NRTC Annual Meeting: Technology, Policy, Markets and Customer Service

So far, the year 2025 has brought a new sense of regulatory uncertainty. The future of many broadband and smart grid programs is in question, potentially complicating many NRTC members’ technology planning. Without getting into the politics of the new regulatory directions, NRTC CEO Tim Bryan brought examples of why it might be better to watch markets rather than policy to get a feel for the future.

“Technology drives the market and the market beats policy in the long run,” Bryan said.

He shared data showing how policies affecting alternative energy, burning fossil fuels, and clean energy programs have shifted dramatically from the administrations George W. Bush to Barak Obama to Donald Trump to Joe Biden and to Trump again. But technology improves efficiency energy-related systems, which drives markets to continue investing, Bryan said. He noted that oil production has increased steadily, regardless of past alternative energy policies. Despite the current policy shift toward fossil fuels, “’the clean energy revolution is unstoppable.’ That is not a quote from Mother Earth. It’s a quote from the Wall Street Journal last Friday,” he said.

As NRTC members continue to watch the markets, Bryan suggested that they also continue what they do best, such as excelling in customer service. He introduced the audience to the term “net promoter score” (NPS), the measure of how likely a customer will recommend a service to others. “A net promoter score from 0 to 30 is good, from 30 to 70 is great, above 70 is excellent,” he said. Some companies get negative NPS.

NRTC and NRTC’s Pivot did a study of NPS scores among rural telco and electric broadband providers. The result was an average of 51, showing that many rural broadband customers are willing to promote the company for them.

And NRTC cares about its own NPS. Bryan showed a video of NRTC’s recent work with Arkansas Valley Electric Cooperative Corporation. AVECC is using its fiber optic network and deploying Itron Gen5 Riva smart meters and Fiber MiniAP to create an advanced smart grid with very fast communications. In the video, AVECC representatives praised NRTC’s ability to bring technologies to the project and “be able to tie it all together.”

During the business portion of the annual meeting, Board Chairman Jimmy Todd announced the results of recent online board elections. Three incumbents ran unopposed: Gary Stooksbury of Aiken Electric Cooperative, South Carolina for District 2; Josh Shallenberger of Shelby Electric Cooperative in Illinois for District 5, and Mark Scheibe of Heartland Rural Electric Cooperative in Kansas for District 7.

Following the meeting the board met privately to choose officers to serve two-year terms. Lynn Hodges of Ralls County Electric Cooperative in Missouri will succeed Todd as board chairman; Dustin Durden of Pineland Telephone Cooperative in Georgia will succeed Hodges as vice chairman, and Justin Jahnz of East Central Energy in Minnesota will succeed Durden as secretary/treasurer.

Todd, in his Chairman’s Report during the meeting, said that serving as chairman was “truly was an honor … One of the things that stands out with this organization is that it was built and operates through the goals and the purposes of a cooperative.”