Mississippi Power’s outage communications highlighted in national case study
Outage communication may be seen as a problem for many utilities.
Mississippi Power sees opportunity.
That’s one of the findings of the Cogent Energy Gold Report from Market Strategies International, which highlights how the company uses its outage communication process and estimated restoration times to enhance customer satisfaction.
“Our industry has long viewed outages as something that depresses customer satisfaction and trust, but our research indicates that it is possible to use outages to enhance the utility-customer relationship,” said K.C. Boyce, Market Strategies International senior product director and author of the report.
The case study featured Mississippi Power, Seattle City Light and Baltimore Gas & Electric. More than 54,600 customers from the country’s 130 largest utilities were surveyed.
“The culture shift began during Hurricane Katrina,” said Customer Operations Manager Charlie Sentell.
The report noted that 99 percent of Mississippi Power’s customers who received an estimated restoration time found it to be accurate.
To view the company’s outage map, click here.
Mississippi Power, a subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO), produces safe, reliable and environmentally responsible energy for more than 186,000 customers in 23 southeast Mississippi counties. Mississippi Power earned the 2015 ReliabilityOneTM Award for outstanding midsize utility for excellence in storm restoration and recovery efforts as well as being a leader in reliability, customer service and safety. Visit our websites at mississippipower.com and mississippipowernews.com, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter ,LinkedIn, Google+ and YouTube.