The new feature being piloted as part of the FIXiT App goes live today, says Manager Transport & Infrastructure Siobhan Procter.
“A link from the FIXiT App takes users to a web page featuring an interactive map which shows each light outage (highlighted in red), so customers can be assured the outage is logged and being dealt with.
“This new functionality helps customers as they can now see whether an outage has been reported and when it is due to be fixed.
“We’ve developed the App and web page as part of our continuous improvement process,” says Siobhan. “The benefit is that people can check themselves if a light has been reported as an outage, rather than having to get in touch with the Council Contact Centre.”
Lighting outages may be as a result of storm damage, pole replacement work, vegetation infringement, electricity network power supply outages, or quite simply a faulty light or fuse. Lighting and power outages are most likely to occur during storms, high winds and heavy rain.
The standard timeline for fixing a simple lighting outage is 15 working days. Sometimes a light may have an issue which is not a straightforward fix, or involves a number of parties, in which case the fix will take longer to sort out, but the outage map will show everyone that an outage has been identified and that a solution is being progressed.
The outage map is still in the development and pilot phase. Currently a report is manually downloaded each morning and input into the map so that the outage appears in a geospatial map of the city. Eventually this process will be automated, and map information will be in real time. Part of the pilot trial is to establish realistic fix time for each category of outage.
The map is a joint project between Wellington City Council and Wellington Electricity, whose CEO Greg Skelton says “We’re very happy to contribute to this initiative and support the Council’s process improvement programme for their customers”.
If the user is already using the FIXiT app, then they may have to go to the app store and select the FIXiT app, and update when prompted.
In addition to using the outage map to report or get information about an outage, the public can contact the Council’s Contact Centre directly on 04 499 4444, or email via info@wcc.govt.nz.