EPB President Harold DePriest said Friday that the utility is looking into using drones to scout out areas that experience storm damage as well as inspecting the tops of power poles.
Mr. DePriest said when there is a big storm EPB currently has 30-40 people "out walking the lines looking for areas of storm damage."
He said, "What if we could fly drones so we could quickly see the trouble spots and start to work on them?"
Mr. DePriest said it is going to be challenging to make that scenario possible, but EPB staffers are looking into it with the help of experts at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
He said a navigation system needs to be developed, but the main challenge is "developing a method of getting the information back to us from the drones. That doesn't exist today."
Mr. DePriest said the drones may also be helpful in checking for damage at the top of poles to determine which ones are rotting and need replacement before they fall.
The EPB brain trust - again in alliance with the Oak Ridge lab - is also working on developing algorithms to help detect instances where something is causing a customer's bill to soar.
David Wade, a senior EPB official, said this process is now done manually. However, it may take a while to spot a problem and the bill keeps climbing during that time period.
He said it was noticed recently that a woman who normally uses about 1500 kilowatts of power a month had already consumed 1000 kw in the first four days of the month.
The woman had some equipment replaced on her heat pump and the problem was corrected. Mr. Wade said had it gone unnoticed that her bill at the end of the month might have been $600 instead of the normal $150.
Mr. Wade said software is being developed to help keep a closer eye on customer power surges so customers can quickly be alerted to find a fix for the problem.