Muscatine Power and Water debuts customer information system
by Margaret Hurlbert
February 07, 2023

MUSCATINE, Iowa–30 years ago, Muscatine Power and Water introduced its first digital customer information system. In its three decades of use, it has served them well, giving customers the ability to view and pay their monthly bills online. As technology has evolved and made it possible for customers to do more online, Muscatine Power and Water decided the time had come to upgrade. Feb. 13, they brought SmartHub online, offering a variety of helpful features online for both their customers and employees.

Using either the SmartHub web portal or app, Rachel Reed, manager of customer service, explained that customers can take care of a variety of tasks. People may elect to get either paper or online bills, as they can now. They may also get additional information about their daily electricity usage and comparisons to the previous month, pay bills online, and set up auto pay if they prefer. For people who have multiple accounts, such a business owners and landlords, they may use SmartHub to sync them up with only one username and password. The communication section will let people alert Muscatine Power and Water about outages and submit and follow help tickets. A new auto fill feature will automatically link these communications with people’s account numbers, making it easier to tie specific questions and concerns to the right accounts. Each account will also have a shortened six digit account number, making them easier to remember.

As these changes roll out, Reed believes people will appreciate them. “It provides us a way to give customers what they have been asking for,” she said, noting that Muscatine Power and Water has received many requests for an app. She also believed people will like, “the ease of making payments online and monitoring their account information.”

Muscatine Power and Water employees training on the new customer information system. Photo courtesy Muscatine Power and Water.

Employees as well as customers expect to see benefits from the new system. “It brings a lot of efficiencies to different departments at Muscatine Power and Water, especially on the customer service side,” explained Reed. In particular, SmartHub will reduce the need for paper work orders. It will make it easier for technicians to install new meters, as they can use an internet connected device in the field to start service. Help desk staff can also use it to run diagnostics on routers in the Wi-Fi @ Home program (Muscatine Power and Water’s managed Wi-Fi service) remotely, making it easier for them to reset one if a customer has difficulties.

As people begin using SmartHub, they can get help with the new customer information system in several ways. From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., people may contact Muscatine Power and Water customer service at 563-263-2631, option three. 365 days a year, including evenings, weekends, and holidays, people may call the help desk between 6 a.m. and midnight at 563-263-2631 option two. Muscatine Power and Water also plans to hold in person orientation events for those who would rather get help in person.

With SmartHub coming online, Muscatine Power and Water feels many positives will come for both customers and employees. As staff go through the process of fully learning how the system works, Director of Customer and Technology Experience Erika Cox encouraged people to exercise patience as they have their questions answered. “We’re going to do our best–we’ve done a lot of staff training and we think they’re going to do great, but we do anticipate a few road bumps and we ask for a little grace as we work through those.”

Recent Stories

Recent Shows

Get Discover Muscatine in Your Inbox

Select list(s):
en_USEnglish