Snohomish County Public Utility District Automates Callout with ARCOS to Reduce Duration of Power Outages and Water Leaks

Columbus, Ohio – May 22, 2013 - Snohomish County Public Utility District (PUD) has begun using the Software-as-a-Service ARCOS Suite to automatically call and assemble its utility crews to restore power and repair water leaks. Before automating its callout process, PUD Energy Control Dispatchers maintained paper lists of electric linemen and water servicemen who could take a callout, also known as a request for emergency or special work at an unusual time or place.

When dispatchers now receive information about an outage or a leak, they use the ARCOS callout and scheduling software to alert crews in seconds. The system describes the trouble to linemen and servicemen via mobile phone, pager, home phone, text or email. The automatic call for crews electronically mimics the callout process and precisely follows any workplace agreements in place. The system also tracks which workers answer a callout and keeps a record of which employees are at a job site, in training, on vacation or sick.

According to Electric Light & Power magazine, assembling and dispatching crews faster can reduce storm CAIDI (customer average interruption duration index) by up to 30 minutes because crews get to the scene of trouble faster.

“We anticipate our outage times will be reduced,” said Roger Bauer, senior manager, Regional Design and Construction Services for Snohomish County Public Utility District.

Approximately 300 employees in the line and water departments as well as customer service will be part of PUD’s new automated callout system. PUD managers say the automated callout system is a way to make internal processes efficient. The utility felt its outage- and leak-response metrics were good, but managers wanted to make those metrics great. The ARCOS system will also ensure 100-percent compliance with PUD’s union agreements for callout.

About ARCOS, Inc.

Twenty-one of the top 25 U.S. utilities rely on the ARCOS^℠ Callout and Scheduling Suite. When the power goes out, a gas leak is reported or another emergency occurs, the award-winning, SaaS-based ARCOS Suite instantaneously finds, assembles and tracks repair crews, reducing outage interruptions and improving restoration time for electric, gas and power plant utilities. For more information, visit www.arcos-inc.com or call 614-396-5500.

# # #

Media contact: Bill Perry

Mobile: 614-975-7538

bperry@march24media.com

Columbus, Ohio – January 30, 2013 – Since January 2012, City Utilities of Springfield, Mo., Consumers Energy Company, DP&L, Green Mountain Power, Kansas City Power & Light Company, Lakeland Electric, NSTAR Electric and Gas Company, Salt River Project, Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative, United Illuminating Company, We Energies and a top-ten ranked U.S. utility[1] have signed multi-year contracts to use the ARCOS^℠ Callout and Scheduling Suite to automatically locate and assemble utility repair crews after normal business hours. 

“More than 50 percent of the utilities renewing their contract with ARCOS this year have done so multiple times since first signing agreements,” said Bruce Duff, chief executive officer of ARCOS, Inc.

Utility companies engage the Software-as-a-Service ARCOS Suite to initiate a callout for a crew to restore power, respond to a gas leak or react to a power plant emergency. The system automatically takes into account the availability and callout rules for every worker as it assembles a crew. The ARCOS Suite also helps managers track a crew’s status during normal work hours to see who can take overtime in the event of an emergency.

According to Transmission & Distribution World magazine, the ARCOS Suite can help achieve a five-to 10-minute reduction in the Customer Average Interruption Duration Index (CAIDI), a reliability index for electric power utilities.[2]  For power-generation plants, both fossil fuel and nuclear, the ARCOS Suite’s automated emergency callout platform plays a role in preventing a unit shutdown, which can trigger the start-up of a more costly unit or require the plant to purchase energy to meet contractual commitments.

About ARCOS, Inc.

Twenty-two of the top 25 U.S. utilities rely on the ARCOS^℠ Callout and Scheduling Suite. When the power goes out, a gas leak is reported or another emergency occurs, the award-winning, SaaS-based ARCOS Suite instantaneously finds, assembles and tracks repair crews, reducing outage interruptions and improving restoration time for electric, gas and power plant utilities. For more information, visit www.arcos-inc.com or call 614-396-5500.

Media contact:

Bill Perry

Mobile: 614-975-7538

bperry@march24media.com

Since 2009, Avista has reduced its overall gas-leak response time by 13 percent, or an average of seven minutes per event. Read More

Columbus, Ohio – November 1, 2012 – For the sixth straight year, ARCOS, Inc. has won a Fast 50 Award – the annual ranking of the 50 fastest-growing emerging companies in Central Ohio. The Columbus Business First Fast 50 Award recognizes companies for financial growth and performance over the past three years. The ARCOS^SM Callout and Scheduling Suite is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that utility and power-generation plant dispatchers and managers use to automatically identify and call available crews, analyze responses and report on the outcome. ARCOS’s SIREN^SM notification software creates and sends emergency notices or updates to utility employees via email, voicemail or text messages.

