Flippin' the Switch
Flippin' the Switch
S6 E7: Ask a Dispatcher - Behind the Scenes with Amanda Wilson
What happens when you flip a switch and nothing happens? Behind every power outage is a team of dedicated professionals working around the clock to restore your service. At the center of this operation are dispatchers - the unsung heroes who coordinate everything from routine maintenance to emergency response.
Amanda Wilson, Operations Center Supervisor at Jones-Onslow EMC, pulls back the curtain on the dispatcher's world in this eye-opening conversation. Discover the intricate dance of technology, teamwork, and problem-solving that unfolds when your power goes out. Most outages are detected automatically through advanced metering systems before you even call, but Amanda explains why your reports of specific issues like downed trees or damaged equipment dramatically speed up restoration times. Whether you're curious about how your electric cooperative works or appreciate the satisfaction of understanding the systems that power modern life, this conversation illuminates the human element behind every watt of electricity flowing through your home.
Hey everyone, welcome back to Flippin' the Switch. Today we're shining a light on a really important part of keeping the lights on our dispatchers. You might not see them out in the field, but they're the ones making sure everything runs smoothly behind the scenes, from answering calls to guiding linemen during outages. Dispatchers are like the air traffic controllers of the co-op world. So today we're getting to know one of them, hearing what their day-to-day looks like and learning just how much teamwork goes into keeping your power flowing.
Speaker 2:Let's jump into our conversation with Amanda Wilson, our operations center supervisor. Hey, amanda, how are you? I'm wonderful. How are you? We're good and we're excited to have you on the podcast. I'm excited to be here. So we're going to pick your brain a little bit about what goes on behind the scenes. And I was just telling Amanda I'm pretty new to the co-op compared to a lot of employees here, so I'm still learning as I go. So I'm excited to hear from her as well. So we'll just start off with a quick introduction. If you want to share what inspired you to become a dispatcher, that would be great.
Speaker 3:Well, like you said, I'm Amanda Wilson and I am the operations center supervisor. You know, I would love to give you this awe-inspiring story of how I became a dispatcher. But really it just boiled down to I used to work in retail, I was tired of it, needed a change, and a position for an after hours dispatcher opened up here. I applied, got the job and that's all she wrote. That's crazy.
Speaker 2:But in the best way. So what was the most surprising thing about taking on this position compared to your retail experience? Because that's a pretty night and day difference.
Speaker 3:Really, it is the fact that I had to learn so much about electricity. I knew nothing about it before I started here, so learning a lot about that was very interesting and surprisingly how much I loved it.
Speaker 2:Right, I feel the same way. I didn't really know much about electricity and obviously, being in the communications department, you got to learn pretty quick. And for you you're also doing some communicating too, right, so I totally agree with that. So what does a typical day or night look like for you? Cause you started off nights but we're here during the day today, so I know those can look a little bit different in and of itself too.
Speaker 3:So yeah, during the day, most of the time, you know, there's lots of of radio traffic. There's lots of phone calls that come into the operations center, so we're doing a lot of answering the phones. There's also all the orders that are created by our member service reps. We do a lot of the resourcing and managing of those dispatching them. We also have several systems that we monitor, the main one being our outage management system. So we're constantly monitoring that. Sending the guys out to outages, dispatching trouble calls, things like that. Out to outages, dispatching trouble calls, things like that. Nighttime it is a little quieter because we're not going to be receiving the phone calls and have as much radio traffic. But there are still some reports that they do. They're still monitoring the outage system and they're still going to dispatch outages and trouble calls to get our members back on if they're having any issues.
Speaker 2:Gotcha, and walk us through how you respond to an outage. I know you just mentioned you know handling orders and the day-to-day things that seem a little bit smaller than attacking an outage when it happens. But when you respond to an outage, what does that look like?
Speaker 3:from a moment a call comes in to coordinating with the linemen in the field, Most of the time our outages are reported through our advanced metering infrastructure, what we refer to as AMI meters, so we're able to communicate with those meters and the meters are able to communicate with us.
Speaker 3:So if a meter loses power, it automatically sends a signal to the office saying oops, something's going on here, right. So we'll take a look at it. Usually we'll wait, you know, a minute or two. That way, if there are several meters that are without power, we can kind of assess to see what we have going on and what protective device we may have that's open, so that we're giving the linemen a bigger picture before they even get to the scene, right. But then once we kind of assess it, figure out what we've got going on, we call the guys. They head to the location, they kind of assess and see what they've got going on. We call the guys, they head to the location, they kind of assess and see what they've got going on. If they need assistance from other crews, we will call them as well and send them over. If they need materials, you know, we'll call one of the warehouse guys and get them to bring them materials. That way they can stay on the scene and get the power back on as quick as they can.
