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Power Shopping brings utility, customers together

During a Power Shopping safety demonstration, LES Network and Cable Technician Scott Pekarek illustrates the danger of contact with electrical facilities by touching a hot dog to a live wire. (Photo by Lincoln Electric System)

The most challenging connection a utility must make may be connecting with its customers. Lincoln Electric System of Lincoln, Neb., met that challenge by inviting its customers to go shopping—Power Shopping.

Bill stuffers, newsletters, Web sites and advertisements are proven effective ways to communicate with consumers, but the municipal utility wanted to go a step further and put a human face on its service. “While annual customer meetings are a traditional way to do this, people today simply do not have much time to attend a lot of meetings,” said Carolyn Douglas, Corporate Communications Coordinator for LES. “So we decided to take our outreach program directly to the people. The challenge was to find an appropriate venue.”

LES Vice President and Assistant Council Shelley Sahling-Zart came up with the concept of Power Shopping in 2002. “People do a lot of shopping on the weekends, and Sahling-Zart thought a Saturday event at a local shopping mall would be effective,” Douglas explained.

Sahling-Zart knew that placing utility representatives at the SouthPointe Pavilions Mall, one of Lincoln’s premier outdoor shopping and entertainment centers, would guarantee plenty of passers-by. She also understood that getting customers to stop and talk with them would take more than a folding table and a few leaflets. The fun began with the solution.

Power Stations have something for everyone
“People shop with their kids, so we wanted to give both parents and children something to do and learn,” explained Douglas. “We also felt that while an adult might be prone to walk right by our event without stopping, they might pause and look if we could catch their children’s attention,” she added.

To attract the interest of both, LES set up a series of booths called Power Stations that represented key areas of utility operations, such as engineering, power supply and human resources. Each station was staffed by employee volunteers who offered information on programs and services to adults and entertaining activities to children.

For example, last year’s Power Supply Station featured information about wind energy to highlight LES’s renewable energy program. The utility has two turbines on the northeast side of Lincoln and participates in another wind generation project in north central Nebraska. “Logistical concerns and location make it difficult for customers to visit the turbines, so the planning committee thought, ‘If we can’t take customers to the turbines, let’s bring the turbines to the customers,’” Douglas recalled.

Visitors drew a life-size chalk outline of a turbine blade on the mall sidewalk. Captions written at different points alongside provided size comparisons with recognizable objects such as a school bus. “Most people have no idea how big the blades are,” noted Douglas. “At Power Shopping, they could walk the outline and get a good sense of their size.”

Employee volunteers talked with parents about LES’s program that invites them to voluntarily support green power, while their children were given pinwheels that playfully illustrated the principles of wind power.

The Careers Power Station offered a “What’s My Line” quiz that asked children to circle a picture of an activity and connect it to a job title. Interested adults could pick up information on job openings and benefits.

Presentations address current issues
Power Station categories have remained the same from year to year, but the content changes to focus on issues that may be on customers’ minds. “For example, if we are asking for a rate adjustment, the Consumer Services Station would offer an explanation of why we need the change, comparison charts to show what our peer utilities charge and statistics that compare our rate adjustments to inflation,” Douglas said.

Past displays have included an electric hybrid car, a demonstration of infrared camera inspections and a bicycle generator that people could pedal to power a light bulb. There are also perennial favorites like LES’s safety demonstration for kids that illustrates the danger of coming into contact with electrical facilities by showing how a hot dog is instantly fried when touched to a live wire. “Safety is an important issue. We don’t want to miss an opportunity to talk about it,” insisted Douglas.

A steering committee of customer and corporate communications staff and employees from every division begins planning Power Shopping months in advance. Division representatives head up subcommittees that suggest activities for each station and execute the ideas. “Anyone can submit an idea for an activity or demonstration,” Douglas said. “It’s fun to see how the suggestions grow and evolve and spark other ideas.”

Employee, business, customer participation grows
Power Shopping continues to grow in popularity. The first year, division vice presidents had to appoint representatives to the steering committee and found that recruiting volunteers for the event was difficult. Since then, however, nearly the same steering committee has volunteered to plan the event, and growing employee enthusiasm has resulted in more than enough volunteers to staff the Power Stations. “Nearly a third of our employees volunteered at the 2003 event,” Douglas said.

Customer participation in Power Shopping has grown steadily, too. In its first year, about 150 people attended, a low figure attributed to miserably hot weather. The second annual event was scheduled in a cooler part of the summer and the crowd doubled. In 2004, good weather, strong publicity and growing public awareness led more than 500 people to give Power Shopping a try.

Publicity isn’t the only reason for increased attendance, Douglas pointed out. “We learned that children are asking their parents to bring them to Power Shopping when they see the ads, and that adults who came the year before make a point to come back.”

Local businesses have also jumped on the Power Shopping bandwagon. Mall retailers, restaurateurs and local food companies donate refreshments and prizes for drawings. LES publicly recognizes all of its partners, many of whom benefit from the publicity and increased mall traffic.

Lincoln Electric System considers the event a great success and does not hesitate to recommend the format to other utilities looking for a unique outreach event. “Power Shopping is great for customers, the utility and the community,” said Douglas.