Like other hydro companies in Ontario, Entegrus in Chatham-Kent has now implemented a new online outage map to make local residents aware of any service interruptions.
Originally, customers would have to call Entegrus to access to outage information, or will look to social media. Neither option was available or updated 24 hours a day.
Now, any time there is an outage, the online map will show customers the general area, the number of customers affected, an estimated duration of the outage and a probable cause. From the time an outage occurs to when it appears on the outage map is less than ten minutes.
System Planning Engineer Matt Meloche says in 2015 Entegrus conducted consultations with local customers who expressed the need for an outage map.
"They wanted better communication from us as to what was going on in our network, and more timely information being more readily available," he says. "This is one of the ways that we chose to respond to that customer need."
The map uses smart grid technology to update automatically whenever there are multiple service interruptions. Further information is then updated by hydro crews who are working to fix the issue.
Entegrus customers can view the map on the company's website at www.entegrus.com/outages. The map can also be viewed on mobile devices.