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Keynote - Duke Energy Meets Rising Threats with Robust Planning and Communication

As outage events and unexpected situations continue to impact the grid, it is a critical time for re-alignment and innovation of outage communications. A similar time came in 2012, when Hurricane Sandy struck the northeast United States, showing that in the age of the mobile phone, communicating well with customers was just as important as restoring power. Today, the U.S. power grid is suffering an increase in rolling blackouts as well as a surge in attacks as vandals and cyber criminals increasingly take aim at the nation’s critical infrastructure. Late last year, Duke Energy experienced several unprecedented events that have continued to evolve how they plan and coordinate internally as well as inform and support customers. In this presentation, learn how Duke Energy responded to and communicated about these emergent situations and other outage events in empathetic and effective ways with customers, regulators and other key stakeholders.


Speaker: Taryn Sims, Vice President, Marketing, Insights & Customer Engagement, Duke Energy

 

A Data Mining Perspective on Outage Communications

 Analyzing your outage-related communications can tell you a lot about customer preferences, leading to stronger engagement. Outage Management Systems do a great job of identifying network performance metrics but don’t provide insights into customer experience. By capturing communications data, one can increase personalization by developing customer personas through outage enrollment demographics. In this session, KUBRA will discuss aspects of proactive and interactive messaging, customer preferences, and targeted segmentation to drive effective outage communications and deliver better customer experiences.

• What can be learned by matching outbound messages to subsequent responses
• Leverage customer segmentation to fine-tune your outage communications with key messaging
• Develop effective communications strategies through data mining


Speakers:

  • Todd Clement, Senior Product Manager, Notifi & KUBRA IQ, KUBRA
  • Greg Cahill, Principal Software Engineer, KUBRA

Sponsor Spotlight: HEXstream

Speaker: Joe Purohit , Product Manager, HEXstream

 

Panel discussion: Lessons from Ice and Fire – Excelling in Outage Communications Today

Nature is a cruel and relentless teacher, and the utility industry has been learning from her for a long time. In this session, hear from a panel of Chartwell experts – with many decades of hands-on industry experience in outage communications – how to meet the challenges of today. From forging a “team of rivals” who hail from the customer and ops sides, to systems integration, to gathering and acting on customer feedback in real time, this panel will examine the top challenges and lessons learned in outage communications.


Moderator:

  • Steve Waters, Director of Councils, Chartwell Inc.

Panelists:

  • Jennie King, Principal Consultant, Chartwell Inc.
  • Tim Melton, Senior Consultant, Chartwell Inc.
  • Jennifer Gary, Senior Consultant, Chartwell Inc.

 

Duke Energy’s Planned Outage Portal Streamlines the Service Outage Planning Process

Improving planned outage communications became a top priority for many utilities in recent years as more customers began working from home, making them more sensitive to outages of all kinds. Duke Energy developed its groundbreaking Planned Outage Portal to address dropping customer satisfaction with planned outages. The portal streamlines the process of planning service outages while automating customer messaging as the date of the outage approaches. The portal supports Duke’s operational processes, reduces manual entries from customers and team members across multiple applications, and automates outbound messaging across multiple channels. In this session, learn the benefits of the new portal, the hurdles Duke Energy overcame and the technologies used in implementation, including Amazon Web Services, serverless technologies, and enterprise application programming interfaces. Additionally, the session will detail the change management tools used during the implementation, such as focus groups, process reviews, field visits, training, and communication, to ensure a successful launch. This project won Chartwell’s Gold Best Practices Award in Outage Operations.


Speakers: Brad Cone, Sr. Product Owner, Duke Energy

 

ComEd Develops an Integrated Storm Communications Plan for Severe Weather Events

Noting the increasing prevalence of severe weather across its territory, ComEd was prompted to strengthen its communications to customers before, during and after outages. Prior to 2022, ComEd did not have an integrated storm communication plan in place, and teams worked independently on storm activities. During 2022, various ComEd teams aligned on a coordinated activation plan across channels to provide a premier customer experience with proactive communications on outage resources, and to alert vendors to be ready to provide support during an upcoming storm.

