Storm Readiness is Becoming a Regulatory Discipline

Preparing for a major storm has always required utilities to make difficult decisions. How many crews should we bring in, and when should we mobilize them? How much should we spend preparing for a storm that could change course overnight? 

Those decisions aren’t new, but the level of scrutiny around them has changed. It is no longer enough to get the lights back on. Utilities also have to explain the decisions they made along the way. That changes what readiness means. The operational plan still matters, but so does the ability to account for decisions made during the response. 

Consider pre-mobilization. A utility that brings in too many resources can be left with a significant bill if the storm changes course. On the other hand, waiting too long may mean crews aren't available. 

I remember preparing for a winter storm that was expected to bring significant ice to the Ohio Valley. Based on the forecast, we mobilized roughly $1 million worth of crews so we would have enough resources to respond.

Then the weather changed. The dew point shifted, and precipitation came down as pellets instead of the freezing rain we expected. We woke up the next morning with four outages. The roads were still unsafe, so the crews we brought in had to remain in their hotels. We made the decision based on a forecast calling for a significant ice storm. Had that forecast held, waiting to bring in crews could have delayed restoration. Instead, we ended up with a large expense and very little restoration work to show for it. 

Utilities make these judgment calls all the time. The difference today is the level of scrutiny on these decisions afterward, particularly when storm costs are passed along for regulatory review. Months later, a utility may need to explain why it requested resources, what information was available and whether the expense was prudent. That is difficult to do when the details of the response are pieced together after the storm.

The Regulatory Record is Created in the Field

Following Hurricane Beryl, the Public Utility Commission of Texas sought extensive information about utility storm response. Some utilities produced detailed records relatively quickly, while others had information scattered across paper records and folders and needed more time to pull it together.

Much of what regulators ask for after a storm comes directly from day-to-day operations during the event, including when crews were requested and arrived, where they were sent, what work they performed and how plans changed as the storm progressed. Utilities already need this information to manage the response. The challenge is capturing it consistently while hundreds of operational decisions are being made. 

Digital platforms for work execution and resource management can help capture this information as crews are requested, assigned and moved and as work progresses in the field.  During the event, operations leaders can see which resources are available, where they are working and whether they need to be reassigned as conditions change. Instead of reconstructing those activities later from spreadsheets, emails or paper records, utilities have a timestamped history of the response to work from after the storm.

That history can provide important context when storm costs come under review. A final tally of crews and costs may show what a utility spent, but it doesn't necessarily explain why those expenses made sense when they were approved. The forecast may have changed. Damage may have been lighter or heavier than expected. Crews that appeared available early in the event may have been pulled into another region. Those operational details help explain the decisions behind the numbers.  

Utilities still have to make the best call they can with the information available. Technology cannot eliminate the uncertainty that comes with a major storm, but it can give utilities a clearer record of how resources were used and why decisions were made. When a utility faces scrutiny, a time-stamped record of what was identified, when action was taken and who was responsible can become invaluable. Without that documentation, utility leaders may find themselves unable to defend decisions that could ultimately cost them their jobs.