Back in May, I spoke about how important communication is in supporting Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks' (SSEN) customers and how we've been building a one-stop-shop so they can contact us through Twitter, Facebook and our website.
As part of SSEN's commitment to putting our customers at the heart of everything we do and to making their contact with us as easy as possible, we've been looking at how we can improve the online services we offer.
One of the areas we've been improving is our General Enquiries service. This was originally set up to assist our customers with a wide range of non-emergency requests such as the installation of shrouding needed for overhead powerlines to protect people working nearby, help with detecting an underground cable before starting work near to it, tree cutting in the proximity of our overhead lines or even methods to stop birds landing on the lines near your property; our General Enquiries team is there to deal with all of these and more. Previously these types of jobs could only be booked by speaking to the team on weekdays during working hours, but the world we live in is changing and SSEN recognises that our lives and the lives of our customers don't just operate from 9 to 5.
That's why SSEN has launched a new online portal for General Enquiries, enabling you to tell us what you need done by filling in a basic online form. Once completed, one of SSEN's Customer Service Advisors will contact you - using your preferred method, to confirm the date of an engineer visiting and to answer any questions you have. Most of SSEN's jobs are non-chargeable and, so far this year, we've attended over 5,500 jobs, meaning you can rest assured that you're in safe hands with our highly trained engineers, after all, safety is our number one priority!
If you have a look at our new portal, you'll notice that every job page, including the general enquiries online form, gives you the option to send us a message using Facebook Messenger. This additional tier to our communications means that no matter what time of day, you can contact us about booking a general enquiries job; SSEN's Social Media Team is on hand 24/7, 365 days a year to help you.
As I mentioned above, safety is our number one priority and I want to take this chance to say that if you're ever concerned about the safety of something on SSEN's network, or have a power cut, all you need to do is dial 105. That's the emergency number for power cuts and dangerous situations and by dialling 105 you will be given specialist advice and, if needed, an SSEN engineer will be sent out straight away.
At SSEN we're constantly looking at how we can improve the way we do things and it's my aim to update you with any new changes we make that might help you.
You can see the new site by going to www.ssen.co.uk/GeneralEnquiries/, or if you'd prefer to call us, you can do so on 0800 048 3516. Alternatively, you can send us a message on Facebook Messenger by clicking here.