Video: 4-County Closing Branch in Columbus

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LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. — In a continual effort to reduce costs while striving to bring added value to its members, 4-County Electric Power Association is closing its office at 2000 Sixth St. N. in Columbus.

4-County announced the closing in a June letter to its members.

Closing the office, set for Oct. 31, will not impact the level of service 4-County members receive, nor will any employees lose their jobs. Instead, the strategic move enables the cooperative to operate more efficiently and better serve its members, according to 4-County CEO/General Manager Joe Cade.

“4-County remains focused on and committed to serving its members. Even though our 2000 Sixth St. N. location is closing, you may rest assured that we are prepared to deliver an even higher level of service to you while also giving you more options on where and how you can pay your bills,” Cade said.

4-County offers a variety of options to its members for conducting business without having to come to an office, including:

· Payment kiosks: 4-County kiosk payment machines are user friendly and conveniently located in various Lowndes County communities – with many of them open 24 hours a day. If members pay their bills using one of the kiosk machines, their payments are updated to their accounts immediately. Kiosks in Lowndes County include: Dutch Village Shell, 1245 Lehmberg Road; Sprint Gasoline, 3115 Hwy. 45 N.; New Hope Shell, 5780 Hwy. 182 E.; and The Sprint Mart, 1313 Hwy. 69 S.

· Payment by phone: Another convenient option is to call 4-County at 1-800-431-1544. One of 4-County’s customer service representatives will help members with their payments through the use of an electronic check, a debit card or a credit card.

· Bank draft: 4-County offers a bank draft option (drafting payments from members’ bank accounts or credit cards). A member account will be drafted on the due date each month. Currently, the cooperative has a promotion that enables new bank draft members a one-time $25 credit to their electric bills.

· On-line payments: Another convenient payment option is paying online through 4-County’s website at www.4county.org/paymentoptions, or with a free App for a smartphone or tablet. Just go to the app store, search 4county and download My Electric Account.

· Prepay: Prepay works similar to buying gasoline for your car. You put money into your account. Then, as you use electricity and the money in your account gets lower, 4-County alerts you so you can add more money to the account. You have full control over your account and can pay as much or as little as you want, when you want. There is no deposit required with the Prepay option.

· Mail: Members can also use the traditional option of mailing in their payments to the payment address listed on the bill.

· Setting up new service: People wishing to set up a new account can complete an application for service online at www.4county.org.

Those Columbus members (or any other members) who want to pay their bills or conduct other business in person can do so at the Corporate Center location, 5265 S. Frontage Road near the Highway 82 airport exit in Mayhew. Hours are 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekdays.

“Technology is changing the way we do business,” Cade said. “We appreciate your understanding as we reinvent ourselves and strive to serve them with more and better options in the future. Many of our members are already enjoying the convenience of these payment options. For those members who have not had an opportunity to take advantage of these options, I encourage them to begin using them before the Columbus office closes so that when the day comes to close the office, there will be no impact to them.”

Categories: Local News

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