Prioritizing vulnerable customers in emergencies

Why some calls should jump the queue

In a heat wave, a cold snap or a long outage, every home service company runs out of capacity. The question then is not whether some customers wait, but who. Most companies answer it on the fly, which means the order depends on who called first and who sounded most upset. A better answer is a written rule that puts the people most at risk first, and a CRM flag that lets whoever answers see it immediately.

The number of customers this affects is growing. The US population aged 65 and older reached 55.8 million in 2020, or 16.8% of the population, up from 13.0% in 2010^[1]. CDC lists older adults, infants and children, people with chronic conditions and people without air conditioning among those at higher risk from heat^[2], and millions of Medicare beneficiaries rely on electricity-dependent medical and assistive equipment^[3]. Many of them are your customers already.

Who counts as vulnerable

Keep the definition practical. You are not assessing anyone's health; you are deciding whose no-heat, no-cool or no-power call cannot wait.

• Adults aged 65 or older, especially those living alone.
• Infants and young children.
• Pregnant people.
• Anyone who depends on powered medical equipment, such as oxygen concentrators, home dialysis, powered beds or mobility devices.
• People with chronic conditions that heat or cold makes worse, as the customer describes them.
• People who cannot easily leave the home to go somewhere cooler or warmer.

The customer tells you; you do not ask for a diagnosis. “Is there anyone in the home who is especially vulnerable to heat or cold, or who depends on powered medical equipment?” is enough.

Build the flag before the emergency

A flag that only exists in the dispatcher's memory fails on the night the dispatcher is off. Put it in the CRM, where every CSR, answering service script and on-call tech can see it.

Collect the flag at moments when it is natural: the first booking, the annual tune-up, a membership sign-up, or a pre-season outreach call. Limit who can see it to the people who need it for dispatch, and remove it when the customer asks or when the review date passes without confirmation.

The triage order during an emergency

1. 01

   Safety emergencies first, for everyone

   Gas smells, CO alarms, fire, sparks and injuries go to 911 or the utility immediately, regardless of who is calling.

2. 02

   Vulnerable customers with no heat, cooling or power

   Flagged customers, or callers who tell you on the call that someone at risk is in the home, go to the front of the dispatch queue.

3. 03

   Members

   Maintenance plan customers next, as their plan promises, within the same urgency level.

4. 04

   Everyone else by urgency

   No heat in freezing weather ahead of partial heat; active leaks ahead of inspections.

5. 05

   Routine work after the surge

   Tune-ups, quotes and minor repairs are rescheduled with a firm date.

Asking without being intrusive

The wording matters. Callers who feel judged or interrogated hold back information. Keep it to one plain question, explain why you ask, and move on.

Script: “One more question so we can schedule fairly while we're this busy: is anyone in the home especially vulnerable to the heat, like an older relative, a baby or someone who uses medical equipment that needs power? We use that to decide who we reach first.” If the answer is yes, say so: “Thank you, I've marked your call as a priority.”

Then give a realistic time, and the interim steps that matter most for that person. For heat: the coolest room, fans, cool water, closed blinds, and a cooled public space if the home is getting hot. For cold: one warm room, layers, and never using an oven or grill for heat. For both, the CO line: if anyone has a headache, dizziness or nausea, or an alarm sounds, leave the home and call 911. Carbon monoxide kills more than 400 Americans a year in incidents not linked to fires^[4].

Resources to share when you cannot get there in time

Sometimes even a priority call cannot be reached fast enough. Have a short, local resource list in the CSR script so callers leave with somewhere to turn.

• 911 for any medical concern, including heat illness symptoms, breathing trouble or confusion.
• The utility's medical priority or life-support program, if the customer's utility runs one, for outage restoration and notification.
• 211, the community information line in most of the US, for local cooling and warming centers and assistance programs.
• State energy assistance programs, including the federal LIHEAP program, for customers worried about bills or repairs.
• The customer's medical equipment supplier, for backup batteries or oxygen when power is out.

Look up the details for your service area once a season and keep them current in the script. A caller you could not serve tonight, who left with the right number, often becomes a loyal customer.

Train the team that answers

1. 01

   Explain the why

   CSRs and answering staff ask sensitive questions more naturally when they understand that the goal is fair scheduling during a surge, not curiosity.

2. 02

   Practice the question

   Role-play the vulnerability question until it sounds like any other intake question, and practice the follow-up when the answer is yes.

3. 03

   Show the flag

   Walk everyone through where the flag appears in the CRM and dispatch screens, and what to do when they see it.

4. 04

   Cover the answering side

   Give the same question, wording and routing rules to your answering service or AI answering setup, and test it with mock calls.

5. 05

   Debrief after each surge

   Share examples of calls handled well, and fix any case where a vulnerable caller waited too long.

Example: an outage with three flagged customers

Example. An electrical contractor's service area loses power for two days after an ice storm. The CRM shows three standby generator customers flagged for home oxygen. The dispatcher calls all three first thing. Two units are running; the third has failed. A tech is sent there before any other call, and the CSR confirms the customer has called her oxygen supplier for backup cylinders. During the day, five more callers say someone in the home uses powered medical equipment. Each is moved up the queue and, with permission, flagged in the CRM for next time.

Planned work matters too

Vulnerability is not only an emergency issue. When a planned job will shut off heat, cooling or power, such as a furnace replacement, a panel upgrade or a roof tear-off over a bedroom, check the flag before booking. Schedule flagged customers for mild days and early starts, confirm they have somewhere comfortable to be during the work, and for powered medical equipment, plan the shutdown with the customer and their equipment supplier in advance. A two-minute check at booking avoids a crisis on install day.

Review the list every year

Before each heating and cooling season, review every flag: confirm it with the customer, update backup contacts, and remove flags that have expired. Check that your answering service or AI answering script asks the vulnerability question, and that flagged customers show up clearly to whoever answers. Then review the last surge: how fast flagged customers were reached, and whether any vulnerable caller waited too long. The same principles apply to callers facing money worries: in 2025, 63% of US adults said they would cover a $400 emergency expense fully with cash or its equivalent^[5], so be ready to explain options such as a temporary repair or financing without pressure. See also the heat wave surge plan.