ComEd also uses automated StormGeo report emails, which provide an advanced look at weather forecasts broken down by region and include a legend of weather codes based on storm severity. ComEd uses these codes to help determine the activation of various channel communications tactics such as website takeover, text messages, social media posts, advertising storm tactics, and storm emails. ComEd’s key goals included ensuring pending storm-based outage resources are properly updated and customers are equipped with the tools necessary to remain informed. As a result of its streamlined approach to internal and external communications, the utility has achieved significant channel adoption gains.

ComEd’s efforts to improve the customer experience during severe weather events won Chartwell’s Gold Best Practices Award in Outage Communications this year.


Speakers:

  • Michele Ptaszek, Manager, Customer Education & Marketing, ComEd
  • Natalie Staerkel, Sr. Marketing Specialist, ComEd

Why You Should be Leveraging Real-Time Intelligence During Widespread Outage Events

In the age of extreme weather and billion-dollar disasters, power outages and service disruptions are bound to happen to utilities of all sizes in every corner of the country. Unfortunately, modern customer expectations mean utilities face more challenges than ever as they work to restore service and initiate storm response protocols. That’s why the team at DataCapable helps utilities discover the strategic advantages of leveraging situational awareness when communicating with customers during outage events.

In this breakout session, hear from DataCapable co-founders Zac Canders and Pete DiSalvo to learn how The DataCapable Platform uses situational awareness derived from patented algorithms – and verified by trained analysts – to help teams of all sizes and budgets respond to outage events proactively and prevent a service disruptions from evolving into a communications crisis. You’ll hear how leading utilities were able to respond swiftly and confidently to historic disasters like Hurricanes Ian and Laura and the wildfire crisis in the West.


Speakers:

  • Pete DiSalvo, Co-Founder and CEO, DataCapable
  • Zac Canders, Co-Founder, DataCapable

Exelon Develops a Centralized Customer Self-Service Hub for Outage Events

Customers now expect a more effortless experience from all the companies they do business with, including their utility. While customers understand that power outages are inevitable, they expect a smooth self-service experience that allows them to access the information they need in an intuitive place and at a convenient time. To address this need, Exelon created an outage-focused self-service hub with all its resources in a single place. Since its launch in 2022, Exelon has seen a significant increase in self-service adoption and transactions. This enhanced experience is part of Exelon’s Customer Flight Path, a strategic plan that drives the utility’s Customer Strategy. This project won Chartwell’s Bronze Best Practices Award in Outage Communications.


Speaker: Kevetta Snow, Project Manager, Exelon

 

Avista’s New Weather & Incident Forecasting Tool Offers a Better Customer Experience

Avista Corp. transformed its Emergency Operating Plan (EOP) into a Weather and Incident Forecasting Tool to improve operational efficiency and provide a better customer experience. Through internal research and first-hand experiences, Avista determined that a Weather and Incident Forecasting Tool was needed. The tool leverages historical weather data, observed outages, infrastructure, and weather forecasts to create a model that will predict outages based on observed conditions and past events. During an extreme weather-related outage in November 2022, the Forecasting Tool allowed Avista to properly staff resources that were most impacted. This resulted in faster and more efficient restoration of service. This project won Chartwell’s Bronze Best Practices award in Outage Operations.


Speaker: Andrew Barrington, Products and Services Manager, Avista

Keynote - Becoming Frictionless: APS’s CX Transformation Journey to Outage Improvement and More

Customer expectations are higher than ever. They want info they can use in channels they choose anytime, anywhere – especially when there is an outage. When they want to talk to someone, they need an advisor who will listen first then offer solutions that fit. In this presentation, learn how APS is charting its course to customer-centricity using a frictionless strategy to reduce effort, increase compassion and add value to the outage experience.


