NYSEG and RG&E Improve Restoration Time Accuracy

The Companies review estimates daily to improve process


Estimates are 50% more accurate and timely than 2 years ago


BINGHAMTON, NY — August 5, 2024 — Safe, reliable electricity is so completely woven into the fabric of modern life that any power outage is an interruption to our daily routines. New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) and Rochester Gas and Electric (RG&E) are keenly in tune with this fact, and that’s why managing the process for generating and communicating Estimated Times of Restoration, or ETRs, is a priority for the Companies – so that their customers can plan for the return to normalcy. Thanks to the focus on this metric, the Companies have seen a 50 percent improvement in well-managed, credible estimates for outages over the last two years.

“We know that accurate and timely information is the number one thing we can do to improve the overall customer experience when there’s a power outage,” said Will Nichols, senior director of the Energy Control Center for NYSEG and RG&E. “We meet every morning as a team to review any ETRs that don’t meet our ‘well-managed’ criteria, assign a cause to them, and track those causes to find trends that we can address.”

A well-managed ETR falls within a set period around the actual restoration – up to 90 minutes before to within 15 after. While an outage is automatically assigned a default estimate when it occurs, field crews may update this once they’ve assessed the damage to the equipment and begun working on restoration. One measure of an estimate’s success is not changing that prediction too often, though it’s sometimes unavoidable as repairs progress. The Companies also try to inform customers of a reason for the outage as early as possible in the process.

As part of this focus, the Companies have rolled out improvements to their mobile apps, like a banner with a clickable link to outage maps, as well as a pop-up notification for updates during outages. These enhancements help customers stay informed when their power is out, so that they can plan more effectively.

The safe and reliable delivery of electric and natural gas service is the number one priority for NYSEG and RG&E. Well-managed ETRs are an important part of that goal. Power outages are unavoidable, whether caused by falling trees and tree limbs, animal contacts, or motor vehicle accidents, but when timely estimates for restoration are paired with the investments the Companies are making to improve the grid – more than $2 billion over the next few years – customer satisfaction is inevitable.

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