What the agent handles
- Takes outage reports
- Handles move-in and move-out requests
- Answers billing questions
- Routes payment arrangement requests
- Shares planned outage notices
Public and community
AI receptionist for utilities and co-ops
Handles billing, move-in, move-out and outage calls for local utilities and rural co-ops, and gets safety hazards to the control room immediately.
CallerOur power's been out for two hours. Is it just us?
CallerI'm moving next month and need to transfer the account to my new place.
CallerThere's a line down across the road by the school.
Where calls go
Customer serviceBillingControl roomField operations
Warm transfer: When a caller reports a downed line or a gas smell, the agent tells them to stay well clear and warm-transfers to the control room.
Why utilities and co-ops miss calls, and what an AI receptionist changes
A local utility's phones are calm for weeks and then explode within an hour. A windstorm or an ice storm takes out a feeder, and hundreds of customers call to report the same outage while the control room is restoring power and field crews are out in the trucks. Between storms the calls are steady: people moving at month end who need service transferred, billing questions after a rate change, and members asking for a payment arrangement. A rural electricity or gas co-op may have two people in the office covering all of it.
A RealVoice AI receptionist takes outage reports from many callers at once, recording the address, when the power went out and whether the neighbours are out too, and tells callers about any outage your staff have already posted along with the update you've given it. It handles move-in and move-out requests with the service address, dates and contact details, answers billing questions about due dates, payment options and equal billing plans from your information, and reads out planned outage notices for maintenance work.
Safety comes first. When a caller reports a downed line, a pole on fire or a gas smell, the agent follows your safety script, telling them to stay well clear or leave the building, and warm-transfers to the control room with a private summary. Once the team connects it to your billing system and outage map during setup, it can give a customer their balance and the restoration estimate your crews have entered. It never makes up a time of its own, and it doesn't agree to payment arrangements; those go to billing.
Example call, start to finish
- CallerHi, our power's been out since about seven. We're on Concession 6 near Elmvale. Is it just us?
- AI receptionistYour area is part of an outage our crews posted at 7:20, and they're working on it now. Can I take your address so it's added to the report?
- CallerIt's 2148 Concession 6. And now that I look outside, there's a branch hanging on the wire coming into our yard. It's sparking a bit.
- AI receptionistPlease keep everyone, and any pets, at least ten metres from that wire, and don't try to move the branch. I'm connecting you to our control room right now.
- CallerOkay. We're all inside.
- AI receptionistThat's exactly right. You're going through to the control room operator now.
- AI receptionist(privately, to the control room) Sparking service wire with a branch on it at 2148 Concession 6, Elmvale, inside the posted outage area. Family is inside. Connecting.
After the call: The operator answers already knowing the address and that the wire is sparking, and field operations gets a text and email with the same details. The outage report joins the call summaries in the RealVoice portal, where customer service can see every report from that road during the storm.
How it fits your day
- Storm nights
- When a storm knocks out power across the service area, every caller is answered and every report is logged, and only the hazards go to the control room.
- Month-end moves
- Move-in and move-out requests are taken with the service address, dates and forwarding address, ready for customer service to process.
- After bills go out
- The agent answers due dates, payment methods and equal billing questions, and sends arrangement requests and disputes to billing.
- Planned work
- Give the agent your planned outage notices, and customers calling about a scheduled shutoff hear the date, the hours and the area affected.
Your software
Today it keeps every outage report, move request, billing message and call summary in the RealVoice portal, sends each one by text and email to the right team, and texts callers a confirmation that their request arrived. If your utility runs Cogsdale CSM, Vadim utility billing or Cayenta, the team can set up a connection to it; custom integrations are quoted separately.
What a missed call costs
Utilities don't lose customers to a missed call the way a store does, but an unanswered line still costs something. People who can't get through during an outage call again and again, crowd the office the next morning, and take their frustration to the board. More seriously, a downed line reported into a full voicemail box is a hazard nobody hears about. If a storm brings three hundred calls in two hours and your staff can take forty, the other two hundred and sixty are the gap. Put your own storm-day numbers into the calculator on our homepage.
Questions utilities and co-ops ask
Can it tell callers when their power will be back?
Yes, the estimate your crews have set. With your outage management system connected at setup, it reads the current estimate for the caller's address and can text them when the outage is marked restored. It never invents a time of its own.
How does it handle a downed line or a gas smell?
It reads the safety instructions you approve, such as staying back from the wire or leaving the building first, then warm-transfers to the control room with a short private summary. If nobody answers, the report goes out by text and email right away.
Can it handle hundreds of calls during a storm?
It answers many calls at the same time, so customers reach a voice instead of a busy signal. Each report is logged with the address and time, and hazards are separated from routine outage calls.
Can it look up a balance or set up a payment plan?
It looks up balances once your billing system is connected during setup, after checking it is speaking with the account holder. Payment plans are a decision for billing, so it sends those requests there with the account holder's details.
Does it suit a small rural co-op?
Yes. A co-op with a two-person office can forward its line only after hours and during storms, so staff keep their regular calls and the agent catches the rest.
Can members call in French?
Yes. Along with English and French it speaks many other languages, and it asks the member before it changes language.
Hear it as your own utility's front desk
Request a free demo call and the agent will phone you, set up as a business like yours.