Speaker: Lisa Gearhart, Director, CX Strategy & Solutions, APS

Powering Through the Holidays - Navigating Load Shed with Effective Communication

Unprecedented winter storms brought dangerously cold temperatures that forced load shed events to over one million Americans. While it was difficult enough for customers to be left in the dark, some of the customer frustration that surfaced was related to communication gaps around fast, proactive, and personalized communication.
This panel discussion, brought to you by Message Broadcast of LINK Mobility, brings together experts from various utilities to discuss failures and successes from proactive demand response and load shed communication strategies. Hear from industry leaders on how methods and technology are changing in 3 big areas to help utilities be faster, smarter, and more proactive to minimize rolling blackouts and keep the public informed even when they do occur.

• Learn how leading utilities are shifting to more proactive communication to avoid reactive fallout and curb demand
• Reduce customer effort with best practices to segment audiences and personalize communication
• Understand how to automate real-time approvals from key stakeholders
• Discover the benefits of being tech-enabled for unplanned critical events to communicate to customers faster, easier, and smarter


Speakers:

  • Paul Watkins, CX Strategist, Message Broadcast by LINK Mobility
  • Brad Cone, Sr. Product Owner, Duke Energy

 

Hydro Ottawa Dramatically Rebuilds Trust Through Education and Outreach

In May 2022, Ottawa experienced a line of intense and widespread storms that produced hurricane-force winds, heavy rain and flash flooding. In the span of 15 minutes, winds of up to 118 miles per hour toppled transmission towers, damaged more than 500 poles, and downed miles of power lines. There were more than 1,000 simultaneous power outages across a service territory that is approximately the size of Texas, leaving 180,000 customers in the dark. Hydro Ottawa’s Rebuilding Trust Campaign offered education around the damage assessment and restoration process, as well as what channels to go to for real-time updates. The utility positioned itself as a trusted authority and key player in emergency preparedness and partnered with community associations to reach its customer base. This effort won Chartwell’s Silver Best Practices Award in Outage Communications.


Speakers: Josée Larocque, Manager, Media and Public Affairs, Hydro Ottawa

 

SDG&E’s Climate Analytics Platform Provides Real-Time Data on Wildfire Threats

To address the ongoing danger of wildfires, San Diego Gas & Electric developed its climate analytics platform, named Wildfire Next Generation System (WiNGS), to assist in protecting communities from wildfire threats by optimizing operational planning and prioritizing wildfire prevention efforts. The platform is a virtual tool that combines visual representations of infrastructure assets and real-time data from the utility’s wildfire prevention efforts. The platform models climate scenarios, predicts outcomes, recommends actions to mitigate the effects, and plans an efficient response to wildfires and climate change. Through the platform, SDG&E is able to optimize wildfire mitigation strategies, especially during high-risk weather events when every second counts.  This project won Chartwell’s Silver Best Practices Award in Outage Operations.


Speakers:

  • Cameron Carroll, Group Product Manager – Digital Innovation, SDG&E
  • Joaquin Sebastian Peral, Enterprise Data Scientist, Advanced Risk Analytics, SDG&E

 

Sponsor Spotlight: ProcedureFlow

Speaker: Stephanie Gomez, Vice President, Marketing, ProcedureFlow

Panel discussion: Celebrating Excellence, Forecasting the Future

From outage trackers to dashboards to data hubs, learn the latest on industry-leading projects that have won Chartwell’s best practices awards even as we look toward the future of outage communications holds for utilities and their customers during this interactive panel discussion. Participants will share lessons learned from their exemplary projects and discuss new ideas and technologies to further improve customer satisfaction.


Moderator:

  • John Bord, Senior Consultant, Chartwell Inc.

Panelists:

  • Karen Sparling, Emergency Response Specialist, Crisis Management, Ameren Illinois
  • Di Pinheiro Soares, Project Specialist and Product Owner, Con Edison
  • Michael Williams, Principal Manager, Business Customer Division, Business Operations, Southern California Edison
  • Wayne Boone, Principal, Alabama Power Company