Peninsula Light tweetstorm kept customers in the loop during snowmaggedon
During recent snowstorms that knocked out power, the electric cooperative Peninsula Light Co. doubled down on its social media presence, moving to round-the-clock updates as customers waited for electricity to be restored.
“Most nights, we would stop posting at midnight for the night,” PenLight posted after 11 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 11. “Given that we still have 9,437 members out of power, including ALL OF KEY PEN :( , scattered over 50 known outages that we expect to jump in outage count once the transmission is back up. We will keep posting!”
And they did. On Tuesday alone, more than 60 updates were posted to the utility’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.
All told, some 250 posts were logged from Friday, Feb. 8, through Wednesday.
Customers took note.
“Whoever does the tweets for PLC is awesome! TY for all updates,” wrote Lori Robinson-Allin on Twitter on Feb. 11.
Some customers also used social media to alert PenLight to problems, helping the utility identify what needed to be fixed or what had been missed.
“My carport caved in, so a light would be fantastic. Holding a flashlight in my teeth isn’t working out so well,” read a Twitter response from a customer on Feb. 11.
The decision to post round-the-clock was based on the high volume of outages and the fact that “restoration times were significant,” Ashley Haynes, PenLight public relations manager, explained to The News Tribune this week.
PenLight decided to use a combination of public relations staff and Engineering Department workers to keep the real-time updates flowing.
“Due to the insight that our Engineering Department has during major storm events, they will often provide the detailed updates and posts on outages, with our PR department and Member Services responding to individual member questions and messages that come through,” Haynes explained via email in response to questions on how the utility managed so many updates.
“The damage sustained was so extensive that specific information was needed to delineate between outages so that our members could fully understand what was required from a restoration standpoint,” she added.
In one string of tweets, PenLight crews explained having to coordinate with ferry service to reach Herron Island.
“HERRON ISLAND: We just pulled up the ferry schedule and plan on having our fabulous Clark County PUD crew that’s been here in this deep snow and sleeting rain with us come out to visit your beautiful island. So appreciative of their help during this incredible weather event.”
Posts also covered complex restoration issues including “cold loads” after locations with restored power quickly lost it again.
“The problem on Soundview is called ‘Cold Load,’” the utility posted Feb. 9. “Twitter doesn’t allow enough characters to explain it well though! If you need help sleeping tonight, search ‘cold load’ and ‘inrush current.’ Very different concepts, and yet both can cause problems during restoration.”
Posts continued until the utility finally saw daylight with the slowdown of outages at about 4 a.m. Wednesday.
“Good morning to all early risers! We have had a really busy and exciting night. NO MAJOR NEW OUTAGES OCCURRED! That’s the first time since Friday that we went more than 20 minutes without moaning as more outages came in! We’re down to 12 large outages affecting 249 members.”
Customers responded food deliveries and more.
“We had several individual members and local restaurants that brought food to our offices during the storm; as well as offered free meals, coffee and treats to our crews,” Haynes told The News Tribune.
“One area barber has even offered free haircuts to our line crew members for the next year.”
This story was originally published February 15, 2019 at 2:19 PM.
