We Energies has introduced a new online tool for streetlight outage reporting and status updates. The tool, StreetLightOutages.com™ (SLO), was developed and implemented by iFactor Consulting. SLO provides a method for We Energies customers to easily locate streetlights by pole number, address, or general location.

Streetlights owned by We Energies are displayed on a Microsoft Bing Maps platform, with each streetlight represented by a green icon. To submit a report, customers simply click on the icon and complete a short outage report. After the form is submitted, the streetlight icon on the map turns red, indicating that there is a known outage for the light and preventing submission of duplicate reports.

After an outage report is submitted on the SLO portal, a ticket is automatically generated in We Energies internal work management system via a secure web service call. Once the light is repaired in We Energies system, another web service call automatically updates the light status on the SLO portal, providing a seamless automatic process from the customer all the way to the field crews and back. After the ticket is closed, the streetlight icon on the map becomes green again, indicating that the light is functioning properly. If the customer who reported the outage submitted an email address, they will receive a confirmation message indicating that the light has been repaired.

”iFactor has offered our customers a convenient way to report streetlight outages,” said Joan Shafer, senior vice president of customer service at We Energies. ”We think our customers will really appreciate this online tool.”

About We Energies
We Energies serves more than 1.1 million electric customers in Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and more than 1 million natural gas customers in Wisconsin. We Energies is the trade name of Wisconsin Electric Power Company and Wisconsin Gas LLC, the principal utility subsidiaries of Wisconsin Energy Corporation (NYSE: WEC). Visit the We Energies website at we-energies.com. Learn more about Wisconsin Energy Corporation by visiting wisconsinenergy.com.

About iFactor Consulting
iFactor Consulting is the leading provider of intelligent web and mobile solutions designed exclusively for the utility industry.  Their integrated suite includes industry leading interactive outage maps, smartphone applications offering complete customer service, proactive and interactive utility notifications via text, mobile apps, voice & e-mail and an interactive street light outage solution. They also offer consulting services on outage management and outage communications.  iFactor solutions enhance the overall customer experience and fully integrate with utility systems to offer low cost self-service.

For More Information
iFactor Consulting Contact:
Jamie Downing
800-631-9839
jamie@ifactorconsulting.com

iFactor Informer – First Edition

Are you a LIPA customer? Is your power out? Now you can text it in! iFactor Consulting recently completed the implementation of Notifi – the only customer communications software built specifically for utilities. Notifi will facilitate proactive and interactive communication via 2-way SMS text messaging and email for all of LIPA’s 1.1 million customers in Long Island, NY.

Notifi’s 2-way text messaging and utility-specific workflows allow LIPA to implement customer communications directly to mobile phones. Customers can initiate interactive SMS conversations with LIPA’s Outage Management System anytime, anywhere to report outages and get up-to-date information about the power status of their accounts. The company has chosen the SMS shortcode “myLIPA” to make it easy for customers to remember who to text when their power is out.

Notifi is also integrated with LIPA’s My Account web self-service portal (www.lipower.org/myLIPA) to allow customers to manage their subscription preferences online. By allowing each user to control their contact preferences separately for each of their accounts, LIPA will use Notifi to provide critical targeted information to their customers.

“We are pleased to work with iFactor Consulting to become the first electric utility in New York State to offer LIPA customers the capability of reporting outages and receiving outage updates through text messaging,” said Michael Hervey, LIPA chief operating officer.  “LIPA will continue to look for new ways such as this mobile texting application to push the technology envelope and deliver information to our customers through multiple channels.”

About LIPA
LIPA, a non-profit municipal electric provider, owns the retail electric Transmission and Distribution System on Long Island and provides electric service to more than 1.1 million customers in Nassau and Suffolk counties and the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens. LIPA is the 2nd largest municipal electric utility in the nation in terms of electric revenues, 3rd largest in terms of customers served and the 7th largest in terms of electricity delivered. In 2008, LIPA outperformed all other overhead electric utilities in New York State for frequency of service interruptions, and ranked second for duration of service interruptions. LIPA does not provide natural gas service or own any on-island generating assets. More information about LIPA can be found online at: http://www.lipower.org.

About iFactor Consulting
iFactor Consulting is the leading provider of intelligent web and mobile solutions designed exclusively for the utility industry.  Their integrated suite includes industry leading interactive outage maps, custom smartphone application development, proactive and interactive utility notifications via text, voice & e-mail and an interactive street light outage solution. They also offer consulting services on outage management and outage communications.  iFactor solutions enhance the overall customer “outage experience” and fully integrate with OMS & CIS systems.

