Customer property damage claim

How do we take a customer's property damage claim from a surge or utility work, collect the photos and estimates, investigate and decide it, and issue payment?

Run the claim as an investigation with the customer's evidence collected once. Callvu opens the claim from the customer's report, prefills the account, the premise and the utility's own records for the date (the outage or voltage events, the work orders and crews at the location, the vegetation or construction activity), classifies the claim type (a voltage surge or dip, damage from crews or contractors, a vehicle or equipment incident, a tree or vegetation event), chases the customer's evidence through a link (photos of the damage and the items, repair estimates or invoices, the date and time, their insurer's details), chases the field investigation and the crew's report inside the utility, routes the liability decision to the claims adjuster in the Decision Desk with the evidence and the tariff's liability limits, and writes the decision and the payment to the CIS and the claims system.

In scopeComplex: multi-party handoffsCallvu moves: chase and verify, classify, decide, write back

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Last updated November 7, 2026.

The problem today

The claim arrived by letter three weeks after the surge, and nobody could tell whether the utility had been on that street that day.

Today, without Callvu

A customer's appliances fail after a surge, or a crew's truck breaks a fence, or a contractor's trench cuts a sprinkler line. The claim comes by letter or a web form; the claims adjuster asks for photos and estimates by email; the field office is asked what happened; the customer's insurer calls. Weeks pass, the file is three emails and a voicemail, and the decision is made on what can be reconstructed.

The utility holds most of the facts: the voltage and outage events at the premise and the feeder on the date, the work orders and crews at the location, the vegetation and construction activity. The customer holds the damage: photos, estimates, invoices, the insurer. The tariff limits the utility's liability for service interruptions and voltage events in most states, and the claims rules set the standards. A claim assembled from both sides on the day it is reported is a claim that can be decided.

The investigation should start with what the utility already knows.

How it runs

From the requestto the system of record.

A customer reports property damage from a surge, an outage, utility work or an incident, in any channel. Callvu opens the claim on the account.

Customer: Describes the damage, uploads photos, estimates and invoices, and gives their insurer's details through a link.
Field operations and contractors: Supply the investigation report, the crew records and the incident details through their links.
Claims adjuster: Decides liability and the amount in the Decision Desk.
Callvu: Prefills the utility's records, classifies, chases both sides, routes, pays and writes.

Prefill and classify
The account and the premise are prefilled with the utility's records for the date and location: the outage and voltage events at the premise and the feeder (from the outage management and the smart meter data), the work orders and crews at or near the address, the contractor jobs, the vegetation work; the claim type is classified (a voltage event, crew or contractor work damage, a vehicle or equipment incident, vegetation, a meter or service drop fault) with the tariff's liability provision that applies.
Chase and verify the customer's evidence
The customer provides the damage description, the date and time, photos of the damage and the affected items, repair estimates or invoices, proof of ownership where the amount warrants, and their insurer's details through a link; each is read and checked (the date against the events, the items against the photos, the estimates' scope) and what is missing is chased.
Investigate and decide
The field investigation (an inspection of the service drop, the meter and the premise where the claim type requires, the crew's or the contractor's incident report) is chased from operations through their links; the claims adjuster decides in the Decision Desk with the utility's records, the customer's evidence, the investigation and the tariff's liability limits, and only the allowed outcomes: accept and pay the documented amount, accept a reduced amount with the reason, refer to the contractor's insurer, or deny with the reasons and the tariff provision cited.
Write back
The decision and the payment (or the referral to the contractor's or the customer's insurer) are written to the claims system and the CIS, the system of record for the account, the customer receives the written decision with the reasons and the complaint rights, and the claim is reported with the incident for the utility's loss records.

Where it ends: The claim was assembled from the utility's own records and the customer's evidence on the day it was reported, investigated, and decided by the adjuster against the tariff with the reasons written, and the CIS and the claims system hold it. The Decision Trace shows the records prefilled, the classification and the decision; the Audit Trace shows the uploads, the investigation and the payment with time.

Runtime enforcement

What is enforcedwhile the work runs.

The regulations preloaded in Callvu Studio and the bank's own policies, applied as steps that run, not lines in a binder. A step that breaks a rule does not run, so a completed run was compliant.

Regulations

The utility's tariff liability provisions and the commission's rules: Most tariffs limit the utility's liability for damage from service interruptions, voltage variations and conditions outside its control to cases of gross negligence or willful misconduct, as approved by the commission; damage caused by the utility's crews or contractors in the course of work is handled under ordinary negligence and the contractor's agreement and insurance; the classification identifies which provision governs the claim.
State claims handling and consumer protection rules and the commission's complaint process: A denied claim carries the customer's right to complain to the commission or to pursue the claim in court; the written decision with the reasons and the evidence record support the utility's position, and the commission's complaint rules set the response periods.
Contractor agreements and the utility's incident reporting: Contractors are required to carry insurance and to report incidents; a claim arising from a contractor's work is referred to the contractor's insurer under the agreement, with the utility's records supplied; the incident is recorded for safety reporting.

Company policies

The claim starts with the utility's own records for the date and the location, prefilled before the customer is asked anything.
The customer's evidence is collected once through a link; the adjuster decides from a complete file.
Every decision cites the tariff provision and states the reasons in writing.
The claims system and the CIS hold the claim; contractor claims are referred under the agreement.

Controls

Prefill of outage, voltage, work order and contractor records.
Claim type and liability provision classification.
Customer evidence capture with reading and checks.
Field investigation chase.
Decision Desk liability decision with required outcomes.
Claims system and CIS write, written decision and reporting.

Clocks and deadlines

Acknowledgment: On receipt, with what will be needed.
Investigation: The field report chased on the schedule; the customer sees status.
Decision: The utility's service level from the complete file, within the commission's complaint periods where they apply.

Documents and checks

The utility's records for the date and location
The customer's description, photos, estimates and insurer details
The field investigation report
The decision with the tariff provision
The payment or referral and the CIS record

In the Decision Trace

The records prefilled and the classification.
Each evidence check.
The decision, the provision cited and the adjuster.

In the Audit Trace

The report with time.
Each upload and the investigation with time.
The decision, the payment and the write.

The handoff

Between the front doorand the back office.

The front door

Any channel; the customer uploads evidence on their phone through a link.

The back office

Operations supply the investigation through their links; the adjuster decides from a complete file.

The Decision Desk

Every claim goes to the claims adjuster in the Decision Desk with the utility's records, the customer's evidence, the investigation and the tariff's liability limits, and only accept and pay, accept reduced with reason, refer to the contractor's insurer, or deny with reasons and the provision cited.

Proof

In scope.Proof at scale, not one process at a time.

The kind of process Callvu runs in production for customers in this industry. Ask for a reference on this exact process. The results below are the industry's published proof; each claim code links to its record on agents.callvu.com.

More than 1,000 processes are live across Callvu customers.

Across Callvu customers

PSEG Long Island runs start, stop and move service on Callvu, live in 4 weeks.

Across Callvu customers

Questions

What buyers ask next,answered plainly.

What does the utility check first?

Its own records for the date and location: the outage and voltage events, the work orders and crews, the contractor jobs and the vegetation work, prefilled before the customer is asked for anything.

What does the customer provide?

The damage description, the date and time, photos, repair estimates or invoices, proof of ownership where the amount warrants, and their insurer's details, through a link.

Is the utility liable for surge damage?

Most tariffs limit liability for voltage events to gross negligence; the adjuster decides against the provision that governs the claim type and states the reasons in writing.

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