SECC Survey Reveals Increased Concern Over Power Outages
Image courtesy of Szoki Adams under Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic License, resized to 700 x 391 pixels.
A recent SECC survey revealed that Americans are more concerned about power outages today compared to 10 years ago. The “Extreme Weather and Power Outages: Communicating with Customers” survey, published by the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC), contains some interesting insights that all utility leaders should heed.
Details of the SECC Survey
The SECC survey is the third installment in the SECC’s new “Smart Energy Snapshot Series” which debuted in June 2023. This latest installment, fielded in Oct. 2023, is focused on customer perceptions around utility communication and assistance before, during and immediately after extreme weather events and power outages. Over 1,500 survey responses were analyzed.
The results of the survey paint a depressing picture. About 41% of respondents said they are more concerned about power outages now than just 10 years ago. And only 10% indicated they are less concerned about outages, despite ongoing investments in grid modernization.
Another interesting tidbit is that 91% want more tips and information to help them prepare when there is an impending emergency. The most preferred communication channels for doing this are email (51%), website (39%), text message (38%), and billing message (34%).
What these results tell me is that, generally speaking, electric utilities need to do a better job communicating with customers, and should do so with more of a marketing flair.
Regular communications like press releases, social media posts, email newsletters, and even mass-media advertising or branding campaigns should be leveraged to boost awareness around all the good things the company is doing to facilitate infrastructure hardening, keep rates down, and prepare for and minimize outages. It also sounds like, in general, more effort could be put forth to deliver helpful information to customers before, during, and after a major storm.
The bottom line is that the SECC survey should serve as a wakeup call for any utility that is struggling to keep up with the changing dynamics of customer service and communication. At least, let’s hope so!
