From the heart, pt. 2

My email here at PSE is filling up with notes and messages from fellow employees about their involvement with everything from community service clubs to fundraisers of all kinds. In many cases, their work is driven by a personal loss, one that makes the cause or need something very real for the individual who is stepping up to help.

Here's a "line of duty" story from PSE's Al Toko that I wanted to share, one that involves both PSE staff and Potelco, our service provider for electric operations:

In responding to a wind storm outage, a Potelco crew from Oregon and I found an elderly couple who'd had a large tree take out their weather head [which is where the power comes in to your house - Andy]. PSE policy is to have the owner contact an electrician to repair the weather head before we attach their electric service line. Being on the weekend, and in the middle of a significant event, electricians are hard to come by and expensive. She said an electrician would be able to come to the house at the earliest on Monday but would cost over $800.00. Their water is pumped by electricity and they had no back-up generator.

To make matters worse, the elderly man had open heart surgery and was home two days when the storm hit. Faced with these factors, I decided to do the best we could with what we had. I assured them we would not leave until we found a way to get their electricity restored temporarily and be safe. Safety was my main concern and if the wires in the weather head or meter socket were damaged I was not going to risk a fire.

While the crew put two spans of primary back up, I inspected the wiring at the weather head and meter base and found there were no damages. The pipe from the weather head to the meter base had broken and needed to be replaced as it tore a hole in the top of the meter socket. To prevent water from seeping into the meter socket, we sealed the cracks to prevent possible water leaks, reattached the pipe and weather head to the wall and in our opinion it would be safe to energize and get them what they needed, security, until the electrician could get there and make final repairs. We turned in the address and name of the party to the local headquarters for them to follow up and assure it did indeed get proper attention. The customer and their children were very thankful for what we did and we were happy! We do what we do because we care!

People don't care how much you know, they want to know how much you care!

That's a great closing line, Al. And as a writer, I assure you I will "borrow it" often!

This is from Nitish Venkatesh of our Call Center, one of the people who answers the phone when customers call 1-888-225-5773.

I am a customer service representative for Puget Sound Energy and I do have a story I would like to share. A customer called to end service at his current address. I thought it was just a regular move out, but later found out that the customer had been unemployed, and was not able to afford to rent the house any more. He said he was going to be homeless, and had no Idea where to go. It was in the Seattle area, and I remembered that I used to volunteer at a very generous homeless shelter in downtown Seattle. I gave him the name of the church and told him he can get meals every day over there. He can also get shelter there for temporarily until he can get his feet back up. He was very pleasant about the advice, and that made my day.

Here's a note about going above and beyond, even when you're not on the clock:

I would like to share my personal story. I am an employee who worked in the Customer Access Center for about 6yrs. I had left last March 2008 but recently have come back. I have a customer whom I have been working quite closely with in regards to her needing help with our pay by phone system. Our customer had some special needs due to hearing and sight impairments. Even when I was NOT with the company for 6 months, I continued to help this customer with paying by phone. I realize that I have probably gone far above and beyond for this customer but it makes me feel good about the job I do everyday. I take great pride in providing customer service and advocating for our customers. Just wanted to share my story and know that there are many more just like it. -- Rhonda Blair.

Mike Ward of our Factoria Service Center has this story about how he found the "true meaning of Christmas." It may be June, but the message still fits!

I know this is a little late for Christmas but, I wanted to share a story to you about a customer of PSE.

I have a little old lady that I check up on every two or three months. The story started during the windstorms of two years ago. A tree from her neighbor’s yard had fallen on her property and took out the power lines and her cable tv and phone. I stopped by a couple of days after it had happened to check on her. She had a circ heater so the house was warm, but without power. She was happy to be warm but was upset that all of the food in her refrigerator had gone bad. She lives on SSI as her only income, she also takes care of her disabled granddaughter. She told me she was making do with the food that didn’t spoil and could make it until here next check would be deposited. She took all of it in stride and said “That is life at times, but it all works out”.

Christmas Eve that year I told my son I wanted to show him the true meaning of Christmas. That morning he and I stopped at Safeway and bought a gift card for 100$ and went to visit her. She didn’t want to take it at first, but I explained that Santa had delivered the card and it was for her use. We sat and visited and she talked to my son and shared stories of what it was like for her growing up during the Depression. She thanked us again and again. We told her that is was Santa taking care of her so she must have been a good girl during the year. We left saying Merry Christmas and she hugged my son and me.

During the next years I would stop by and check on her and sit and talk baseball. She would share stories of baseball and how she was getting along with her ageing body. Just friendly talk and it always left me grateful for what I had. She lives in a small two bedroom house of maybe 700 square feet. You could tell that she gets by each month with the little money she has. I never heard a complaint come from her. She always had a positive attitude.

