To Boldly Go: Proactive Outage Communication. Northwest Energy Systems Symposium by Kassidy Warren & Jennifer Boyer

Transcription

1 To Boldly Go: Proactive Outage Communication Northwest Energy Systems Symposium by Kassidy Warren & Jennifer Boyer April 5, 2018

2 Outline Premise Where we started from Project Overview What were the success factors What does the project do What were the key features Process Agile methodology Incorporated feedback from customers and employees Measured customer satisfaction to gauge success Next Steps and Conclusions 2

3 Premise: Passive Communication Tools Outage Map Outage App Facebook Twitter 3

4 Premise: Move to Proactive Comm Tools s Texts Calls 4

5 Lets Try it Out! Take out your cell phone Text STATUS to Get your power status at any time. Hopefully its on. Must be a PSE customer with your cell phone number associated with your account Click the link to update your profile and get these updates! 5

6 Project: Key Success Factors One Common Goal Call Reduction Only develop features that lead to call reduction Agile Methodology A formal process for being flexible and allowing the team to be in constant contact break down the silos Baby Steps (Iterative) Start small and grow the system one feature at a time Leadership Diverse Team Persistence - Executive level support allowed the team to be successful - Project leadership empowered to say no and challenge the norm Operations + Call Center + Web Team + Designers + Developers + Corp Comm + Data = Creative, Well Rounded Solutions that exceed the needs of the business and customer Always do what is right for the customer, despite the resistance 6

7 Project: Sends Various Notices Across 3 Channels Send outage notifications to all residential and commercial Electric customers with phone number or address Types of Notifications Initial PowerOut ETR Update Restoration Cancellation Communication Channels Text - SMS Automated Phone Call Customers are automatically subscribed for proactive notifications when they join PSE, they can then manage their preferences within their mypse account. They can also sign up for single outage notifications through the Outage Map or the Report an Outage page Manage Subscriptions Sign up for updates on an outage from the Map Anonymous Outage Reporting 7

8 Project: Outage Comms Key Features ETR Updates Send update notification when ETRs are added, removed or changed (by more than an hour) Report Outage SMS Two Way Interactions Check your Status by sending STATUS or report an outage by sending OUT to SMS Do Not Disturb Easy Interactions Storm Mode Messaging (HVE) Custom Communications Suppress text notification updates between 10PM and 8AM. Customers will receive the latest update at 8AM. Report Outage with two clicks Report NotOut with one click Easy unsubscribe with two clicks Updated /sms messaging for storm situations once High Volume Event (HVE) Mode is turned on in a region Send custom communications (proactive or during an event) to all customers in a order or distribution area Check Status 8

9 Process: Agile Methodology s ETR Updates Texts Preference Center HVE Mode Anonymous Reporting Sign up for Reports 9

10 Feedback: Themes from Open-end responses Our last long outage I received an saying our power was restored, but it was not. System does not seem accurate. Text message alerts work for me, but when power is out so is my modem, router, internet and desk top so I do not see s until power is restored. I was watching my app on the last outage and there were no updates until the power was restored. Progress updates would have been nice or at least some update beyond the investigative state. Updates are rather slow. I was told about restoration more than an hour later. Very much appreciated the notifications during the recent outages. Thank you! 10 10

11 Feedback: Customer Satisfaction Those receiving notifications are more satisfied How Would You Rate PSE on Recall notification Keeping you informed about an outage Offering a variety of ways to obtain information during an outage Providing accurate information during an outage Q: To begin, thinking about outages, how would you rate PSE on the following: (1-10 scale, 1=unacceptable, 5=average, 10=outstanding) 11 Those who recalled receiving an outage notification rated PSE higher on keeping them informed and providing information (true for both blue sky and storm outages) 11

12 Frequency of updates Feedback: Notification Frequency Preferences Maximum number of updates 1 per hr 2 per hr 3 per hr 4 per hr No limit Other Total Every 15 mins When ETR changes When ETR changes by 15 mins When ETR changes by 30 mins When ETR changes 60 mins 1% 1% 0% 1% 3% 0% 5% 11% 4% 1% 1% 22% 1% 40% 2% 2% 1% 1% 4% 0% 9% v u 7% 6% 1% 1% 7% 0% 21% 11% 3% 0% 0% 4% 1% 20% Not sure 2% 0% 0% 0% 2% 1% 5% Total 34% 15% 3% 3% 43% 2% 100% Combining the questions of frequency and maximum number of updates shows 2/3 of respondents fall into two groups: Group 1 has no limit to the number of updates and want them when the ETR changes by 30 min or less Group 2 doesn t want more than 1/hour with varied thresholds for ETR change 12

13 Feedback: Future Features Interest Level in Services/Features Q: How interested would you be in the following outage-related services? Receive notifications about planned electric or gas outages 80% 17% u Being notified about planned outages topped the list Automatically receive text or updates about an outage you report Being able to request the status of an outage by text or Being able to report an outage by text or message Click an outage on PSE s outage map and sign up for text/ updates about it Report outages by text, such as texting OUT to a 5-digit number 73% 64% 62% 55% 52% 22% 28% 29% 34% 11% 30% 18% v In general, customers want easy notifications and updates There s lower interest in having multiple #s/ addresses or notifications about non-home locations Receive outage notifications & updates from mypse app Receive outage updates at multiple addresses or mobile #s Receive outage notifications or updates for locations other than your home 40% 34% 32% 36% 37% 36% 24% 30% 32% w Customers with the mypse app rank these in the same order with one exception: Receive notifications/updates from mypse app ranks 4th overall Very Somewhat Not 13 13

14 Feedback: Operations You have to make us believe this is operational and not administrative. PSE System Operator 14

15 Process: Agile Methodology s ETR Updates Texts Preference Center HVE Mode Anonymous Reporting Sign up for Reports 15

16 Increasing Customer Satisfaction March, 2017 How Would You Rate PSE on Recall notification Don't recall notification November, 2017 How Would You Rate PSE on Recall notification Don't recall notification Keeping you informed about an outage Offering a variety of ways to obtain information during an outage Providing accurate information during an outage Keeping you informed about an outage Offering a variety of ways to obtain information during an outage Providing accurate information during an outage 16

17 Next Steps Increase User base Contacting customers who are not subscribed to Outage Comms to encourage subscription Contacting customers who call and send targeted comms Marketing focusing on text functionality to report an Outage and to check Status Utilizing the call center to reach out to customers and inform them of Outage Comms functionality when they call in 17

18 Conclusions Agile don t let perfect be the enemy of the good Measured roll outs allowed us to reach higher quality in shorter time periods based on direct customer feedback Information accuracy depends on change management with Operations staff 18

19 Questions 19