Readability of consumer newsletters published by North Carolina Electric Membership Corporations

The stability of the nation's electric membership corporations (EMCs) depends on financing and communication. A basic communication tool is the consumer newsletter.

The readability, or ease of reading, of newsletters published by 24 North Carolina Electric Membership Corporations was tested using the Gunning Fog Index (GFI).

The author compared:

1. the newsletter GFIs with the reading levels recommended by a readability formula researcher.

2. the newsletter GFIs with the educational levels of the people in the counties that receive the newsletters;

3. the GFIs of technical material and nontechnical material;

4. each newsletter editor's prediction of the grade level of his or her newsletter with that indicated by the GFI.

The results showed that the readability level for the majority of the newsletters was too high for the target audiences when compared to readability formula levels and to education levels. There was no significant difference between readability levels of technical and nontechnical material with both being too difficult for the target audiences. Editors also failed to predict the readability levels of their individual newsletters.