THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 1, 1996 TAG: 9610010347
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
TYPE: North Carolina Briefs
LENGTH: 36 lines
North Carolina Power has announced a major program that the compay expects will make positive improvements on customer service throughout its territory.
The improvements will virtually eliminate busy signals for customers calling the company, reduce power outages and speed service restoration by up to 20 to 30 percent when outages do occur, the company says. The initiatives will also help the company provide more information to customers during outages.
The new technologies will be phased in during the next two to three years. Over time, the improvements will pay for themselves. While significantly improving customer service, they will not result in a rate increase.
The major improvements include:
As many as 3,000 automated electric meters to be installed in northeastern North Carolina and read remotely.
A single ``1-800'' number for all customers to report problems and request information.
Improvements in telephone access to the company, virtually eliminating busy signals and allowing the Customer Service Center to handle as many as 100,000 calls an hour during major storms.
Computers in company trucks to provide crews with more complete and timely information. This will speed up the company's response to outages and other problems.
Automated analysis of power restoration. The system will process large amounts of information to identify both problems and solutions and accelerate power restoration.
Improvements in the operation of underground cables to reduce sharply the number of power outages affecting customers.
Targeted improvements on certain distribution circuits to reduce outages. by CNB