For More Information
iFactor Consulting Contact:
Jamie Downing
800-631-9839
jamie@ifactorconsulting.com

The evolution of proactive communications at utilities continues to move quickly, and Notifi’s set of features for customer preference management and automatic messaging is proving to be a home run in helping utilities address these needs. When we complete the currently active projects, there will be more than 20 million Americans with the ability to get outage and energy information from their utilities through 2-way texts and proactive messaging powered by Notifi. I think this is just the tip of the iceberg as utilities see the powerful results that can be achieved through both broadcast and transaction communications with customers on channels like 2-way SMS and mobile apps. I recently saw a customer satisfaction presentation which showed a 100 point jump in customer reliability scores when utilities offered proactive communications about outages. When you pair that up with cost savings through the use of a low cost channel, it is clear there is a great opportunity to build new connections with customers.

In addition to implementation work, the iFactor team has recently completed development of Notifi 2.2 which adds several exciting new features to the platform. These include enhancements to the administration website for better reporting and analysis, additional program support around billing and payment activities, performance and scalability improvements, and support for smartphone app alerts as a new type of subscription. The Notifi platform continues to expand its capabilities for rich customer preference management across a variety of subscription types, program types, and other aspects of utility information. We will also be releasing a customer preference management website widget for the product early next year, which will allow Notifi customers to quickly integrate Notifi communications preference management into your existing web self-service pages, providing a seamless customer experience and quickly adding the power of Notifi to your customer outreach offerings.

Notifi is quickly becoming a key centerpiece in iFactor’s overall EnergySuite platform for utility customer communications. This is thanks to the evolving demands from customers for more proactive communications with everyone they do business with, a desire to be able to reach those businesses on their terms, and strong efforts from utilities to keep pace with the change in technology and customer needs. We are working to enable this through cross channel integration across our products, with features such as signing up for texting from an outage map website or IVR system, and enrolling in proactive alerts from within a smartphone application.

Gulf Power introduced a new online tool for streetlight outage reporting and status updates.  The tool, StreetLightOutages.com (SLO), was developed and implemented by iFactor Consulting.  SLO provides a method for Gulf Power customers to easily locate streetlights by pole number, address, or general location by visiting http://www.gulfpower.com/commercial/lightsout.asp.  Streetlights in Gulf Power’s service territory are displayed on a Microsoft Bing Maps platform, with each streetlight represented by a green icon.  To submit a report, customers simply click on the icon and complete a short form.  After the form is submitted, the streetlight icon on the map turns red, indicating that there is a known outage for the light and preventing submission of duplicate reports.

Once an outage report is completed in the SLO portal, an email notification is sent to Gulf Power that includes pertinent information about the outage.  If the light report is linked to an asset in Gulf Power’s database, that light’s known attributes are included in the report, including items such as wattage, pole number, light type, etc.  SLO also provides additional information such as a reverse-geocoded address, latitude and longitude, problem type, and contact information for the customer who submitted the report.  These detailed reports increase the efficiency and speed with which Gulf Power crews can locate and fix streetlight outages.

Gulf Power has committed to repairing all streetlight reports within five days of submission, so the SLO tool is configured to automatically update an outage as repaired after five days.  Once the light status changes to “repaired”, the icon on the map becomes green again, indicating a working light.  For special cases that require more than five days repair time, a Gulf Power employee can use the SLO management console to change a light status to “in progress” and add a comment to the report.  The comment and updated light status are automatically emailed to the customer who submitted the report, notifying them that the repair time will exceed the standard five day window.

Headquartered in beautiful Pensacola, FL, Gulf Power is an investor-owned electric utility with all of its common stock owned by Atlanta-based Southern Company.  Gulf Power serves 428,154 customers in 71 towns and communities throughout Northwest Florida.  Their top priority is taking care of their customers.  “With that in mind, the StreetLightOutages tool made perfect sense for us to implement,” says Kenny Folsom, Lighting Team Leader.  “It enables our customers to quickly and easily notify us of a light in need of repair.  With a couple of clicks of the mouse the light is reported to Gulf Power and the customer receives confirmation that ‘we got it’”.

About iFactor Consulting
iFactor Consulting is the leading provider of intelligent web and mobile solutions designed exclusively for the utility industry.  Their integrated suite includes industry leading interactive outage maps, custom smartphone application development, proactive and interactive utility notifications via text, voice & e-mail and an interactive street light outage solution. They also offer consulting services on outage management and outage communications.  iFactor solutions enhance the online customer experience and fully integrate with utility back office systems.

For More Information
iFactor Consulting Contact:
Jamie Downing
800-631-9839
jamie@ifactorconsulting.com

Today, more than 85% of all adults carry a mobile phone and 43% of those phones are considered to be “Smart”. SmartPhones have become indispensable personal computers that allow us to trade stock, shop online, socialize on sites such as Facebook and even video conference with friends and co-workers around the world. However, most utilities have not yet taken advantage of the SmartPhone Revolution.

Join E Source & iFactor for a free one-hour presentation to learn more about “The SmartPhone Revolution” and how utilities are benefiting. The webinar begins on Wednesday, December 14th at 12 PM EST.

To learn more about this event and to register, visit our ‘Harnessing The SmartPhone Revolution’ event website.

