“On May 22, a forecast was published for the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, calling for 22 named storms, 12 hurricanes, and 4 major hurricanes, and an ACE index of 212 units.”
Extreme weather events due to climate change—hurricanes, wildfires, ice storms, flooding, heat waves—often blow out masses of power infrastructure in giant sweeps. Blackout or brownout or permanent failure or rolling blackouts- these events are growing in frequency, duration, and intensity, putting stress on already overloaded and aging national electrical infrastructure. As a customer, these outages can significantly impact our daily lives.
Withstanding and quickly handling these power outages disruption is a critical function of today’s modern-day utility.
While some actions are in place, such as California's implementation of public safety power shutoffs (PSPS) to mitigate wildfire risks and instructing customers to prepare for proactive outages and the East Coast's preparations for heat waves and storms causing blackouts for hundreds of thousands of customers in New York and New Jersey- these actions primarily occur before the event. The critical question remains: How well are utilities prepared to handle outages during and after the event?
How about keeping customers informed on the go during the outage?
How about customers proactively reporting outages for any unplanned event?
How about providing customers with all the information they need on the restoration progress?
Let’s decode utilities TO-DO’s from customer’s lens to manage outages.
The next time have your customers are informed and the workforce is empowered – anywhere and anytime to best manage outage situations.
