In the wake of a record-breaking storm on April 29 that left more than 300,000 customers without power, Duquesne Light Co. (DLC) announced a series of sweeping improvements aimed at strengthening its storm response and customer communication.
The April storm brought down trees and power lines across western Pennsylvania, triggering one of the largest restoration efforts in the Pittsburgh-based utility’s history.
While crews worked around the clock to restore service, company Vice President and Chief Customer Officer Kristy Stone acknowledged in a Sept. 15 blog that the experience exposed gaps in customer service and response coordination.
“Following our storm response, the company also immediately began to collect internal data and, more importantly, external feedback, from conducting focus groups with impacted customers to attending public meetings and engaging with elected and community leaders and more,” Stone wrote. “And while we are proud of the work we accomplished in late April and early May, we understand that those efforts did not meet expectations for everyone, and that our work in recovering from this storm was really only the beginning.”
In the months since, Stone noted that DLC conducted an intensive after-action review that included employee meetings, customer focus groups, benchmarking with peer utilities, and consultations with elected officials and emergency agencies, wrote Strong.
The company is now also rolling out both immediate upgrades and long-term investments designed to prevent a repeat of April’s challenges, she said.
For instance, technology upgrades include expanding phone system capacity, enhancing the company’s website with automatic storm updates, piloting a customer service chatbot, and equipping field crews with better access to internal systems.
DLC is also deploying new crew management software and working with a third-party to test the scalability of its digital outage platforms.
“Implementation of new crew management technology to handle the large numbers of internal and external crews, contractors and mutual assistance resources that respond to significant storms is ongoing,” added Strong. “And this month, the company is partnering with a third party on an eight-week initiative to measure our storm-related capacity across digital customer channels (web, mobile, IVR) and our ability to scale up during large outages. Those recommended improvements will be available by the end of the year.”
Restoration estimates are also being overhauled and DLC is revamping how it communicates Estimated Times of Restoration (ETRs), with clearer messaging and new internal roles to ensure updates are more accurate and timely.
Additionally, customer communications will expand through outage alerts, improved outage maps, and planned two-way text messaging that allows customers to respond to restoration notices.
Educational campaigns on storm safety, food safety, and outage preparedness are also under way, according to the blog.
“DLC is also preparing proactive campaigns to educate customers and media on electrical safety with downed wires, how to report outages and overall storm preparedness, including what to do with food,” according to Strong. “And our teams are already developing 2-way text messaging capabilities so customers can reply back via text to DLC’s “outage restored” notification. DLC will continue to enhance its messaging on the outage map and outage alerts sent to customers, including planned updates to outage causes and crew statuses.”
At the same time, training and operations are being reinforced through new procedures for handling localized storm damage, additional training for field crews, and industry best practices for outage management.
These measures, said Strong, come as part of a broader $2.7 billion grid modernization plan through 2029, including $50 million dedicated to vegetation management.
To keep customers at the center of these changes, DLC has already conducted focus groups with storm-affected residents and plans to launch a new customer survey in 2026 to measure satisfaction after outages.
“This storm was like nothing our region has ever experienced, and we are using it as a catalyst to improve our performance in many facets of our operations,” Strong wrote. “It is also an opportunity to strengthen our partnerships with customers, elected officials and government agencies at the local, county and state levels. Our combined efforts in moments of crisis like April’s storm are the real key to protecting our region and rebounding as an even stronger community.”