Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 26, 1994 TAG: 9405260075
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Appalachian Power Co., meanwhile, said it is still studying how to improve its phone service. The company was overwhelmed by calls during this winter's ice storms.
Richmond-based Virginia Power's customers will be able to report power outages simply by calling an "Emergency and Lights Out" telephone number and then keying in the area code and seven digits of their telephone numbers from a Touch-Tone phone.
The system will operate 24 hours a day and will be a "key link" between the company and its customers in the early stages of major outages, when customer-service staffs haven't been beefed up yet, said Robert F. Hill, a company senior vice president.
The system will be useful in reporting local and more extensive outages but will not rid the reporting system of all delays experienced during major storms, such as the ice storms of this past winter, the company said. During such storms, callers will still experience some difficulty getting through because of the volume of calls.
In Western Virginia, Virginia Power serves portions of Alleghany, Bath, Bedford, Botetourt and Rockbridge counties.
Roanoke-based Appalachian Power, which serves much of Western Virginia, also experienced extended and widespread power outages this winter and was overwhelmed by calls to its customer service phone lines.
Don Johnson, an Apco spokesman, said the company is still investigating two or three possible changes in its outage-reporting system. Apco would prefer to develop a system that would allow customers to continue to report outages to an Apco employee rather than to a machine, he said. "We're still trying to figure out the best way to do that."
Virginia Power said its new outage-reporting system has been under study for two years and was tested successfully this month in the company's Northern Virginia service area. The system will function like adding 48 customer-service agents but is designed to take only outage calls and will not replace the existing customer-service representatives, the company said.
A customer with a rotary dial phone will be able to use the new system. A recording will ask for the caller's area code and phone number. The system will then respond with the customer's last name and ask the caller to verify it by saying "yes" or "no."
To work properly, the company must have a customer's accurate telephone number on file, the company said.
by CNB