“We’ve earned a place on the Fast 50 list every year since 2007, in part, because our software gives utility companies a faster way to get workers safely to the scene of gas leaks and power outages,” said
Mitchell McLeod, chairman and founder of ARCOS, Inc. “Behind our software are people with a keen sense of urgency, dedication and ingenuity making sure our products deliver as promised. If a problem ever arises, our customer service team is there around the clock, every day with a live support representative.”

Since January, ARCOS has announced contracts with Southern California Edison, Sam Houston Electric Co-op, Gainesville (Fla.) Regional Utilities and Central Maine Power Company. ARCOS is also the callout system of record for all electric utilities in the State of New York. The ARCOS^SM Callout and Scheduling Suite can shave as much as 30 minutes off the time customers are without power. And for utility executives, the ARCOS software eliminates workplace grievances related to crew callout.

“Along with the new contracts we’ve announced, we’re seeing a terrific rate for multi-year contract renewals,” said McLeod. “That’s a vote of confidence in ARCOS, and it will help us as we aim for a spot on next year’s Fast 50 list.

About ARCOS, Inc.

Nineteen of the top 25 U.S. utilities rely on the ARCOS ^SM Callout and Scheduling Suite. When the power goes out, a gas leak is reported or another emergency occurs, the award-winning, SaaS-based ARCOS Suite instantaneously finds, assembles and tracks repair crews, reducing outage interruptions and improving restoration time for electric, gas and power plant utilities. For more information, visit www.arcos-inc.com or call 614-396-5500.

Media contact:

Bill Perry

Mobile: 614-975-7538

bperry@march24media.com

COLUMBUS, OHIO – September 21, 2012 – Central Maine Power Company and its sister companies New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG) and Rochester Gas & Electric (RG&E), part of Iberdrola USA, have implemented the ARCOS^SM Suite to speed the crew callout process for gas and electric services. With these implementations, ARCOS is now the callout system of record for half of Maine and all electric utilities in the State of New York.

ARCOS went live at CMP on March 12. As of September 1, ARCOS has completed 11,574 callouts for CMP, NYSEG and RG&E. Since being implemented last March, ARCOS has reduced callout time for crew response to trouble and outage calls by more than 90 percent.

“We were looking for a way to quickly get crews to those small outages that happen outside regular business hours,” adds CMP Distribution Operations Director Tom DePeter. “Automating our callout and scheduling process will help CMP to reduce outage duration and improve customer satisfaction.”

ARCOS automates the crew callout process. Accessible through Internet Explorer, the system stores callout lists, schedules and even union rules that can differ among various companies and departments. When there is a trouble call, CMP’s Distribution Dispatch Center activates the system, taking into account factors like which employees are available to work, the reason for the callout, location of the trouble and the number of crews needed. ARCOS can make simultaneous calls to multiple employees, if necessary, and records the responses it gets from each call made. Along with securing crews for outage and gas leak response more quickly, it frees up dispatchers and supervisors for other tasks.

About ARCOS, Inc.

Nineteen of the top 25 U.S. utilities rely on the ARCOS ^SM Callout and Scheduling Suite. When the power goes out, a gas leak is reported or another emergency occurs, the award-winning, cloud-based ARCOS Suite instantaneously finds, assembles and tracks repair crews, reducing outage interruptions and improving restoration time for electric, gas and power plant utilities. For more information, visit www.arcos-inc.com or call 614-396-5500.

Media contact:

Bill Perry

Mobile: 614-975-7538

bperry@march24media.com

Gainesville Regional Utilities has implemented the ARCOS(SM) Callout and Scheduling Suite to improve dispatch operations and speed up response to after-hours calls for power restoration.

The ARCOS Suite is a cloud-based application that identifies and calls available utility crews, analyzes responses and reports on the outcome, while accounting for complex union agreements. GRU will also use ARCOS’s SIREN^SM software module, which creates and relays emergency notices or updates to utility executives and workers.

“We can now instantly check the availability of our linemen and streamline our entire process for additional after-hours response,” says Ken Simmons, systems control manager for GRU. “Our first use of ARCOS occurred during a Sunday afternoon thunderstorm. We needed additional crews, and our dispatcher used ARCOS to automatically get four more linemen within 5 minutes.”

