Utility company call overflow: how to keep calls from being lost on an outage day
Sado AI team · · 5 min read
In short
When water, gas, power or heating goes off, hundreds of people call the utility within an hour, most with one question: “When will it be back?” To keep the line from jamming, sort calls: danger reports go straight to a dispatcher, mass questions get a ready message, new faults get a ticket with the address. Work out how many calls run at once in the peak hour and size your lines to it. An AI voice operator answers mass questions with no queue and frees dispatchers for the dangerous cases.
Why a utility’s line overflows
One outage hits hundreds of homes in a neighbourhood, and many call at once, while the number of dispatchers stays the same. People who hear a busy tone redial again and again, which adds even more load.
Worse, a key report about a flooded basement or a gas smell gets stuck behind two hundred “when is the water coming back?” calls. So the goal is not one answer for all, but sorting calls fast.
Sort calls into four groups
| Group | Example | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Danger report | Gas smell, a wire on the ground, a flooded basement | Put through to a dispatcher at once; gas smell: 104 |
| Mass question | “When is the water back?”, “When does the heating start?” | Ready message: area, cause, expected time |
| New fault | “No light in our stairwell”, “A pipe is leaking in the street” | A ticket with address and details |
| Account and meter | Readings, debt, payment | Record the reading or put through to staff |
Write a ready message for each outage and update it when the time passes. A call from an area not on the list is a new fault: open a ticket.
Work out your peak hour
- Take the last outage day and find the number of calls in the busiest hour (your telecom provider’s report has it).
- Calculate: calls in that hour × average length (minutes) ÷ 60. That is the average number of calls running at once.
- For example: 360 calls in an hour at 1.5 minutes each: 360 × 1.5 ÷ 60 = 9. With three dispatchers, the other six hear a busy tone. These numbers are only an example.
- Calls don’t arrive evenly, so add headroom and ask your provider for enough lines (channels) on your number.
A sample call: from a question to a danger report
Sado: Assalomu alaykum, City Water Service, Malika speaking.
Caller: We’ve had no water since this morning. When will it be back?
Sado: Tell me your address and I’ll check.
Caller: Olmazor, Qorasaroy street, building 12.
Sado: A main pipe is being repaired there; water should be back by eight tonight.
Caller: One more thing: our basement is flooding, water is pouring in.
Sado: That’s important. I’m putting you through to the dispatcher on duty now; your address is already noted.
Two things happened in one call: the mass question got a ready answer and the danger report went straight to a person.
Which calls to give an AI operator
Sado’s AI operator answers each call within a second and handles more than ten at the same time. It asks the address, reads the ready message, opens tickets for new faults, records meter readings and, by your rule, puts danger reports through to a dispatcher at once. It speaks Uzbek and Russian. More: AI operator for incoming calls.
You don’t have to hand over everything at once. The operator can answer all calls around the clock or only after hours and at weekends. If you have your own PBX, we agree together with you and your provider which calls go to the operator, for example when all dispatchers are busy. Connection details: connecting your number.
After the outage
- Call back people who reported new faults once the work is done: “Has it been fixed?”
- Note questions that had no ready answer. In the portal you can ask Yordamchi “Which questions couldn’t it answer?”.
- Send polite payment reminders to subscribers in debt through Auto-calls: AI outbound calls.
- Compare the numbers: calls answered on the outage day, tickets opened, danger reports passed to dispatchers. Try it live or call 78 778 01 23.
Questions
Does the AI operator have to take all of a utility’s calls?
No. It can take only night and weekend calls, or calls when dispatchers are busy. Which calls go to it is agreed together with you, your PBX and your provider.
May we call subscribers in debt?
You may make a polite payment reminder to your own subscriber. The operator doesn’t pressure anyone, and a number that says “don’t call” isn’t called again. Take legal questions to a lawyer.
How many calls does it take at once?
Sado handles more than ten conversations at the same time. How many calls reach your number at once also depends on the channels your provider gives you.