated bill, the goal is to have that occur no more than 5% of bills, or five in 100. In 2025 there were 0.27% of bills based on estimated meter readings.
- Requested work not done on time. When we extend lines to new homes or do work requested by members, we try hard to do that work efficiently and on time. Although this can be a challenge for a small organization, particularly when WEC has seen a large number of new service requests in recent years, we have a target of no more than 5% of jobs not being completed on time. In 2025, as in past years, all jobs were completed on time.
- Average delay days after missed delivery date. This measure is not applicable, given that all jobs were completed on time as noted above.
- Customer satisfaction. WEC conducts a professional survey of members every five years to gauge customer satisfaction, including in 2025. Overall, member satisfaction was down slightly from 2020, with a mean rating of 7.68 (out of 10), with 48% of respondents giving a 9 or 10. The results of the survey, including comparisons to past years, can be found on WEC’s webpage.
Complaints to DPS/Consumer affairs. Vermonters who get their electricity from any of the state’s utilities can report those problems to the Consumer Affairs and Public Information Division of the Department of Public Service. The Department then contacts the utility to get more information. In most cases, those issues are resolved through discussion or the DPS determines there was no basis for the complaint. However, if the DPS determines that a utility has not done something right and requires that it be corrected, this is recorded as an “escalation”. WEC’s SQRP requires that the number of escalations not exceed 0.07% of our membership (or about 7 per year). In 2025, as in 2024, no escalations were reported.