The Long Tail of the Outage: Managing the Customer Experience Before and After the Event
Utilities often focus on the moment power goes out and the moment it is restored. But the customer experience around outages begins long before the first storm warning and continues well after the lights come back on. This panel explores how utilities are managing the full lifecycle of an outage – from pre-event preparation and expectation setting to real-time updates and post-restoration follow-up. Panelists will discuss how new tools and communication workflows allow utilities to deliver more targeted, coordinated messaging across channels while reducing call volume and improving customer trust. The discussion will highlight practical approaches utilities are using to connect operational awareness, ETR communication, and post-event engagement into a more seamless customer experience.
Panelists:
- Paul Watkins, Director, Product Strategy, Convey
Paul Watkins leads innovation strategy at Convey, where he focuses on AI-driven customer engagement solutions for utilities. With a background in both utility operations and digital transformation, Paul helps investor-owned and municipal utilities enhance outage communications, streamline workflows, and deliver measurable improvements in customer experience.
- Di Pinheiro Soares, Section Manager, Con Edison
Di Soares is Section Manager and Senior Architect of Customer Experience Journey Mapping at Con Edison, where she leads customer-centered initiatives that improve digital experiences and transform outage communications. Using human-centered design, journey mapping, and data analytics, she has led multiple award-winning projects that have reshaped how the utility communicates before, during, and after outages, delivering mobile-first experiences and significantly improving customer satisfaction. Di is passionate about design thinking, rapid prototyping, and building compelling business cases that drive organizational change. Before joining Con Edison, she spent 16 years with The Wall Street Journal, leading multilingual editorial teams that produced Spanish and Portuguese editions for audiences across Latin America. Her background in journalism continues to inform her data-driven, customer-first approach to solving complex business challenges.
- Amanda Townsend, Director, Oncor
As Director of Contact Center Operations at Oncor, Amanda’s role spans all customer engagement channels, from social media to text platforms. With almost 20 years of experience focusing on customers, she challenges her teams to think big when it comes to creating solutions and look for new ways to leverage data and technology. From proactive notifications to providing customers with a differentiated experience, creating digital solutions combined with customer service agent training is Amanda’s focus at Oncor.
- Brandy Spainhoward, Director of Utility Marketing, CenterPoint Energy
Brandy Spainhoward is Director of Utility Marketing at CenterPoint Energy, where she leads enterprise marketing efforts supporting more than seven million customers across multiple states. She oversees marketing strategy, analytics, digital channels, creative services, customer communications, and brand management, while helping guide major initiatives including corporate rebranding, customer engagement programs, and crisis communications. With more than 25 years of experience in marketing and communications, Brandy has held leadership roles at CenterPoint, Vectren, and Anchor Industries. She is known for driving digital transformation, strengthening customer engagement, and helping utilities communicate effectively during periods of change and major operational events.
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