COVER STORY
Half of the respondents believe that social media should be maximized by forging a two-way communication with utility providers. Aside from getting updates through social media, they also want to reach utility providers to ask questions and give feedback. Here are some others ways on how utilizing social media boost energy and utilities industry:
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1. Assuring customers that you are taking action Utilities are almost always among the last to embrace new technology. Most are not even keeping a record of their customers’ e-mail address and telephone numbers. In the US, there are still power and water providers who do not have smart meters so customers have to report outages so these can be resolved. But because of the challenges brought about by natural calamities, utility companies have learned to step up their game For instance, ComEd, the largest electric utility in Illinois realized the need for social
media when in the onset of a storm that affected 850,000 customers, their efforts to send out power outages and restoration announcements on all outlets except social media proved to be worthless because information posted by other people on Twitter was more accurate, relevant, and on time. This prompted them to introduce the Outage Communications System, which became the source of the “single version of the truth� every time there are cases like this. When Hurricane Sandy wreaked havoc more than a year later, not only did they utilize social media to give out warnings---they also used it to update customers of the