Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative

Overview

Supporting a Member-Owned Mission

Plumas-Sierra Rural Electric Cooperative (PSREC) is a member-owned electric cooperative built on transparency, local leadership, and reliable service. Keeping people informed and connected is a key part of how they serve their community.

Having partnered with Powerful on their previous website, PSREC returned with a clear vision for the future. They were looking to build on a trusted foundation while improving how members interact with their services online. Their goals centered around increasing engagement, encouraging more visitors to take advantage of online tools, and presenting information in a way that feels easy to follow. The redesigned website reflects that intention, offering a more intuitive experience that supports both the cooperative’s mission and the needs of the communities they serve.

Designed for Everyday Questions

For many visitors, a trip to PSREC’s website starts with a question. It may be as urgent as reporting an outage or as routine as understanding a monthly bill. These moments shaped a key opportunity for the redesign: guiding visitors to clear, reliable answers.

Through strategy and collaboration, Powerful and PSREC identified pages that would benefit from a more visual, structured approach. Instead of presenting dense blocks of text, these high-impact pages were reimagined with bold headers, icons, and clearly defined sections that guide the eye and make information easier to scan. This approach reflects how people naturally read online—quickly and with a clear goal in mind.

The Outage Center is a strong example. Visitors arriving during an outage can immediately find what they need, from reporting an outage to understanding restoration priorities and safety steps. Information is organized into clear sections, with visual cues that help visitors move from one topic to the next without second-guessing where to click. The experience remains steady and informative, even in moments that may feel anything but.

A similar approach shapes the Understanding Your Bill page. Instead of leaving visitors to interpret a traditional bill layout on their own, the page breaks down each section with labeled visuals and short explanations. A visitor wondering about a specific charge or usage history can quickly match what they see on their bill to a corresponding explanation on the page. That sense of clarity builds confidence and reduces the need to reach out with questions.

These visualized pages directly support PSREC’s goal of increasing the use of online tools. When information is easier to find and understand, visitors are more likely to rely on the website as their first stop.

Local Leadership Within Reach

PSREC’s cooperative model is rooted in local representation, where members have a voice and a direct connection to those who serve them. Supporting this principle online meant creating an experience that makes those connections accessible and intuitive. The goal was to encourage interaction while reinforcing the cooperative’s structure in a meaningful way.

To support this, Powerful implemented an interactive KML map within the Service Area page. Visitors can enter their address and immediately see which district they belong to. When a district is selected on the map, a callout appears with the district name and corresponding board member. This immediate connection between location and representation helps visitors understand exactly who serves their area without needing to search elsewhere.

From that point, visitors can continue to the Meet Your Board page, where each director is presented in a clean, organized layout. Powerful’s Staff Directory app displays photos, titles, and contact information, making it easy to recognize and reach the right person. Instead of piecing together information across multiple pages, the experience flows from identifying a district to connecting with a representative in a way that feels intuitive.

Consider a member who wants to share feedback or ask a question about a local initiative. They can enter their address, select their district, see who represents them, and quickly find that individual’s contact details. The process is clear from start to finish, which encourages more interaction over time. This approach supports PSREC’s commitment to democratic member control by making leadership visible, accessible, and easy to engage with.