Connect with your co-op through SmartHub

Electricity and the technology powered by it have become a fundamental part of our daily lives. We use our smart phones and other devices to connect to the world and gather information for work or personal use 24/ 7. It is truly amazing when you stop to think about the power technology has brought to our fingertips and thumbs! While the bulk of our business here at Washington Electric is composed of traditional poles, wires, and transformers, we also rely heavily on technology to enhance safety, efficiency, and our members’ experience with us.

Washington Electric has partnered with several technology vendors to provide our accounting, billing, customer information, mapping, outage management, and metering hardware and software systems. This technology has allowed Washington Electric to dramatically improve member service and efficiency. Today, 27 full-time employees provide to our members the same level of service that the average electric distribution cooperative our size would require 37 employees to provide. This is, in part, a testament to the great employees we have, but also a direct benefit of our investment in and use of technology. In many ways, your cooperative is more technologically advanced than much larger investor-owned utilities.

From the member perspective, Washington Electric has a traditional website, and actively posts updates to our Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube pages to keep members informed of pertinent industry topics, what’s going on at your cooperative, and outage events. We also use an automated calling feature to announce planned outages or remind members of past-due bills. But we also have an app called “SmartHub” that allows members to interface with Washington Electric using a smart device or computer. SmartHub can be accessed online at https://weci.smarthub. coop, or the app can be downloaded to your smart device from the Google Play or Apple App stores. Signing up is simple and only requires information you can easily find on your monthly billing statement.

So what does SmartHub have to offer? For starters, it is a quick and easy way to do business with Washington Electric at any time that is convenient for you! Members can access their current and past billing statements, see their payment history, and make payments. This alone is a huge benefit for me personally. In about two minutes, I can open the app, look at my bill, and pay the balance due. Members can also report power outages or other issues from the app, sign up to receive outage text/email alerts, and monitor our outage map that shows the number and locations of outages at any given time. This information is very useful when having to make decisions during a power outage regarding whether to drag out the generator or maybe just go to town for a while until the power is restored. If the outage map shows that we have a large number of outages scattered across our territory, the duration of your outage is likely to be longer than if there is only the one outage that is affecting you. If you are signed up for outage alerts, you will receive a text and/or email when your power is restored. We will also use this app to provide notices such as upcoming planned outages for an area.

Jeff Triplett GENERAL MANAGER

In addition to billing and outage functions, SmartHub also allows members to monitor their energy usage. For members really wanting to drill down into what their usage looks like, you can see hourly kilowatt hour (kWh) usage data in a graphical format. (Note: 1 kWh represents the energy required to run a 1,000 watt load for one hour.) For many residential accounts, you can see a pattern of usage with higher usage in the morning, when everyone wakes up, lower usage if everyone is gone in the middle of the day, and then higher usage in the evening. Energy usage information from SmartHub can be used to monitor how much energy appliances such as space heaters, heat lamps, or AC units are using. I’ve used SmartHub to monitor heating and cooling in a “she-shed” we installed. In short, for anyone who is interested in learning about how they use electricity and ways to use electricity more efficiently, this is a great tool.

While we are on the subject of technology and member information, rest assured that your information is safe with Washington Electric. We work very hard to secure our systems and interfaces with the outside world to prevent information breaches. In fact, cyber security is a critical work function for Washington Electric because our technology and systems can have a direct impact on our employees’ and the public’s safety. We therefore take our duty to safeguard our systems and your information very seriously and will continue to make this a top priority.

If you haven’t already signed up for SmartHub, I would encourage you to do so. I truly believe you will find it an effective and efficient way to interface with us any time of the day or night. Of course, we are still happy to speak to you on the phone or in person at our office during our normal business hours too!