PG&E Call Center Assisting In Hurricane Irma Aftermath

BAY AREA, CA – PG&E is utilizing some of its call center team in Sacramento to help a fellow utility company in Florida answer customer service calls in the aftermath of Hurricane Irma.

About 30 PG&E customer service representatives are answering calls for Florida Power and Light to help it manage "extraordinarily high call volumes," utility officials said.

In particular, the California-based reps are answering emergency and outage calls that come into FPL's customer service phone lines. It's the first time PG&E has partnered with another utility to provide call center
support during a natural disaster.

"Providing support to other energy companies and their customers when natural disasters strike remains a hallmark of our industry," PG&E's vice president of customer service Deborah Affonsa said in a statement. "Our electric line workers have helped restore power to tens of thousands of FPL customers so far, and now our call center representatives will be able to help as well."

PG&E employees started answering calls this past weekend. They'll keep answering calls daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Pacific Time this week. The company doesn't anticipate that helping FPL will result in longer wait times for customers in Northern and Central California.

PG&E also sent 125 employees to Florida ahead of the storm on Sept. 8 to help restore power once the storm had passed. Those employees included line workers, equipment operators, supervisors and support personnel.

"It's great to have partners that pitch in when you need help,"

FPL's vice president of customer service Marlene Santos said in a statement.

"As an industry, during a crisis, we work together as one to the benefit of our customers."

Related:

PG&E Workers Help Restore Power In Florida After Hurricane Irma

By Bay City News Service

Photo credit: Alan Diaz/Associated Press