Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative: Keeping you connected

    Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative, Inc. serves 3,000 square miles of the most rural territory in Maine, including parts of Washington, Aroostook and Penobscot counties. Customers are not just consumers, they are also member-owners of the Co-op.
    As a consumer-owned utility, EMEC has a stronger connection and a deeper sense of responsibility and accountability to the people it serves. As a not-for-profit organization, the Cooperative’s sole focus in on the customer, providing quality electric service at the lowest cost consistent with sound management.
    One benefit of being a cooperative is that EMEC is part of network of over 900 electric cooperatives. As a result, Eastern Maine Electric is able to tap into resources and expertise far beyond its own 35 employees. As a result, EMEC is a leader in Maine for using new technologies to improve its service quality and its outreach to consumers.
    For instance, EMEC was the first utility in Maine to use widespread automated metering, providing convenience and additional information to the members about their energy use. Automated calling enables EMEC to contact all of its members with news about planned outages and other important issues. The Co-op also has an outage tracking system that improves efficiency and cuts outage times.
    These automated service and others have allowed the Cooperative to provide services better than most if not all utilities in Maine, while at the same time keeping costs down. EMEC recently earned a 90 percent approval rating from its members, even though the Co-op employs 25 per cent fewer employees than most electric co-ops it size. This is a feat possible only with the aid of resourceful employees and increasingly sophisticated technology.
    Eastern Maine Electric is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with office hours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information call 454-7555 or 800-696-7444, www.emec.com or e-mail info@emec.com.