WFEC readies for hurricane-related outages
With this month’s arrival of hurricane season, you might be stockpiling supplies to prepare for severe weather, but West Florida Electric Cooperative is making preparations of another kind. We’re working to respond to power outages more efficiently than ever.
In the coming weeks, we’ll upgrade our automated outage reporting system, called a PORCHE, that processes the flood of telephone calls we receive during widespread outages. The system’s new, improved features will help WFEC’s service center personnel more accurately pinpoint outage locations and causes to dispatch crews to a specific site, equipped for repairing a particular problem.
You might wonder, how could a machine be preferable to a live operator in some circumstances? Well, when you experience an isolated outage -- that is, you’ve lost power but your neighbors haven’t -- you probably will report the situation to a Co-op employee. But when conditions such as thunderstorms interrupt electric service for tens, hundreds or even thousands of WFEC customers, an automated system can simultaneously answer 12 times the calls far more efficiently than even our fastest employees can.
If you’ve provided WFEC with up-to-date information for your account, the PORCHE can automatically identify you when you call during an extensive outage. Then the system can provide the dispatcher with your location, as well as information about the feeder, substation, circuit and other devices involved in providing your service. With the PORCHE handling the high volume of calls, the dispatcher is free to identify the outage cause and call out crews without neglecting your needs.
The easy-to-use PORCHE will guide you through the outage reporting process, allowing you to enter information using your touch-tone phone or by speaking answers to the system prompts. You also can access a live operator by simply remaining on the line.
Before calling to report an outage, be ready to provide the phone number and account number for the location where the outage has occurred. If you have more than one account number, be sure to furnish the correct one for the outage location. Also be prepared to describe any unusual sounds or visible signs of damage that might indicate the outage cause.
After reporting an outage, allow sufficient time for repairs before calling WFEC to report the outage again. The crews are working to restore your electric service as quickly as possible, but the repairs may take a while.
During extensive outages, such as those that follow a hurricane, WFEC’s linemen make repairs in a sequence that will restore service to the greatest number of customers in the least time possible – the only practical way. Working out from the substations, they first concentrate on getting the three-phase feeders, or main lines, leading from the substations back on. So, the closer you are to a substation, the sooner your electric service will be restored.
Starting with the first set of breakers, the crews clear an entire section of line, then energize that section before moving on to the next set of breakers, gradually working out to the single-phase taps. WFEC’s upgraded PORCHE system will facilitate this process by pinpointing damaged equipment, such as a faulty breaker, so the crews know exactly where repairs are needed, instead of having to find the problem when they are dispatched.
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