The Rapid Rise of ETR Officers and Processes

By John Burnap, Senior Advisor

ETR, or estimated time of restoration, is a critical piece of information that all utility customers are looking for during an outage, including “what caused the outage, how many other customers are impacted, and when will my power be restored?”

They need this information to be timely (delivered soon after the outage occurs),  and they need it to be accurate. Customers rely on ETRs to make important decisions regarding the safety and well-being of their loved ones and the protection of their home or business. They take actions based on the information received from their utility company. For example, do they trust the ETR they received about restoration this evening (and stay in a cold home for a few more hours), or do they spend money (and create the headache) on finding and moving to a hotel room?

With the advent of smartphones, customers across North America have come to expect almost instantaneous communication from the companies with which they do business, whether by text, email, or automatic voice notification, and that includes their utility company. Utilities have long known that restoring power is very important when customers experience an outage, but utilities have only recently realized that how they communicate ETRs with their customers is equally as important as getting the power back on.

This has led many utilities to assign specific members of the Incident Management Team (IMT) staff to the responsibility of developing and communicating global (regional), and community-level ETRs, as well as determining the type and frequency of customer-level ETRs. Some have gone as far as creating a Command staff position called ETR officer in recognition of how important this is.

Utilities report that in 2022 only 5% had someone responsible for developing global ETRs. Two years later, 39% of utilities reported having an IMT member dedicated to this responsibility, recognizing the importance to customers but also to state regulatory agencies.

 

 

Both the timeliness and accuracy of customer-level ETRs can be difficult to achieve, particularly where utilities have not implemented smart meters, or Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI). Customer-level repairs may take longer than expected, causing ETRs to expire. When this happens customers may receive one or more messages with new, delayed ETRs.

Customers on a nested outage may receive notification that their power has been restored after the upstream device has been repaired, when in fact their power is out due to the still-damaged device closest to their home. Some customers whose repairs are delayed and are also on a nested outage may receive multiple revised and new ETRs over a 24 or 48 period, causing them severe aggravation.

Customers want to receive ETRs via their preferred channel of choice. Text message? Email? Automated voice call?  And don’t deliver ETRs before 7am or 9pm! Don’t call my home phone and wake up my family.

In every relationship we have (business and personal), clear communication is critical. Timely. Accurate. Easy to receive on customer channel of preference. Easy to understand. Sent when ETRs change but not sent too often.

Please contact John Burnap for any questions, to set up a meeting, or to learn more about the Emergency Management Leadership Council.