Insight from the Trenches: Mike Caffrey

Communicating to manage customer perception is one of the most important things utilities need to do when outages strike. I’ve had to testify before regulatory commissions in New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware, as well as national experts, because of community-specific issues in one area that severely impacted our ability to service the entire service territory. Customers only know why they are out if they can see the damage – if not, they will think the company (i.e., you) are the problem. The old saying, perception is reality, is apropos here. The solution? Communicate, communicate, and communicate some more. And when you think you’re done, communicate some more!