Utility companies now have the power to reach this rapidly growing segment of new users through iFactor Consulting’s suite of mobile device applications. iFactor’s mobile applications offer utility customers the ability to log in to their accounts and pay their bills, see their usage in an animated meter, sign up for account alerts, view and report outages, or even submit a photo read of their meter, all in a user interface that is made specifically for mobile screens and touch input. Each feature is modular to allow for custom applications which can start with a utility’s current needs and expand over time.

Bill pay stands out as the pivotal feature in iFactor’s mobile apps. Monthly plan customers can view and pay their bills, while prepaid customers can view their remaining energy and add credits. Information is transacted through an industry-leading payment gateway using strong 1024-bit Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption, which means customers’ data is kept safe. Customers can pay within seconds via credit card or ACH transfer from a checking account. Thanks to our focus on mobile apps, your solutions can continue to keep pace with the rapidly changing mobile payments space.

Push notifications built into the apps add even more value. Integrated with iFactor’s Notifi platform, notifications go beyond traditional SMS messaging by offering actionable content at a lower price. They give utilities another way to push important account alerts to customers in near real-time: an AMI customer can be alerted that they’ve hit a preset usage goal; a prepaid customer can be alerted that their service is about to be shut off. Notifications can also contain bill due and bill overdue reminders, outage updates, payment returned alerts, and more.

Utilities are striving to improve customer service, lower costs, and create strong, persistent customer relationships. Leveraging mobile technology to deliver self-service provides a means to engage with customers on a channel they prefer, while providing an opportunity to reach them more frequently and for much lower cost than traditional mail and phone channels. At that same time, mobile apps provide a new customer experience which can help drive a perception of the utility as “high tech”. Thanks to this powerful combination, iFactor’s mobile solutions can become key contributor to a wide array of short term and long term goals in your organization.

Utility representatives also shared some interesting Hurricane Irene statistics with us, including:

- About 50% of LIPA’s customers were affected: 523,000 out of 1.1 million.

- Utilization of LIPA’s website quadrupled during the storm.

- On Monday ConEd’s call center volume reached 3,000 calls per hour.

- ConEd had 281,000 site views from August 26 to September 2, while they usually get about 1,000 views per day.

- Central Hudson experienced significantly more damage than the worst storm in their history, but a lower number of customer outages.

- During the storm, Pepco had close to 500,000 page views on the reporting page of their website, and about 350,000 page views on their Storm Center map.

- This was the largest number of outages that National Grid has ever seen: about 1.4 million outages at one point.

We were also happy to hear excellent feedback from iFactor customers:

“We were able to make several adaptations to our system on the fly, and iFactor was very supportive in helping us get them into production and helping our customers get the information they were looking for.” – LIPA

“Outage mapping worked flawlessly. Our systems behind the outage map continued to work by and large, but for short times were overwhelmed. We never took the map offline, though.” – ConEd

“Our internal site is very important for customer service reps. Dispatchers are able to use the site to provide pertinent information to customers. This is a truly a significant and important feature that allows us to give really good information to customer service representatives. The internal site is a huge part of communication for us.” – Central Hudson

“iFactor has been incredibly supportive in helping us during Irene and since then on things we’ve followed up on.” – National Grid

Finally, we captured some great “lessons learned” from utilities as they reflected on communicating with their customers during the storm:

- While LIPA had never anticipated such a huge increase in web traffic during a storm, this highlighted the fact that their customers have access to the web even when their lights are out: “They might not have it at home, but maybe they’re going to the library, to work, or using a mobile device.”

- National Grid realized the importance of online information as customers clamored for updates: “The more information customers can get online, the less they hit our phone lines and keep the phone lines jammed up. That’s why it’s so important for us to have these web systems and keep them updated.”

- ConEd saw the same benefit of online and mobile outage data: “The outage map is a terrific tool in providing information and deflecting calls from government representatives, media, and customers who might otherwise call and ask what’s going on. When you enhance transparency with these types of tools it satisfies these types of inquiries.”

- LIPA used iFactor’s ETR Manager to control what outage information was displayed on their Storm Center map during the hurricane. This tool becomes very helpful during major storms, as many utilities’ outage management systems aren’t able to provide an accurate depiction of what’s happening at all times.

- Central Hudson relied heavily on their Storm Center alert banner and admin tool, using the former to communicate their general restoration goal quickly and easily to the media, and using the latter to manually update outage information and display dry ice distribution locations.

- Central Hudson also recorded the Hurricane Irene event on their Storm Center site using the Event History Manager tool, which will provide great data for their post storm analysis.

As a record setting storm during a time when customers are demanding more information through online and mobile channels, Hurricane Irene provided a great opportunity for utilities to gauge their readiness to respond to these customer needs. iFactor is able to offer utilities the tools needed to satisfy these customer demands with products that allow customer communication via the web, texting, and mobile access.