Background
Cherokee Electric Cooperative (CEC) provides power to a unique service area that includes 450 miles of shoreline around Lake Weiss, the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, and parts of Dixie Alley, a known hotspot for severe weather with storms producing abundant lightning, high winds, and occasional tornados. This scenario results in more outages and unusual travel routes for restoration teams—creating the need for an Outage Management System with the ability to share and access important outage information quickly and easily. 

The Solution
In an on-going effort to provide reliable power and excellent customer service, CEC partnered with mPower Innovations to update their digital maps and deploy mPower’s web-based IntegratorTM and OMS software at their dispatch center. The new software combined with their updated GIS, gives CEC the ability to respond faster to incidents and power outages. In addition, CEC updated their dispatch center with new monitors to help visualize outages on the map and through their new OMS. 

“mPower’s Integrator™ has already made a huge impact to our dispatching and mapping. We no longer have to shuffle paper outages and organize pole numbers to location outages. Within moments of a member’s call or an AMI reading, we can visually see where the outages are occurring. Our outages also automatically restore as our meter’s report “restored” which is invaluable,” says Luke Johnson, the System Analyst at CEC. “We have been very impressed with Integrator’s™ usefulness and customizability.”
As outage data is received, mPower’s Outage Management System (OMS) analyzes the data to determine what is causing the outage. Once identified, CEC can dispatch crews to restore power.
With mPower’s  IntegratorTM software, CEC is able to visualize OMS data on their updated GIS maps for all CEC personnel to use. Crews can easily access data, add notes, and close outage tickets in the field from their smart devices. As new outages are reported, crews in the field can see these outages populate on their maps, giving them the ability to respond to outages nearby. This helps reduce the need to return to outage areas multiple times. 
CEC is also using IntegratorTM to build and maintain public outage maps that their members can access through CEC’s website. 

Moving Beyond OMS
By tying CEC’s AMI system into IntegratorTM , metering information can now be accessed directly from the GIS map. This allows improved troubleshooting of issues associated with power quality and load profiles. In addition, IntegratorTM can be used to generate reports that help identify overloaded transformers, reclosure issues, voltage issues and maintenance of electric system assets. By analyzing this data, CEC can proactively improve reliability by reducing outages caused by overloaded or unmaintained equipment. 

Next Steps
CEC plans to add mPower’s Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system later this year. Once installed, calls for outages will be immediately routed to the OMS reducing response times to outages. CEC will also have the ability to add messages to the phone system to let the customers know they are aware of the outage or provide estimated restoration times. The IVR system also has the ability to send outage and restoration notifications via email or text alerts.  

Interested in mPower's OMS and IVR Solutions? Learn more about them by registering for our next webinar! Register here. 

Left to Right - Honorable New York Senator John Brooks, Jason Brown, President of mPower Innovations, Freeport Police Chief, Jeanmarie Buffett, Director of the Community Reconstruction and Infrastructure Programs, Freeport Fire Chief, Robert Frisenne, Superintendent of Public Works, Assemblyman Bryan Curran, Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy, Al Livingston, Superintendent of Electric Department. 

For Immediate Release

GOVERNOR’S OFFICE OF STORM RECOVERY AND VILLAGE OFFREEPORT UNVEIL ALL-IN-ONE OUTAGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

OMS Streamlines Communication; Enables Coordinated Response to Restore
Water, Electric and Other Utilities; Informing First Responder Decisions in the
Face of Weather and other Community Emergencies
The State-of-the-art System Replaces Outdated Protocols; Centralizes the Flow
of Information


FREEPORT, NY (July 17, 2018) - The Governor’s Office of Storm Recovery today joined Village of
Freeport Mayor Robert T. Kennedy to unveil and demonstrate the Village’s newly developed Outage
Management System — an all-in-one tool that will enable first responders and other Village
personnel to more rapidly detect, assess and communicate various types of outages and other non-
911 emergencies. The project was funded by GOSR’s NY Rising Community Reconstruction
Program and was identified as a priority by the local Citizens Advisory Committee.

The Village of Freeport owns, operates and maintains its own electric, sewer and water utility
infrastructure. Each separate department had a unique set of protocols for taking complaints,
reporting outages, troubleshooting, and scheduling and making repairs. The new OMS software and
hardware is integrated into the existing infrastructure, creating a portal through which complaints
are simultaneously routed to Village departments such as Fire, Police, Water, and Public Works,
speeding response time and easing coordination. Because outages can hamper emergency response
operations, the information collected and shared on the OMS informs the actions of first
responders, allowing them to make critical, life-saving choices in real time.

