Duquesne Light Company’s New Outage Management System Enhances Customer Service, Restoration Response
System provides greater accuracy, real-time data and more personalized customer notifications
PITTSBURGH — Duquesne Light Company (DLC) today announced the launch of its new Outage Management System (OMS), including a more interactive and detailed outage map on the company’s website and mobile app. This foundational piece of DLC’s ongoing efforts to modernize the electrical grid significantly enhances its outage restoration process and provides higher-quality service to customers. The new system provides greater transparency and more real-time insight into outages across the company’s service territory along with improved outage-related communications.
Some notable features of the new system include:
- More real-time and personalized notifications for customers.
- A new, interactive outage map with information ranging from the start time of an outage to the status of responding crews.
- An upgraded automated phone system that provides customers with enhanced outage information, including more accurate time ranges for power restoration, crew status and outage cause.
“This system is a monumental step forward for our business and, more importantly, our customers and communities,” said Kristy Stone, vice president and chief customer officer at DLC. “As a trusted energy provider and partner, we continue to find ways to strengthen service and improve customer experience. We’re proud to unveil this system as a more intuitive way for customers to gain real-time insight when they lose power. This technology gives us the ability to respond to outages more efficiently while ensuring that customers are properly notified throughout the restoration process.”
“This foundational technology is a huge leap forward in our grid modernization journey and our overall vision of a clean energy future for all,” said Kevin Walker, DLC’s president and CEO. “Having greater visibility into the edge of the grid enables us to better serve our customers and amplifies the efficiency and effectiveness of our field crews who work around the clock to safely keep power online.”
“Following last week’s unprecedented heat wave and unexpected severe weather, we were reminded just how essential it is to have the right technology in place to share accurate and consistent updates with our customers when the power goes out, especially for a prolonged period,” added Stone. “Now our customers can truly depend on us to deliver that experience. They deserve it.”
Enhanced Communications
The new OMS will send up to four proactive alerts to customers through text message and email, including:
- When an outage is reported.
- When an outage is confirmed.
- When the estimated time of restoration (ETR) is determined.
- When power has been restored.
Customers can also elect to receive updates via voice message. The system can also send alerts when a known outage has been identified in the system, even if they do not report it themselves.
To change or add communication preferences, customers must update their contact information (mobile phone and email address) by logging into their online account (My Account) and going to My Alerts. Customers can also add additional contacts, including parents and children, to receive notifications.
New Outage Map
The most noteworthy feature of the OMS is a more interactive customer-facing outage map, which includes the outage start date and time; crew status; number of active outages; weather updates; and warming and cooling centers when activated. It also features localized ETRs for specific addresses as well as the cause of each outage.
Advanced Technology
The system is built on state-of-the-art geographic information system technology that uses numerous data points to create a highly connected map. This feature allows DLC to visually display many outages and updates at once. It also allows the company to identify the extent of an outage and efficiently dispatch crews while improving situational awareness for DLC’s Operations Center.
Commitment to Safe and Reliable Service
As the demand for electricity increases, and with severe weather becoming more frequent and damaging in the Pittsburgh region, DLC is investing in new technologies and infrastructure upgrades to strengthen the grid. The company is investing a minimum of $1.9 billion in transmission and distribution infrastructure by 2027, contributing to increased reliability and fewer outages.
Learn more about DLC’s commitment to safe and reliable service.