Weathering the storm: Social media, mobile sites help utilities improve customer contact January 19, 2011

Last week’s “snowmageddon” across much of the eastern United States provides fresh evidence that more electric utilities are turning to mobile channels and social media to keep customers informed during power outages and similar emergencies, a trend highlighted in recent Chartwell research.

The National Weather Service reported snow on the ground in every state except Florida as the winter storm crippled parts of the South before moving Northeast, where it delivered record amounts of snowfall. Yet, the power stayed on more often than not and electric companies fared very well in the court of public opinion.

South Carolina Electric & Gas credited its tree trimming efforts over the past three years with helping to keep power outages to a minimum. “The relatively low number of power outages we’ve seen over the past 24 hours shows just how important tree trimming is to the safety and reliability of our electric system,” said Keller Kissam, SCE&G’s senior vice president of electric and gas operations.

Duke Energy also reported relatively few outages, noting that many were the result of traffic accidents on icy roads.  “Stay home if you can. Go slow if you can’t. Be safe out there,” the company tweeted on its storm site.  

Like many utilities, Oncor used the weather event to remind customers that it recently launched several new outage communications tools, including a Twitter feed, Facebook page and online outage maps that are smart phone accessible. Oncor also said it would use the storm to test a new texting pilot program that allows pre-registered customers to report outages and know when their power has been restored. After this test, Oncor said it hopes to deploy the program to a wider audience.

“All of the tools that we’ve offered are a direct result of the input we received from our customers over the past year,” said Brenda Jackson, Oncor chief customer officer.

In the Northeast, Unitil received some praise in the media for its new Twitter site and other storm response initiatives, which the utility previewed during a Chartwell webinar last August. The initiatives are part of Unitil’s efforts to improve service and repair its image from a December 2008 ice storm that the locals still talk about.  Since then, the company has overhauled its storm planning, upgraded infrastructure and improved its Web-based tools.

Increasingly, customers are turning to the Internet and to mobile devices when they need to interact with their electric and gas utilities, Chartwell noted in a November 2010 report that examined web-based customer service in the utility industry. Although most customers still pick up the phone when they need to report outages or conduct other business, a greater percentage is seeking self-service channels via the Internet. Utilities are responding by offering new web- and mobile-based customer services. Three utilities recently announced new initiatives to capitalize on these trends:

• BC Hydro introduced a mobile-friendly version of www.bchydro.com designed to work with most smart phones and make it easier for customers to access information on their smart phones, particularly during power outages.
• Consumers Energy launched its first mobile device web application to provide customers with a faster, easier way to report an outage and get a service restoration estimate. Customers also can find links to other services and information on the company’s website and social media sites. The utility created the application internally and said it plans to introduce more customer service mobile web applications in 2011.
• Santee Cooper launched a mobile website offering storm information, customer service locations, rebate programs, job openings and other relevant news and developments. Future enhancements will include more interactive customer-care options like online bill payment and real-time outage information, the utility said. Last year, Santee Cooper launched a blog and developed an opt-in email newsletter to complement its social media sites.

Chartwell continues to track these initiatives and many others as social media, mobile devices and new technologies enhance utilities’ efforts to communicate with customers and key stakeholders. Be sure to check out our Customer Care webinar on Automated Web Services set for Feb. 16, as well as Chartwell’s Web and Mobile Customer Interaction Summit, April 28-29 in Phoenix.