Pasadena uses GIS to warn residents of blackouts
During California’s energy crisis this summer, Pasadena Water and Power (PWP) began using geographic information systems (GIS) to notify customers of scheduled blackouts. The technology merged some of the utility’s once separate information and helped it communicate with residents quickly.
PWP wanted to warn residents, especially at-risk individuals, of impending blackouts so they could be prepared in case of a service interruption. “We know there are thousands of our customers out there to whom electricity is more than a convenience — it’s a necessity,” says Don Pappe, executive director of PWP’s Customer Care Division.
PWP had all the pieces of information necessary to notify the community of blackouts. It had maps with circuit numbers to identify different areas of the city and a separate database with customer information. However, it did not have an easy way to match the customer information with the maps and the circuit numbers. “It was like a puzzle that was missing a key piece to finally put it together,” Pappe says.
Pappe turned to Jim Derry, a consultant to PWP, for help. Derry suggested that PWP begin subscribing to an Internet-based GIS service from Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Digital Map Products. The service allowed the utility to link its customer database with the circuit numbers using technology.
PWP began including circuit numbers on customer bills. When the California Independent System Operator, which manages the flow of electricity along most of the state’s power lines, schedules blackouts for sections of the city, the affected circuit numbers are announced on radio and television public service announcements.
Derry estimates that, without using GIS, correlation of the data would take at least twice as long and required PWP to hire several temporary employees. “Because of our success using GIS to provide notices of blackouts, other departments now are looking at ways to incorporate their data into the GIS system,” Pappe says.
