However, after Hurricane Katrina and Super Hurricane Sandy, the energy industry – including supply companies (IOUs), municipalities and cooperatives – began to explore ways to improve mutual support. Although mutual assistance organizations are a fundamental pillar of the industry`s response to failures, the manual and important nature of this process often results in slower response times and higher costs. In the past, mutual aid programs were not standardized, and they looked like “the neighbor`s call and the request for a cup of sugar,” Hyland noted. After Superstorm Sandy, however, Hyland said, some utilities have learned that they are not sending the right resources. For example, a distribution company sent overhead transmission teams to provide mutual assistance in areas where distribution is underground. While these crews were being sent home, another Los Angeles-based supply company checked an underground system diagram before they even started working. “The use of self-help is the lifeblood of distribution companies moving into and after storms,” said Hyland, who has worked in the energy sector for 30 years. “These storms can range from superstorm Sandy to snowfall, mudslides, ice storms and tornadoes.” In general, line judges have fewer accidents in joint aid projects than at any other time, according to Hyland. January 24, 2016 – Hydro Ottawa has signed a formal agreement to become a member of the North Atlantic Mutual Assistance Group. Municipal services and electricity cooperatives also have their own mutual assistance programs that assist businesses involved in the restoration.
Many humanitarian organizations are divided into regional groups so that they can easily react in the immediate vicinity. At the national level, IEE members have formalized a system or framework to coordinate the sector`s mutual assistance process in order to allocate industry resources in the most efficient and effective way possible. The NRE relies on RMAGs, but offers the possibility of staggering it at a national level. The CEO or manufacturer of an affected utility may declare an NRE reserved for the most important events, for example. B if many RMAGs cannot provide assistance due to resource constraints. “It allowed us to recover 1.1 million customer outages caused by Sandy and a Nor`easter that hit the following week. It was our greatest mutual support to date. We set up base camps where workers could sleep, eat and rest while they were out of service. Since Superstorm Sandy, the process of mutual support and restoration has been improved. In the northeast, the smaller RMAGs have learned that they overlap in terms of service areas and participating companies. In 2013, these three RMAGs – New England, New York and Mid-Atlantic – joined together as NAMAG, a voluntary association of 25 utility companies with more than 36 million customers.
Yip says this allows for a more effective mutual assistance process and more resources to which they can rely. For example, superstorm Sandy hit during Halloween week. Less than a week later, a snowstorm blew up Maryland and surprised some self-help teams. “Restoring customers` power after a storm is complex and needs to be completed in the safest and fastest way possible,” said Nelson Yip, director of emergency management at Consolidated Edison in New York, which provided mutual assistance to Dominion Energy after Hurricane Matthew and sent to Rochester. , New York, after a violent storm. “Electric companies have a long tradition of helping each other with catering. Our philosophy of mutual support is that it is better to give than to receive. Self-help is about relationships and helping people of the same age when they are in need and we are not affected by the weather. It is also essential to restore power and meet the needs of our customers after storms. Entergy Corporation received the 30th