East Texas Utility Embraces Technology to Enhance Outage Communications

Wood County Electric Cooperative members simply text one word to report an outage.

“As technology adapts, changes, or is invented, you need to embrace it and adjust to the current expectations of your members. One thing we know is that members want an easy and direct way to report their outages,” says Paige Eaton, Director of Communications at Wood County Electric Cooperative in East Texas.

Wood County Electric Cooperative (WCEC) took note when members said they had a difficult time reporting outages via phone due to busy signals and challenges navigating the automated response system, leaving some members unable to successfully report an outage.

Located in a rural environment, there were fewer incoming regional phone lines. Although a high-volume telephone line was in place, many times the regional hub was not sufficient for the large surge in call volume during outages. Members wanted a quicker surefire way to report outages.

been providing electric power to East Texas residents since 1938. Comments Eaton, “We care for the communities we serve. A co-op exists to serve electricity, but we also focus on improving our communities.” Based on member feedback, Wood County began evaluating technology to make outage communications. “We wanted to give members a way to report an outage in the most effective and comfortable way,” continues Eaton.

“We consulted with our peers. We wanted a proven solution. We didn’t want to be a test case,” Eaton shared. Also important for the co-op was the ability to integrate outage texting with their Milsoft Outage Management System (OMS). After meeting the TextPower team and speaking to other cooperatives using TextPower, WCEC selected TextPower SmartAlerts™ for outage texting.

“The mobile phone has become an essential part of our lives, and the immediacy of texting is ideal for urgent communications,” says Mark Nielsen, Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of TextPower. “Nearly all text messages are read, and 95% are read within three minutes,” he continues, “No other form of communication comes close to that level of reach.”

WCEC first adopted TextPower to allow members to report outages via text. Later the co-op added two-way texting. “When people have a power outage it’s frustrating, and they want to do something about it. And that something is to report it,” says Eaton. “Members can simply text OUT to report an outage and STATUS to get a current status,” she adds.

“Some members prefer to call our phone line to talk to a human, but in doing so they could be on the phone for quite a while. Too, some members don’t enjoy using the automated phone prompts. Reporting an outage by text gives members more options” adds Eaton.

In addition to texting, the Cooperative provides members with multiple ways to report an outage, including calling, or using the MY WCEC mobile app. WCEC tracks the number of people who report outages through each communication channel. The TextPower user numbers have consistently increased, demonstrating the growing value of texting.

“An important part of electronic options like texting is that they move people away from calling our business line when there are large outages,” says Eaton. In the case of a line down due to a car crash, for instance, it allows the member to quickly report their outage and helps the office phone lines stay free so that co-op representatives can take other critical calls.

A detailed communications plan was created for the TextPower rollout. An essential part of the plan was educating the employees about the benefits of texting before rolling it out to their members. Eaton emphasizes, “Getting the employees on board was easy, because they support anything that will benefit our members, and it was easy to see how TextPower would do that. Since instituting, we’ve seen a sharp drop in outage calls, which helps free up our reps to manage other calls. We’ve also seen a decrease in follow-up calls since members can request a status or restoration time, and they can also request a text notifying them when power is restored.”

To identify mobile numbers and ensure members could receive urgent and important texts, WCEC provided TextPower with a file of every phone number in their CIS database. TextPower was able to look up all the numbers and identify which were mobile numbers so WCEC could reach those members with emergency and informational texts immediately. Members could easily opt out if they did not want these emergency alerts, but there were very few opt-outs.

”Across the board, we find that 96-99% of utility members want text notifications about their utility service. Less than 1-4% opt-out,” comments Nielsen. “It’s the best way to ensure that you reach the largest number of members quickly for urgent and important communications,” he continues.

WCEC continually reminds members to make sure their information is up to date with the co-op. “Computers work with numbers. If your number has changed, it’s important to update it with us or you won’t be able to receive updates or text us if you need to during an outage,” emphasizes Eaton.

The East Texas area gets a variety of weather, including tornadoes, heavy rain, hail, straight-line winds, ice and snow. “We’re a rural and very treed environment. Fallen trees and tree limbs cause outages during icy, snowy, and windy weather,” comments Eaton.

During winter storm Uri in February 2021, WCEC used TextPower’s AlertManager® integrated with Milsoft’s OMS, to provide ongoing status and restoration updates to members, who were very grateful.

TextPower has also proven ideal for managing member expectations during long-term outages or potential rolling blackout situations. For example, in the summer of 2023, severe storms with lightning, wind, and hail came through the area. This caused major damage to the regional transmission system, leaving areas of East Texas without power in the midst of a heat wave. For many WCEC members, outages were expected to last multiple days.

WCEC needed to provide critical information to affected members. Eaton says, “We texted everyone in the affected area and drove them to our website for more detailed instructions. Texting was an efficient and wonderful way to communicate.” She continues, “We let members know for example, that we expected to have up to three days of power outages, and we were working as quickly as possible. But we also communicated that they needed to consider their backup plans, especially if they had special or medical needs.” It was important to let members know that the outages could be prolonged, and they may need to plan to deploy their generators or go to a place with power like a hotel, a shelter or to friends or relatives.”

“We found it extremely useful for getting information to members when we knew it was important to them,” says Eaton. “It’s a very valuable part of our Swiss Army knife of communications tools,” she adds.

Communicating to members for planned outages is also very effective, “Texting is incredibly useful in these situations,” comments Eaton. For substation upgrades, construction, and other planned outage conditions, WCEC texts members with a link to their website with details about the reason and the timing of the planned outage.

“If we know that their power is going to be out, it is so helpful to give our members advance notice,” says Eaton. For instance, a planned outage to make way for a substation upgrade was set to occur on a Monday morning. WCEC was able to send an advanced automated notice, and then another reminder about the planned outage on Sunday afternoon. This allowed residents to plan ahead and prepare on Sunday night for their activities that might normally take place on Monday morning. With texting, WCEC knows which text messages reach members. “It’s an elegant solution to help our members,” comments Eaton. She continues “It was in place and worked during winter storm Uri, and it is flexible for all types of situations. It’s a very valuable tool.”