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New Chartwell report examines outage communications strategies at North American electric utilities
ATLANTA -- Aug. 14, 2008 -- Significant opportunities exist for North American utilities providing electric service to expand their outage communications strategies and reach more customers during a major event, new Chartwell research shows.
While more utilities are providing outage information online via “storm center” Web sites, most have yet to fully exploit the opportunities offered through proactive outbound communications and emerging channels such as email and text messages, according to Chartwell’s latest report, Outage Communications: Analysis and Case Studies.
This will change in time, Chartwell predicts. “Increasingly, utilities are pointing to better outage management and improved outage response as some of the benefits they expect from the development and rollout of ‘smart grid’ technologies. At the same time, many companies are placing a new emphasis on delivering reliable information as quickly as possible to customers during power outages,” says Scott Johnson, Chartwell senior research analyst and author of the report.
Outage Communications: Analysis and Case Studies marks Chartwell’s most comprehensive review to date of the strategies and tactics that North American utilities use to deliver key information to customers and other stakeholders during major outages. The 52-page report features original research based on survey interviews with 61 North American utilities. Collectively, these companies serve more than 50 million electricity customers.
Topics covered in the report include:
- Moving beyond customers’ basic expectations;
- Greatest challenges;
- Handling outage reports;
- Outbound communications; and
- Outsourcing and technology.
The report is part of Chartwell’s Customer Care Research Series, which provides research on customer communications before, during and after outages. The Series also addresses customer information systems (CIS), call centers, customer self-service, billing and other customer contact issues.
The report also is available to non-Series members for $795 through Chartwell’s Energy Library at
www.energylibrary.com.
Contact Scott Johnson,
sjohnson@chartwellinc.com, with questions about the report. For membership information, contact Kristy Dickens, Director of Business Development, at (404) 237-9099.
ABOUT CHARTWELL INC.
Chartwell Inc. is a specialized information provider that facilitates knowledge exchange among utility professionals responsible for management practices and technology solutions. Chartwell publishes best practice case studies, quantitative research and electronic newsletters, and hosts conferences and other events.
Press Contact
Scott Johnson
(404) 237-9099 Ext. 26
