Cookeville residents now have access to a real-time power outage tracking tool designed to streamline reporting and provide immediate updates during utility disruptions.
Cookeville City Council member Eric Walker said the technology allows the city to handle a significantly higher volume of calls simultaneously. Walker said previous methods relied on a limited number of staff members.
“It’s just being very transparent about power outages, and and giving people somewhere where they can actually track their request,” Walker said. “You don’t want to sit without power for a long period of time not knowing if if somebody on the other end even knows that you still don’t have power.”
Electric Department Director Carl Haney brought the proposal to the City Council to implement the upgrades for customers using Cookeville utilities. Walker said the system integrates with advanced metering infrastructure, which automatically detects when a meter goes offline and communicates that data to the tracking system.
“I think just having the knowledge of what they’re working on and gives you an idea of how soon it will be fixed and gives you an idea of what steps you need to take to preserve your household and the things that rely on power,” Walker said. “Well, I mean, certainly knowing if your power goes out, seeing if others are on your block are affected.”
The new interface includes an online map where the public can view active outages across the city in real time. Walker said the map helps residents distinguish between localized issues, such as a fallen tree limb in a single backyard, and major problems affecting large areas.
“I think people in times of distress where if there’s a weather system coming in and we’ve it’s a big enough weather system that it’s done damage to take out power,” Walker said. “It’s likely done other damage as well. And I think in those times that people need to get all the information they can to make the right decisions to either help or help preserve their own property. And and I think that that getting people information as soon as possible is the best thing that we can do.”
Walker said the previous system often created bottlenecks for city dispatchers, particularly after hours, because power outage reports were routed through the same lines used by the police department. Walker said the automated nature of the new tool frees up personnel to focus on other critical tasks during major weather events or emergencies.
“During these outages, I think the most important thing is our old system kind of relied on people answering the phone and it was a limited number of people who could do that at one time,” Walker said. “So if there was a large outage, you might be facing small wait times or the personnel needed to answer those calls now can be tasked with doing other things that help during those times that you have these power outages.”
The city is working with a group called Hometown Grid to initiate the new outage response system.