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members by providing electrical service to more than 12,217
meters. About 70 percent of the meters belong to residential
and/or seasonal members, and the rest belong to commercial
and industrial accounts. McKenzie Electric Cooperative cur-
rently employs 56 full-time employees in Watford City and its
outpost in Killdeer.
To help these employees work most efficiently and to maintain
communications with members, McKenzie Electric Cooperative
counts on RTC. The move to the new facility provided an oppor-
tunity for RTC to upgrade the phone and internet services.
RTC Provides Gig Internet and VoIP Phones
Carns says, “The phone system at our previous facility wasn’t
fully meeting our needs. In our new facility, RTC installed a
VoIP system with more phone lines.”
RTC also connected McKenzie Electric Cooperative to Gig
Internet via our fiber network. “A lot of our data is stored off
site, so the increased speed and reliability of RTC’s Gig Internet
helps us manage this data more efficiently. It also makes it pos-
sible for us to offer an electronic payment kiosk for members
to drive through and pay their bills,” Carns notes. RTC has been
focused on building out our fiber infrastructure in recent years,
and members like McKenzie Electric Cooperative are seeing
these benefits.
He adds, “We appreciate the excellent support we get from RTC
employees. For example, when we first moved into the new
facility, an RTC technician was on-site to troubleshoot any
issue that might come up. When we needed some help with the
phone system, he worked directly with us until the issue was solved.”
Cooperatives Stick Together
As two cooperatives, McKenzie Electric Cooperative and RTC
have much in common. Both serve rural communities and are
focused on providing value to their members. And both are guided
by the seven cooperative principles, which include “Cooperation
Among Cooperatives.”
“Last year, McKenzie Electric Cooperative and RTC teamed up
for the homecoming football game. We hosted a booth together
and gave away popcorn. We often work together at community
events. It’s a great way to give back,” Carns says.
What’s ahead for McKenzie Electric Cooperative? He replies,
“We’re updating our outage management system. This system
will allow us to better track electric outages as well as track the
locations of service vehicles and predict an outage’s duration. We’ll be
able to increase our efficiency and fix the issues more quickly.”
Electric outages are typically caused by wind, lightning, or ice
storms—events when Mother Nature is not as friendly as this
cooperative’s eco-friendly facility.
A lot of our data is stored off
site, so the increased speed and
reliability of RTC’s Gig Internet helps
us manage this data more efficiently.”
— JOHN CARNS, SPECIAL PROJECTS COORDINATOR