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Involve Your Community To Help Run A Successful Electric Utility Company
If you are in charge of a company that is supplying electrical power, then your responsibilities are immense. Not only are you making sure the homes and businesses in your community have a continual supply of necessary power, you are overseeing where that power is being produced and the impact it has on the environment.
Power management requires a great deal of organization and a reliable means of quick communication to control the effect it has on the planet.
At the heart of the electric company are the people it serves. You most likely have numerous entities to consider. Homes and businesses of course rely on you, but so do institutions such as schools and local hospitals. To create an electrical company that better serves the community you have to first make a concerted effort to know who your community consists of.
To do this, focus some energy on creating a solid means of open communication. Right now, it most likely exists as not much more than distributing monthly bills. Yet what if you made the community and institutions more involved in your service, what kind of impact would that have on the production and distribution of electricity and its effect on the environment?
Start with a mass notification system that gives you a number of communication functions. DialMyCalls for example allows for mass email and SMS text messaging as well as voice messages for community members that choose to opt-in to receive alerts from you. You can effectively use all of these to promote involvement with the community, and keep them updated on what is happening in your company.
For example, summer time heat puts a large strain on your service which can lead to brown outs or even black outs. During those hot days, send your customers an automated reminder message to turn down their air conditioners and watch their other power usage. This will save your company money and time in having to repair overloaded transformers from power surges. The message is sent as an SMS text message or voice broadcast, where the customer is instantly reminded of the impact their power use is having on its production.
Another way in which mass communication works is when you do have a scheduled repair that may interrupt power. Just by logging into your DialMyCalls account and sending a quick message, thousands of your customers will be prepared in advance. Consider the man hours you will save by not needing extra staff to answer inquiries about the loss of power.
This will also work with unexpected outages. If you set your contact list by the zones you serve, you can let a dark area know the status of the black out and approximately how long it will take to fix, with just one message. You will be amazed by the positive feedback you get when you are able to keep your customers in the know about the state of their electrical power.
One last thing to consider is creating a comprehensive website that not only lets customers pay their bills, but one that talks to them about the importance of conservation. There is growing concern for our environment which you can address with tips and ideas on how your customers can help make a positive difference.
As you get to know your community and communicate with them regularly, you are going to find that your other responsibilities are lessened by their involvement in helping to conserve energy.
