E-ON Launches Outage Map

by Gabe BullardUtility company E-ON US is now putting more information about power outages online. On Tuesday, the company unveiled a map that tracks blackouts for LG&E and KU customers.For security reasons, the map won't cite specific addresses that are without power, but will instead show triangular markers over neighborhoods based on how many customers have lost electricity.All of the information will be on E-ON's website, which spokesperson Chip Keeling says is visited frequently during blackouts."During any major restoration…I want to say [it's] tenfold…it is a major increase in the number of hits to our site to get information," he says. "It's extremely significant."Manager of IT Shannon Johnson says even with the map, customers still need to let E-ON know if their power goes out."...it's important for customers still to call, even if they see a triangle that's in their neighborhood. They should not assume that we know they're out," she says. "We need them to call in at least one time…or, really, only one time."Customers will still have to call in outages for them to appear on the map and outage information will still be available by phone for customers who can't get online.E-ON says it spent more than one million dollars on the technology.