Speaker 2:You're saying you communicate with the lineman, but if there's anything else, that follows that that's also your responsibility as well. You know getting up the warehouse men, making sure that they're equipped to do what they need to do to get the power back on. This kind of leads into my next question, because you said, when you get that notification, hey, there's an outage, you wait a couple minutes just to see if there's any others in the area. So when there are multiple outages at once, not even in just one area but across our service territory, how do you prioritize which to handle first?
Speaker 3:Typically, we are going to send the guys to the outages that have the most members effective. We're going to want to get as many people on at one time as we can. Once they tackle those larger outages, then we will send them to whatever's closer to them until we eventually get everybody back on Gotcha.
Speaker 2:Are there any other employees who help aid in your process of resolving outages? I know you mentioned the warehouse men that kind of communicate what the linemen need. Is there anybody else? That's a part of that process.
Speaker 3:As far as the outages themselves, not necessarily, but you know we have member service reps. They're the ones that are answering those phone calls coming in from the members and if they get any important information that our linemen need to know, they'll relay it to us and we in turn relay it out to the field to the linemen. Same with you, same with the communications department you guys will put posts on social media. That helps to inform our members what we have going on and it also kind of helps reduce that call volume as well.
Speaker 2:They know what's going on so it's not necessary for them to call in to find out Right and sometimes, like you said, we will receive messages on Facebook or Instagram notifying us of an outage. So we try to be that liaison between member services and you, just to make sure that all bases are covered. So it's kind of a full party effort honestly.
Speaker 2:It is. So dealing with multiple outages in different areas can be pretty daunting. How do you stay calm during a major storm or widespread outage, because obviously hurricane season's here. We're all on the edge of our seats, so I can imagine that can be a little stressful.
Speaker 3:It can be, but I will say I'm probably the weird one in that situation because I thrive on it. I love the restoration process.
Speaker 3:When we have a lot going on. That's what I's my, you know, that's what I love to do, that's my favorite thing and because of that, I, you know, I'm able to stay calm. I, you know it is stressful, but I don't panic in those situations. And I think that because I'm able to stay calm and confident, it helps the other dispatchers stay calm as well. Right, Well, I mean that's great for you. Great for us.
Speaker 2:We have a great fearless leader behind the screens and I think that that's really cool, that you kind of rise to the occasion. You're in your element in this moment.
Speaker 3:Definitely it's it's like I said, it's my favorite.
Speaker 2:And what is the most challenging situation you've had to dispatch 2020.
Speaker 3:We had. I don't, I can't remember if it was a tornado or a straight line wind, but we had quite a bit of damage to our Southwest area. The main issue that came along with that was because, like I said, it was in 2020, it was during COVID, and they had separated dispatch because they didn't want us all working together. In case one person got sick, then that meant the whole department would be out, that's right. So they had a separated in different areas.
Speaker 3:Um, when that storm came through, it was very difficult to communicate with the other dispatchers, because normally you would just stand up and say, hey, I've got so-and-so over here, he's working on this. Well, you, you didn't have that because you're, I was in a completely different building. So we did have a chat feature where we would chat, but who has time to look at that, right, right? So it was just keeping everybody up to date about where all the guys were, which is, you know, a huge safety aspect of when we have the guys working out in the field. Just keeping them up to date and what was going on. It was definitely the most challenging.
Speaker 2:And then I'm sure you were glad when everybody came back together. Absolutely, now you're at home.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Do you have any memorable stories where communication made a big difference during your time here at Johnson's I?
Speaker 3:would probably say Hurricane Florence. I think that was a storm. I mean, we worked probably three weeks straight trying just to get the power back on and I think during that time if anything could go wrong, it went wrong. Our phone lines went down, the main office flooded, there was just so much that was happening. But we had a great upper management team. They kept us informed of what was going on. The dispatchers we had to find a way of communicating with the crews, so most of us just used our personal cell phones because, those, the text messaging was still working, whereas phone calls may be hit or miss.
Speaker 3:Right, we could get text messages out and they would come back. There were times where member services were reaching out to members through Facebook. Uh, because that was one of the only ways that they could talk to them, right, right, so, um, but I think you know, with what we had to work with, we got through it the best that we could and made it out.
Speaker 2:On the other end, yeah, like when it rains, it pours.
Speaker 3:And that time it was literal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was rough but I feel like we as a company just do so well under pressure, kind of like you said that you do. But also.
Speaker 3:we just we work with what we got and we do the best we can and that's all you can do.
