KUBRA Keeps 2.2M Users Informed During Hurricane Helene

In September, Hurricane Helene caused widespread flooding across the Southeastern United States. Throughout the storm, KUBRA worked closely with our partners using our interactive outage map solution, Storm Center™, and our alerts and preference management solution, Notifi®. Together, we ensured their customers had all the outage information they needed. 

Below, we share some map statistics from this period emphasizing the importance of providing customers with reliable, up-to-date outage information during severe weather events. This data makes it clear that in these times, customers turn to you for reassurance in the form of detailed and accurate outage reporting. Leaving your customers in the dark, literally and figuratively, hurts customer satisfaction and causes undue stress in an already challenging time.

Number of Outages and Customers Affected

Storm Center data shows 4,371,719 individuals were affected by extended power outages from September 24-30. We examined several utility partners’ outage maps to see how they fared and found that during the same date range, there were 98,595 outages, which encompasses disruptions that might impact a single home, an entire street, or multiple locations. Most of these outages occurred on September 27, and most customers felt the storm's impact on the same day. 

Outage Map Users and Views

During this period, our utility partners had over 2,244,512 users visit their Storm Center maps, looking for information on outages affecting them. These users viewed their Storm Center outage map 15,368,976 times over the seven days. This means that the average user would have viewed their outage map at least five times, demonstrating the severity of the outage affecting them and the usefulness of the information available on the map. 

Outage Notification Enrollment Data

During this period, almost 113,826 customers enrolled to receive outage notifications using Notifi. Most customers opted to receive outage updates via text (59.66%) followed by email (28.94%), and voice channels (7.37%). 

Messages Sent To Keep Customers Informed

KUBRA’s utility partners sent 16,175,967 messages over seven days to keep customers informed and safe. On average, 2,310,852 daily messages were sent during this period, while 4,460,051 were sent on September 27 alone.

It’s critical to educate your customers on the availability of your outage map and the information they can obtain there. Reaching out to customers during a storm is a sure-fire way to increase outage alert enrollment because customers are looking to you for information, and you’re showing them where to find it. By encouraging them to enroll for outage alerts, you give them a simple and effective way to stay informed during a major storm like Hurricane Helene. Delivering a steady stream of outage updates to your customers when they need it most will help improve customer satisfaction and reduce pressure on your call center during severe weather events. Weather is beyond your control, but how you communicate outage information to your customers is not.

Disclaimer:
The data shown is generated from all service providers using Storm Center and/or Notifi, including those the hurricane may not have directly impacted. The data shown does not represent all service providers affected, as not all use KUBRA products and services. The percentage increase of specific data points in the infographic should give the reader an estimate of the storm’s impact and the traffic and engagement Storm Center and Notifi received. The percentage increase has been calculated by comparing pre-storm data (September 22 to 23) to data during the storm (September 24 to 30).

To get a quick overview of the stats, click the image below.