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Many people couldn’t find the information they needed during the recent fire safety power cuts in Northern California, due to poor organization by web search companies and website problems at utility companies. This created confusion and frustration, and could have meant much deeper problems if the outages had lasted as long as originally feared.
The problems were revealed by user tests conducted during the blackouts by UserTesting. The tests showed that significant improvements in usability and server reliability are urgently needed to cope with future power cuts. The incident has important lessons for anyone involved in public safety. With potential power shut-offs looming for this week for Northern and Southern California residents, addressing the problems can’t happen soon enough.
During the blackouts, UserTesting surveyed people in affected counties to ask if they had been affected by the cuts, and how they prepared for them. We also captured video of the web resources they used for information, and what worked and didn’t.
Key findings included:
The remainder of this research is divided into three sections:
Most people heard about the cuts through a variety of media. The most common sources were websites (the local utility, Google, local news sites, and Nextdoor were all mentioned), social networks like Facebook, and conversations with friends. Many people said they expected Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E), the local utility, to be the ultimate source of truth about the cuts, and expressed frustration when they had to go to other sources to get information.
Sixty-five percent of the people we spoke to were notified that they might lose power, and of those people, about half actually did lose power. One person said they lost power but were not notified about it in advance. Many of the people who were notified complained about the vagueness of the warnings. Many said they were notified only that they “might” lose power, but they wanted specifics on whether the cutoffs would happen, and when, so they could make plans.
Most of the people who were notified, and some who were not, did small amounts of advance preparation. This usually consisted of buying bottled water and non-perishable food, and filling the car with gas. A few did more complicated preparation, like buying a cooler and ice, or buying propane. No one reported that they had prepared for a blackout as long as seven days, even though many of the public notices said to do that.
Because it was short, the impact of the blackout on most people was mostly emotional. A few people reported losing food, and a couple missed a day of work. But many reported anxiety and frustration as they tried to determine if their power would go off, and when it would come back. A couple of people reported that they would have had serious problems if the outage had lasted more than a day. For example, one person depended on daily medication that needs to be refrigerated. He had bought ice and a cooler to hold the medicine, but that was good for only about a day.
Most people reported that they took steps online to find out if their home would be affected by the outage. Most of them started with a web search for “power cuts” or phrasing like that. Some went directly to the website of PG&E. The results of those online searchers were mixed:
Most of the participants acknowledged that the cuts were necessary to prevent fires, but after that their opinions split. Some felt the incident was well handled in general. Many felt the immediate execution of the cuts was well handled, but were angry or frustrated that the power company’s infrastructure was vulnerable to wind problems. A few questioned the need for the cuts at all. Many said they will be less understanding if the power cuts are repeated.
Initial notification was good, but after that the process often broke down. The broad notification process was effective at letting people know something was going on, but many people struggled to find details that would let them act on the situation. Web searches were often confusing, a key website failed, and the notifications given to power customers were frustratingly vague. This created a lot of anxiety. If this had been a broadly life-threatening emergency, the results could have been serious. Four issues stood out in particular:
Some other elements in the emergency response stood out because they worked well:
Lessons for companies and organizations involved in public safety:
The tests were conducted during the power safety power cuts, on October 10. UserTesting panelists living in affected counties were asked a series of questions including:
We then asked the participants to show us how they searched for information on the power cuts.
All responses were video-recorded. The test was run on twenty people, ten using desktop computers and ten using smartphones, for a total of about five hours of video. Representative clips were taken from the videos, and were edited for brevity and clarity. Tests like this are very accurate for detecting attitudes and usability problems, and understanding the “why” behind statistical surveys.
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