“DTEK Grids understands the needs of modern clients, thus taking them into account while building customer service by streamlining processes, directing services through digital channels, developing proactive customer information systems and creating modern comfortable customer service centers. Our prime objective is to make standard connection service simple and transparent. We therefore minimize the human factor by providing an online service, without queues or agents. Clients may apply for standard connection via our website and track it until completion. Technical specifications are delivered by mail. The service has become available to the residents of the most “busy” districts of the Kiev Region, Kyiv Svyatoshyn and Irpin, in November,” Ivan Gelyukh, DTEK Grids CEO, said. In December, this service will also become available to the clients residing in the Boryspil and Vyshhorod districts, while the rest of the Kyiv Region districts will join in 2020.
According to Vitaly Shayda, Kyivoblenergo CEO, DTEK started offering such popular services as verification, calibration and repair of electricity meters online as early as in November 2019. “Before that, clients had to visit customer service centers personally and spend their valuable time. Now we offer an online application for a technician visit, and clients can choose the date that suits them. The service is already available in the following six districts: Kyiv Svyatoshyn, Irpin, Vyshhorod, Borodyanka, Makariv, and Ivankiv. By the end of 2020, all the residents of the Kyiv Region will be able to avail themselves of this service,” he said.
The coming year will also see the launch of a new comfortable customer portal featuring an online map of scheduled and emergency power outages and a mobile application offering broad functionality, DTEK Grids Online. The clients who still need to contact the DSO personally will be able to visit the company’s modern and comfortable customer service centers (CSC): the first CSC in Irpin will open its doors in February 2020. The visitors will enjoy spacious and well-lit premises, an electronic queue, and will be served by competent consultants.
The other area of development is the digitization of a dispatching control system using Smart Grid technologies. This will allow identifying accidents and responding to them faster. “In the absence of modern smart systems, we spend from five to eight hours just locating an incidence place. Digital technologies will help us locate incidents in real time and make immediate repairs. We will also double down on strengthening the most challenging areas of the grid. We expect that our mitigation strategy will allow reducing the duration of emergency outages by 30%: from current 496 to 347 minutes by 2025,” Vitaly Shayda noted.
Ivan Gelyukh informed that DTEK Grids operating holding company intends to introduce single service standards in all five regions where the DTEK DSOs operate, i.e. Kyiv as well as Kyiv, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, and Odesa Regions, by the end of 2020. “We aim to transform Oblenergos into modern European service companies by the end of 2020. This includes reliable electricity supply, fast emergency response, providing comprehensive updates to clients via digital communication channels, and online services.”