Well as luck would have it, this December I got an order to come and light up her circ heater. She was happy to see me and said that she wanted me to do her a favor. I agreed that what ever she needed I would do my best to help out. Now picture this lady just barely making it, handing me a jar full of quarters and dimes. She told me that ever time she went grocery shopping she would put the change into the jar. The favor she wanted was for me to take the jar to the Union Gospel Mission in Seattle so that those without could have a Christmas Dinner. This lady just making it had saved 104$ in change. I took the jar and promised that her gift would be delivered.

Driving away I had to pull over to collect myself and call my wife to share the amazing feeling I felt about the Holiday Season. I did deliver the jar of money. It was at that time I learned the true meaning of giving. I thought that I was teaching my son the meaning of giving years before when it came to me that “I” was the one that learned the true meaning.

For some at PSE, having a heart isn't going above and beyond their job, it is their job. Here's how Sandy Sieg describes our low-income weatherization program.

Each year, PSE extends its heart to thousands of income-eligible customers by providing them with insulation and other energy efficiency improvements free of charge through its Low Income Weatherization Program. We provide funding to ten social service agencies who work with our customers throughout our service territory to make sure energy-related repairs and weatherization improvements are installed safely and properly. Improvements include: insulation, sealing leaks around windows and in the walls, refrigerator replacements, and installing energy efficient products such as showerheads and compact fluorescent lighting.

Homes that are drafty and expensive to heat become comfortable and less costly right before the customers' eyes. The social service agencies make it easy for the customer-- they manage all the work, from scheduling home audits and measure installations to inspecting the quality of work completed. Customers in the most need get priority--seniors, the disabled, and families. I have visited projects and each time I have a heart-felt reaction to the value it brings to our customers--I am very proud to be part of this program and have appreciated the opportunity to do so.

Sometimes the heart comes from individuals, and sometimes from departments. Here's a note from Jim Elsea, who's part of the group that works on getting new power plants into service:

About every four months since December 2007 a group of PSE employees (mostly from Energy Resources and Purchasing) have volunteered at Food Lifeline in Shoreline. In addition to working in the distribution warehouse, PSE employees have donated money and collected food donations. Our last volunteer work party was on June 13th. We have two more scheduled this year, September 12 and December 19.

Jim went on to note that at the June 13 event, 29 volunteers sorted and packed more than 12,000 lbs. of food and made a contribution of $1,400.

Susan Stubbs, a natural gas dispatcher, had this to say about PSE's safety education programs, and also the utility's support for employees who volunteer:

For 10 years, my job at PSE was to teach natural gas and electric safety to our customers (public and private schools, fire departments, and various community events). During that time I had countless customers tell me how the knowledge I gave them saved their life. Two weeks ago my daughter, Erica and her friend, Jenny walked into a neighbors house. Jenny said, "hey Erica it smells like rotten eggs in here". Erica responded, "yeah it does. My mom told us if it smells like rotten eggs, leave immediately." As it turns out there were three leaks in the stove fuel line. The point is, my daughter and Jenny gained this knowledge through PSE's education program for our customers.

PSE encourages their employees to be involved in the community. Every Tuesday for the past two years I visit Evergreen Hospice with our registered therapy dog. Although the dogs name is Daisy, she has been nick named Dispatch Daisy because my boss allows her to come to work with me a few days a week.

Most notably, my gratitude goes to PSE because the company not only encourages their employees to individually volunteer, they also donate time and financially as a Company. I have a bother that has been an active athlete with Special Olympics for 30 years (he brought back 2 gold medals in the Special Olympic World Games :). Every year Ft. Lewis and McCord AFB host the Summer Games. PSE takes part in this by providing support the "Healthy Athletes". During the event, PSE assists to provide onsite dental and eye exams for the special athletes.

One PSE employee, Sheila Hazel, experienced the company's heart herself during tough times before joining the company.

My name is Sheila and several years ago I was living on the peninsula in the little town of Poulsbo, Washington. My family and I were living in a single wide mobile home and our only heat source was electric furnace. Fortunately, we were P.S.E. customers. We heard about the energy assistance program and called the number. The next day we were at our appointment with the energy assistance program. Not only were we able to have our power bill paid for, but they also came out and insulated our home and installed more energy efficient doors!
Puget Sound Energy not only helped us in our time of need, they also provided help with future energy efficiency by installing the doors and insulating our home. I am now a seasonal employee of P.S.E. and share my story with people who are in similar situations that I was once in. Nobody should be left out in the cold, and Puget Sound Energy has been doing everything within their power to ensure that everyone has a warm and safe place in which to dwell.

