New trial to give CitiPower customers better insight into unplanned outages

Households in Melbourne’s CBD and inner suburbs have access to more detailed information about unplanned outages affecting their property as part of a new trial by electricity distributor CitiPower.

Under the trial, when an unplanned outage occurs, affected customers will receive extra information including the repair crew’s estimated arrival time, fault location and repair status.

This builds on CitiPower’s existing outage communications, which provides details about an outage cause and estimated restoration times.

CitiPower’s Head of Digital Innovation Luke Skinner said the service aimed to provide customers helpful information to support them during an unplanned power outage.

“We know electricity is essential to our customers and in the unusual event of a power outage, it’s also essential to keep our customers informed about how we are responding and when the power will be restored,” Mr Skinner said.

“The inspiration behind this enhanced notification service was from observing how companies like Uber have transformed customer expectations.

“Our customers have told us they want the same level of information and transparency during unplanned outages as they experience when tracking a ride or delivery.

“This trial is designed to meet these needs and provide a better customer experience.”

An additional text message or email will now be sent to CitiPower customers registered for notifications when an unplanned outage occurs. This message is triggered when a repair crew is sent out and will include a link to a personalised outage map.

The personalised outage map automatically updates with the latest information, displaying the fault location, the crew’s estimated arrival time, repair status and estimated power restoration time.

The trial will run until December and CitiPower will then assess how it may be expanded.

“While CitiPower is one of Australia’s most reliable power networks, if customers do experience an outage they’ll now have even more information about what’s happened and what we’re doing to restore it,” Mr Skinner said.

More information on the service is available on the CitiPower website.

To sign up for SMS notifications, visit www.citipower.com.au/notify