“Governor Cuomo’s Office of Storm Recovery’s NY Rising Community Reconstruction Program
provided the method and the means for the Village to identify their most pressing short-term
recovery and long-term resiliency needs,” said GOSR’s Long Island Director of the Community
Reconstruction and Infrastructure programs, Jeanmarie Buffett. “The Outage Management System
will prove useful to residents and Village operations on a daily basis and even more importantly –
and potentially life-saving — during emergency events when being able to choose the best and
fastest route in and out can make all the difference.”

Members of the public serve as its eyes and ears, using their personal desktop or mobile devices to
report non-911 issues that could cause danger or hinder emergency response, such as potholes,
downed trees, and electrical outages, allowing trained Village staff to monitor and track incidents
remotely, via tablet devices. When any resident contacts the Village to report infrastructure
problems or incidents such as a downed tree blocking a roadway or power outage, he or she
automatically initiates the new OMS protocol. As information from these citizen calls are entered
into the system, the OMS dispatcher simultaneously alerts field staff, who will investigate the issues
or concerns described and respond accordingly. In beta testing now, the OMS will be available for
all by the end of July.

“The Outage Management System is a state-of-the-art program which affords our village
departments with near-instant communication abilities in times of crisis and will greatly reduce
the Village’s response times to outages and other emergencies. I, as well as the 45,000
residents benefited by this program, applaud the Governor and the State of New York for this
grant. Recognizing that Long Island must continue to prepare itself for any emergency is
paramount to our safety,” said Freeport Mayor Robert Kennedy.

Senator John Brooks said, “Superstorm Sandy hit us hard and fast and we have advocated and
pushed hard to move sensible, sustainable and resilient recovery projects forward. I was happy
to support the work of Governor Cuomo’s Office of Storm Recovery and its community
outreach to make this essential all-in-one outage management system a true priority. This
common-sense approach to preparing for emergency situations will save lives and time when it
matters most.”

Assemblyman Brian Curran said, “The Outage Management System, a New York State
initiative, will provide Freeport with a useful tool to combat power outages and enhance overall
emergency management for first responders during storm-related events.”

Jason Brown, CEO & President of mPower Innovations said, “mPower Innovations enabled the
Village of Freeport to launch a fully deployed, robust and integrated outage management
system in a matter of twelve weeks. The new system allows the Village to respond and react
efficiently to catastrophic events as well as typical outages, incidents, and emergencies by
connecting each of their departments’ data and enterprise systems on a web-based smart map
using Integrator™, mPower’s powerful GIS and integration software. The OMS not only visually
displays vital data from different departments but allows departments to interact, update and
generate essential reports quickly and efficiently through any browser.”

2011 and 2012, Freeport — an incorporated village within the Town of Hempstead in Nassau
County, Long Island — sustained historic levels of rain, winds and flooding because of severe
storms. Hurricane Irene brought 13 inches of torrential rain, a storm surge exceeding seven feet and
wind up to 90 miles per hour. Only one year later, Superstorm Sandy triggered wind gusts of up to
80 miles per hour and a storm surge height of 7.85 feet above the normal astronomical level. The
combined effects were devastating.

In the aftermath of the storms, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo established the NYRCR Program to
empower local residents and business owners in the recovery and resiliency process. The OMS
NYRCR project is one of approximately 90 Long Island community reconstruction projects worth a
total of $250 million that are planned, underway or completed.

Altogether, more than 650 New Yorkers served on 66 NYRCR planning committees across the State
and have together proposed hundreds of projects inspired the unique needs and assets of their
regions. Collectively, NYRCR committees have held 650 planning meetings and 250 large-scale
public engagement events as they have worked to rebuild more sustainable communities, reinforce
infrastructure, mitigate the risks of loss and damage associated with future disasters, and spur
revitalization.
​
Established in June 2013, GOSR coordinates Statewide recovery efforts for Superstorm Sandy,
Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. Through its NY Rising Community Reconstruction Program
— as well as its NY Rising Housing Recovery, Small Business, Infrastructure and Rebuild By Design
programs — GOSR invests $4.5 billion in federal Community Development Block Grant – Disaster
Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding to better prepare New York for future extreme weather events. More
information about GOSR and its programs is available online at http://stormrecovery.ny.gov/.