Straight from the heart

Usually my job as blogger here at the utility is to write about the world of energy. Today, though, I'd like to turn the keyboard over to some of my friends and colleagues at PSE.

I think their commitment to what they do speaks for itself:

"My name is Gloria Lambert and I have been employed by PSE for 30 years. Having read the Seattle Times article that tagged my employer as lacking compassion, I drew the conclusion that the author passed judgment on an entire organization with a 100-plus year history of service, due to one incident, in which he may not have gathered all the facts. PSE employees that I have had the pleasure of working with, are some of the most dedicated, compassionate, hard-working and driven to serve people in the industry.

As a woman working on the line crews, I sacrificed more than one holiday with my young children, due to inclement weather and power outages. My co-workers and I worked around the clock in snow, high winds, driving rains and freezing temperatures, so that our customers could be back in service as quickly as humanly possible. We had a board in our dispatch office and every address with customers experiencing hardship or life support was red flagged, and would always receive priority in the event of an outage.

Each Christmas, PSE employees find a family in need. We collect food, money and wrap gifts for the children. PSE has a matching gift fund for charities that has extended beyond our borders. Years ago when there was a mudslide that destroyed a village in Central America, my employer offered to meet our donations to the American Red Cross, dollar for dollar. I gave a sizable sum, knowing my donation was doubled by PSE. This act of giving was contagious in our building. It continues to this day.

PSE has visited schools and businesses to educate the public about electrical safety. You don't have to walk far down the hall to find someone collecting funds for The Heart Walk, or The American Cancer Society, which is near and dear to me having lost my own mother to cancer. The giving in this company has been generous and on going. Does PSE have a heart asks Danny Westneat? Yes, we do. It is big, it is compassionate and we care."

Here's another note from a PSE colleague about the December 2006 windstorm:

"My name is Greg Zeller and I was working at our Emergency Operations Center when I received a call from a waitress friend of mine working at a Kirkland restaurant. She said that a woman at a table had broken down in tears over the thought that her husband with terminal cancer would not see the holiday lights on their Christmas tree on his final Christmas.

As any of our team would have done, I made it my mission to not disappoint these people. I followed up and made certain that this would be worked into the priority for restoration by Christmas. As it turned out we were able to restore power to this customer as well as the majority of our other customers well ahead of Christmas day. This is just one example, and one customer, however every PSE employee that I have worked with over my 36 years makes restoration of electricity after a dose of our Northwest weather a mission on behalf of our customers. We can't control the weather, and neither can we control our passion for restoring power to our customers."

A heart, and ears, too

Those are my kids, and yes, I am putting them in this column to make a non-too-subtle point: real people work at PSE, and when our customers have problems it matters to the person on the other end of the phone.

It's been a tough few days in the pages of the Seattle Times for PSE, with columnist Danny Westneat writing about a local couple coping with cancer and their financial challenges. The heart-warming side of this story is the community's reactions and willingness to help out. The heartburn side of the story for PSE is the notion we don't care when medical problems hit our customers.

Here's what I want you to know about PSE: If you're facing a tough situation such as cancer, the loss of a job or whatever, give us a call at 1-888-225-5773.

Contrary to what you might have read in the newspaper or heard on the radio, we don't just suddenly tack a notice to the door one day and say "pay up or we'll shut off the power." The cold, cruel utility suddenly cutting service is a great headline, and a grabber segment for a talk show -- but is also against the law. The notice described in the columns is the last of three notices given to customers whose accounts are overdue.

It's also against state privacy laws for us to divulge a customer's billing information, phone number, address, etc. to the media or anyone else when it is not essential for serving that customer's electric and natural gas needs. Unless a customer gives us written permission, we're pretty much left to saying "no comment," which wins few friends and little sympathy.

Any story about cancer hits me personally. My mother, Mary, died of cancer in March of 2002 and it truly brings me to tears when I think of the ups and downs that my family went through from the time she was diagnosed in August 1999 until her death at the age of 65.

I write this not to say that my experience with my mother is anything to pity or take sympathy on, but to communicate that the big, bad utility is really just people like you going to work each day and trying to do their best while dealing with all that life throws our way.

Vera Fuchs, one of our call center specialists, is the lady who works with people such as the gentleman that Danny Westneat wrote about. She, too, lost someone to cancer -- her husband. A big part of her job is helping the 1540 customers we have with what are called "medical seals" that help protect from disconnections for those with a health crisis.

In a jam? We want to hear from you, and when you call the person on the other end will be right here in our area -- not another state, another country or another continent.

You'll speak to a real live human being, such as Vera, who's had a lot of the same life experiences -- and can walk you through the options for paying your bill and getting out of whatever life has thrown your way.