Speaker 2:You know we find lots of workarounds when we have to to get the job done. Yes, so we're getting to the end of our questions. I have some phone questions to close out this episode towards the end of my list. But what's something you wish more people understood about your job specifically?
Speaker 3:Probably the amount of applications that we have to learn and the fact that we are always learning. You know, technology is always changing the way we do things. That's always changing, so we're constantly having to adapt to our environment and what we have going on. So really just everything that we have to learn.
Speaker 2:If you could tell our members one thing about how they can help during an outage, what would it be?
Speaker 3:Probably to report any pertinent information to the office. As you see it, you know things such as a tree on the line, if you happen to see a pole that has caught on fire, things like that. That kind of information really helps us pinpoint where the issues are so that we can relay it to the linemen, and you know the less time it takes for them to find a problem, the less time it will take to get the power back on.
Speaker 2:I think we pride ourselves in the fact that we get things done quickly, so that helps us with that. And then also, too, it helps prevent any situation from worsening and you know the linemen could work, could walk in on that, and it could be just a bigger, a bigger challenge than they originally anticipated. So, yes, give us a call, let us know. We are always here and we're not only working together here at the co-op, but we're working with you. All right, we got some quick, rapid fire fun questions before we close out this episode. Okay, favorite snack during a storm or hurricane?
Speaker 3:That would be Mountain Dew.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:And any kind of pastry that could be donuts, danishes, any the carbs, the quick energy, that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Okay, yes, we got a lot of Mountain Dew lovers here and we love to get some Dunkin Donuts or some Krispy Kreme anytime.
Speaker 3:there's ever a sweet treat involved so the only time I drink a Mountain Dew is during storms that's funny.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, I'll be looking. I'll be looking out for it then I appreciate. That's when I know that I need to go in storm mode. Huh okay, most used phrase on the radio.
Speaker 3:I would have to say a squirrel blew the fuse. That happens a lot more than members think it really does. Normally, if you have a power outage on a blue sky day, it's because a squirrel got on some piece of equipment or something and took the power out. Oh no, not the squirrels One more.
Speaker 2:Do you have a go-to pump-up song for your busy days?
Speaker 3:You know not really, but I will say that if you come into the operations center during a storm, you will definitely see the Weather Channel playing on the TV.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:And we are praying and hoping that we don't see Jim Cantore on the East Coast.
Speaker 2:Yes, so no Jim Cantore on the screens period, and especially none this hurricane season. Absolutely All right. Well, thank you so much, amanda for joining us and, as she mentioned, just give us a call if you see anything unusual or obviously a source of an outage at 910-353-1940. And chances are Amanda is going to be the magician behind all of the things that are going to happen. To get your power back easy, just go to joemccom slash paperless billing to register.
Speaker 1:Making this small change can trim those steps to your mailbox so you can have more time to veg on the couch. Member focused, service driven, that's our co-op.
Speaker 2:Hey everyone, natalie here to let you know what's happening at your co-op this month. Stay safe and amp up the fun. Summer is the perfect time for beach trips, backyard cookouts and camping getaways, but wherever your plans take you, electrical safety should always be part of the fun. At Jones-Onslow EMC, we want to help you make the most of the season while staying safe. Onslow EMC, we want to help you make the most of the season while staying safe At the beach or pool. Keep all electrical devices away from water and sand and opt for battery-powered or waterproof equipment whenever possible. If you're hosting outdoor gatherings, use only extension cords rated for outdoor use and position them safely. To avoid tripping. For those camping or RVing, make sure to use only electrical hookups designed for those environments. By taking a few simple precautions, you can reduce the risk of accidents and focus on making memories. Share these tips with friends and family to help keep everyone safe and energized for a fantastic summer. Here's your energy-saving, quick tip of the month Take advantage of the warmer weather to reduce home energy use. Avoid using your oven and use a grill instead. Not only will cooking outdoors eliminate the electricity used to power the stove, but it will also avoid raising the temperature inside your home, reducing the need for additional air conditioning. You can also avoid using the oven with tasty no-bake recipes. Get creative in the kitchen and explore new ways to save energy.
Speaker 2:Annually, jones-onslow funds scholarships for students in our communities. This year, we awarded 33 outstanding students 26 were graduating high school seniors and 7 were community college students. Some recipients were selected by the sponsors for academic talent and others were selected by local school staff. The $1,500 scholarships will assist the youth as they continue their academic endeavors. The cooperative is proud of these students and all of their achievements. Congratulations to all of you. And that's what's happening at your co-op this month Natalie signing off. Well, folks, that's all for today's episode of Flippin' the Switch. Be sure to follow us on our social media platforms to stay in the loop with Jones Onslow. We'll see y'all next time.