ComEd outage reporting runs on AGENT511’s REACH solution, a two-way SMS communications platform. The platform allows electric customers to report outages to the utility via text and Twitter, and to subscribe for proactive alerts via text message, email, voice, and mobile push. The system validates the customer’s account status and acquires the necessary premise and account information to apply messaging templates and process relevant alerts. Some key factors in the implementation of text outage alerts:
- Deployed in 2009 with ComEd, an investor-owned utility serving 3.8 million customers
- Business logic and templates communicated personalized restoration messages
- Two-way interactive outage reporting and status updates
- Integrated with outage management system (OMS) and customer information system (CIS) to provide personalized, relevant, timely messages
The application has run consistently for twelve years and has received praise from customer focus groups. Over 85% of customers polled appreciated the outage notification. During heavy storm activity, REACH processes 100,000+ outages every few minutes.
Local radio personality Steve Dahl, commented on his experience with ComEd outage alerts here.