Iowa’s largest energy company is now providing power outage information on it’s website. MidAmerican Energy spokesperson Allan Urlis says the electrical outage tracking system obviously won’t be of much use to persons experiencing the outage.
"But our data shows that approximately 80-percent of the visits to MidAmerican Energy’s website occur from a place other than a customer’s home," Urlis says, "so there’s a lot of places that people can check if a power outage is affecting a certain area."
Urlis says the on-line tool might also help relatives, who have family in an area of Iowa being hit by a storm. "So it’s not only for customers who want to check on their home from work or from a smart phone device," Urlis says, "family members in other areas of the country can also see if their loved ones are being affected by a power outage."
The on-line system is also expected to assist radio stations, for example, that receive calls from listeners who are experiencing a power outage. The tool is available at www.midamericanenergy.com .