CASE STUDY
NB Power Strengthens Outage Response with Web Maps
User: New Brunswick (NB) Power, serves more than 350,000 customers in and around New Brunswick, Canada.
Challenge: Increased operational costs due to severe storms
Solutions: ArcGIS Online
Results: helps optimize restoration efforts, provides more intuitive information to help customers, municipalities, and the media better understand the scope of a power outage situation during a storm
New Brunswick (NB) Power serves more than 350,000 customers in and around New Brunswick, Canada. The utility used to publish outage updates in a text-based format from its outage management system. Customers would scroll for updates through tabular cells or call a hotline. Thus each outage increased operational costs for call staff. After severe storms caused widespread outages in 2013 and 2014, NB Power decided to improve its internal and external outage communications
What did they do?
NB Power deployed a public outage web map that updates every 10 minutes. During the next storm outage, more than 1.2 million visitors hit the site in just 24 hours. NB Power also launched an internal web map to streamline high-level storm planning and field crew coordination. The map shows a detailed asset view as well as clusters of areas that require high-priority crew dispatch.
Do I need this?
If your utility experiences increased communication needs during severe events, ArcGISSM Online web applications can help. Focused mapping applications smooth communication with your stakeholders and ensure everyone in your organization works off the latest information.
“We have seen considerable value in moving to a geographic representation of outage information using ArcGIS. Internally, it helps optimize restoration efforts. Externally, it provides more intuitive information to help customers, municipalities, and the media better understand the scope of a power outage situation during a storm.” - Tony O’Hara Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Engineering NB Power
GIS for Electric Utilities
A minute without power inconveniences customers and reduces revenues. Use ArcGIS mapping and analytics to identify vulnerabilities before a failure occurs. See real-time data on weather, crews, demand, and outages. Keep power flowing and workers safe.
