Communicating with customers when you experience outages is critical to maintaining customer satisfaction. But when it comes to major weather events, it’s also important to keep ElectriCities informed on how your community has been impacted. That’s key to helping the ElectriCities Emergency Assistance Program (EAP) operate smoothly, quickly coordinating mutual aid for the communities that need it.
Incorporating your community’s outages on the ElectriCities Outage Map is a simple process.
The map populates using information from members who either:
Submit your outages via a link you receive from ElectriCities
OR
Have your outage map integrated to the ElectriCities map.
When a major event is forecast, if your outage map isn’t integrated with the ElectriCities map, our EAP team will request outages from you at pre-announced times—usually in the morning and afternoon. Those times are based on the schedule determined by North Carolina’s State Emergency Response Team, or SERT.
When it’s time to report outages, you’ll receive a text and email from the EAP team. The notification provides a link to a form you can use to submit your outages.
You will:
- Click on the link.
- Confirm your utility from the dropdown.
- Enter number of outages.
- Click “Submit.”
“It’s crucial to provide precise outage information, even if that number is zero,” emphasizes Greg Flinn, Utility Systems Project Engineer at ElectriCities. “Ensuring our outage figures align with your customer communications is paramount. Various bodies, including SERT, rely on our statewide outage map. Accurate data helps SERT and the ElectriCities EAP identify the most affected areas and quickly get help where it’s needed.”
If your outage map is linked with the ElectriCities outage map, this process occurs automatically, eliminating the need for manual steps. If you have questions about outage reporting or integration with ElectriCities’ map, please reach out to Greg Flinn.