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One photo carried by the Associated Press depicts an SUV entrapped flooded road and a tangle of broken power poles and downed wires - an apt visual metaphor for the immense job that faces electric utility crews and other emergency workers as they mop up after Charley. In many cases, it will take weeks before damaged equipment can be cleared away, new poles erected and full service restored. Even when the system is back, thousands of individual buildings will have to wait for electrical inspections and repairs before they can be safely re-energized.
More than 1.3 million households and businesses lost power in the three utility service areas most affected. At this writing, Florida Power & Light was able to bring service back to 85 percent of an estimated 875,000 customers who had suffered service cuts, while Progress Energy was 75 percent toward restoration for the half-million of its customers affected. Tampa Electric, which escaped the worst of the storm after Charley changed course, was able to restore nearly all customers then turned its crews over to assist its neighboring utilities. Dozens of smaller municipal utilities and cooperatives faced their own restoration challenges.
That task is daunting. In Progress Energy Florida’s territory alone, about 700 miles of high-voltage transmission lines were destroyed, along with 80 substations that sustained severe damage. “We are literally rebuilding the entire electrical infrastructure,” said Bill Habermeyer, president and CEO of Progress Energy Florida. "A system that took 100 years to build won’t be fixed overnight."
Even as Charley was pounding the state, these utilities began calling on their counterparts to the north to line up assistance under a voluntary mutual assistance network that electric and telecommunications systems have employed for over 50 years.
As soon as they were assured that Charley was not going to wreak the same kind of damage in their own territories, other utilities responded. Southern Company - the parent of Georgia Power, Gulf Power, Mississippi Power and Savannah Electric - sent nearly 2,000 distribution and transmission line personnel, engineers, damage assessment workers and support contractors. Duke Power enlisted 850 of its workers to assist in Florida and other regions inundated by Charley. Baltimore Gas & Electric dispatched 130 line workers. Others, even more distant, stood ready to help.
"With a storm like this, if you are a utility within three or four states away, you’re probably going to get a call," observed Ken Hall, director of security and T&D operations for the Edison Electric Institute. The logic behind mutual assistance is simple, he said. "If I come and help you this year, you’re going to help me the next time."
Mutual aid has long been a part of the culture of the electric power industry, but it became more formalized following the devastation of Hurricane Hazel in 1954, which spread her destruction from the Caribbean islands to Toronto and caused nearly 400 deaths. Hazel was the eighth hurricane to land onshore that year.
Members of EEI formed what Hall called a "gentlemen’s agreement" to bring crews and resources to localities hit by major natural disasters, whether they were hurricanes, tornadoes, ice storms, or earthquakes. "Initially is was a contact list of key people to call to try to get crews," he said. "This evolved over the years to include more details on each utility's operating practices, voltage levels, crew configurations, and other things. So you could understand what companies needed."
In the year 2000, EEI transferred this data to its Internet system, called RestorePower, which now offers an ID-protected site for the exchange of information. RestorePower allows registered users to:
EEI supplements the real-time service with its own research and each February the group holds a conference to review major events to present case studies. EEI also presents an annual "Emergency Response Award" to recognize the efforts of a member that performs superior service in restoring power to hard-hit communities. In 2000, the organization specially recognized Allegheny Power for 15 separate instances in one year when it sent crews to assist other utilities in need.
Other industry organizations have their own takes on mutual assistance. The North American Electric Reliability Council maintains a database of spare parts that can help utilities locate replacement equipment, such as transformers, that would otherwise take months to replace. The Electric Power Research Institute has developed Resource Allocation and Mutual Assistance Program (RAMAP) software to automate emergency communications and resource-distribution decisions.
Public power agencies across the nation utilize a standard form “mutual aid agreement” developed by the American Public Power Association and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (APPA/NRECA) to govern how compensation "at reasonable and customary rates" is charged for equipment and personnel provided under the contract. In Wisconsin, for example, over 100 utilities and rural co-ops have signed onto the mutual aid agreement.
"The industry in the past ten years has really gone to mutual assistance," said EEI’s Hall. Unfortunately, some companies—including Progress Energy, FPL and Duke - have become especially expert in managing disasters by virtue of the being located on common hurricane pathways. Another trend noted by Hall is that with all utilities paring their own workforces, the call for assistance needs to be spread over greater distances.
Despite the widespread impact of the August 14th Blackout, there was little need for mutual assistance, in terms of needing outside repair crews. Hurricane Isabel had much more impact, especially because it hit the densely populated Washington, D.C. area.
The Bottom Line: Ken Hall is reticent about comparing Hurricane Charley to other recent disasters in terms of extent of utility damage or costs. “It’s pretty bad, but it’s hard to quantify. I don’t have the details,” he said. As you go back in time, information is harder to gather. “Five years ago you got a little data, ten years ago there’s almost nothing,” he said. Hall will conduct his own review of utility mutual assistance activities in the wake of Hurricane Charley by monitoring company Web sites and news reports. After things calm down a bit, he’ll go to the source—to the engineering and operation personnel who are responsible for restoring power to all customers. “Now is not the time to talk with the utilities," he said. “People are busy."
Arthur O’Donnell is Energy Central’s Editorial Director—Newsletters. The Business Electric is found exclusively on Energy Central.
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