According to Simmons, if GRU had relied on its prior manual process for callout, a dispatcher would spend 30 to 45 minutes to make enough calls to find four, extra available workers.

During the work day, which runs from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., GRU’s dispatchers and system operators resolve circuit lockouts and direct line crews to outages. After business hours, a system operator can now tap ARCOS to locate and secure additional line crews for power restoration. While GRU’s process for after-hours service restoration has always been sound, GRU Systems Operations Manager Frank Beazlie says the utility wanted better efficiency. Restoring outages quickly gets the lights on faster and improves customer service, says Beazlie.

“Automating callout will lower CAIDI,” says Beazlie. “By calling out additional people with ARCOS and getting them in 10 minutes or less, we reduce the time customers are without power.”

ARCOS will help GRU’s system operators gain the minutes to focus on whether an outage could be resolved with, for instance, a remote control switch on a circuit. The callout time saved with ARCOS, GRU says, can help the system operators find a problem along a two-mile circuit and point the line crews to a specific location, with the correct equipment. GRU has 100 workers available for callout in the ARCOS Suite. The utility has 300 employees in SIREN.

“We think SIREN could be extremely helpful for a hurricane,” says Simmons. “Instead of managers building a phone tree, a push of a button sends a SIREN message immediately to home phones, cell phones, pagers or email addresses telling employees when and where to report.”

Columbus, Ohio – September 11, 2012 – Gainesville Regional Utilities has implemented the ARCOS(SM) Callout and Scheduling Suite to improve dispatch operations and speed up response to after-hours calls for power restoration. The ARCOS Suite is a cloud-based application that identifies and calls available utility crews, analyzes responses and reports on the outcome, while accounting for complex union agreements. GRU will also use ARCOS’s SIREN^SM software module, which creates and relays emergency notices or updates to utility executives and workers.

“We can now instantly check the availability of our linemen and streamline our entire process for additional after-hours response,” says Ken Simmons, systems control manager for GRU. “Our first use of ARCOS occurred during a Sunday afternoon thunderstorm. We needed additional crews, and our dispatcher used ARCOS to automatically get four more linemen within 5 minutes.”

According to Simmons, if GRU had relied on its prior manual process for callout, a dispatcher would spend 30 to 45 minutes to make enough calls to find four, extra available workers.

During the work day, which runs from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., GRU’s dispatchers and system operators resolve circuit lockouts and direct line crews to outages. After business hours, a system operator can now tap ARCOS to locate and secure additional line crews for power restoration. While GRU’s process for after-hours service restoration has always been sound, GRU Systems Operations Manager Frank Beazlie says the utility wanted better efficiency. Restoring outages quickly gets the lights on faster and improves customer service, says Beazlie.

“Automating callout will lower CAIDI,” says Beazlie. “By calling out additional people with ARCOS and getting them in 10 minutes or less, we reduce the time customers are without power.”

“The ARCOS Suite removes the pressure of finding available workers from GRU’s system operators,” adds Bruce Duff, chief executive officer of ARCOS. “They can focus on high-value activities like putting a plan together for restoration, instead of searching for available crews.”

ARCOS will help GRU’s system operators gain the minutes to focus on whether an outage could be resolved with, for instance, a remote control switch on a circuit. The callout time saved with ARCOS, GRU says, can help the system operators find a problem along a two-mile circuit and point the line crews to a specific location, with the correct equipment. GRU has 100 workers available for callout in the ARCOS Suite. The utility has 300 employees in SIREN.

“We think SIREN could be extremely helpful for a hurricane,” says Simmons. “Instead of managers building a phone tree, a push of a button sends a SIREN message immediately to home phones, cell phones, pagers or email addresses telling employees when and where to report.”

About ARCOS, Inc.
Nineteen of the top 25 U.S. utilities rely on the ARCOS^SM Callout and Scheduling Suite. When the power goes out, a gas leak is reported or another emergency occurs, the award-winning, cloud-based ARCOS Suite instantaneously finds, assembles and tracks repair crews, reducing outage interruptions and improving restoration time for electric, gas and power plant utilities. For more information, visit www.arcos-inc.com or call 614-396-5500.

Media contact:
Bill Perry
Mobile: 614-975-7538
bperry@march24media.com

ARCOS, Inc. has developed a new add-on module for its ARCOS ^(SM) Callout and Scheduling Suite that utility companies can tap to mobilize workers – other than line crews – for  major storm duty. Dubbed ARCOS System Outage Staffing, or SOS, the software alerts workers to assume storm jobs such as guarding wires, patrolling sites, liaising with local officials or setting up a contractor staging area. More>