Since 2011, CPS Energy has been able to send out mass alerts to customers when widespread power outages occurred, coordinated by zip code.
But now their system is more sophisticated, and will notify individual customers when power outages more than 15 minutes occur at their specific address.
CPS spokeswoman Yvonne Casanova said the system will continue to be tested through the end of February. Over the next week or so, during regular business hours, customers who have signed up for alerts on the CPS website should receive a test message.
Casanova said on March 1 the system goes live. Then, whenever there’s a problem, the customer will receive a text message or email saying, “Your address is currently being affected by a power outage,” and the system will estimate the restoration time.
CPS says the system will be useful for residents, but also for businesses, particularly ones that rely on power 24 hours a day.
