NEPPA President Bilda Testifies on Weather-Related Outage Response

On Apr. 26, NEPPA president and general manager of Norwich Public Utilities John Bilda testified at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on utilities’ response to weather-related electrical outages. The hearing was scheduled in response to a request from Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and featured testimony from Blumenthal and Patricia Hoffman, who heads the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability; Norman Bay, Director of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Office of Enforcement and Tom Getz, former Chair of the Public Utilities Commission of New Hampshire.

Copies of the witnesses’ testimony and an archive of the hearing can be viewed on the committee website. In addition to Blumenthal and Shaheen, Chairman Bingaman (D-NM), ranking member Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) and Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), John Barrasso (R-WY), Al Franken (D-MN), John Hoeven (R-ND) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) attended the hearing.

Sen. Blumenthal held Norwich Public Utilities out as an example of one utility that got it right after the storms, restoring power to most customers within 48 hours while others were without service for more than 14 days. In his testimony, Sen. Blumenthal called on Congress to review the Mutual Assistance Groups (MAG) process for investor-owned utilities to ensure that every state is prepared, and encouraged FERC to provide clear guidance to allow development of micro-grids, which use distributed generation to provide power during emergencies.

Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) noted that most of these outages were distribution-related events, which he said did not mean that the federal government is not concerned about them or could not help in responding to them. He noted that he is interested in learning how the reporting systems work and how they may be improved.

DOE’s Hoffman fielded several pointed questions about the role her office plays in managing weather-related electrical outages. She said, "DOE plays a vital role, in coordination with other Federal agencies and industry, to prepare for and recover from such electric power outages." Sen. Shaheen pressed her on the need for more uniform data collection, but Hoffman said, "We are trending in the right directions." Utilities need to inform their customers first, then regional entities and then federal entities, to help DOE understand what is happening on the ground, she said.

John Bilda’s testimony focused on Norwich’s response to Hurricane Irene and why Norwich was able to get the lights back on while others were without power for days. Bilda pointed to Norwich’s aggressive collaboration efforts with various entities, such as first responders, employee bargaining units, local officials and industry peers to develop a central, streamlined response process. He also encouraged development through organizations like NEPPA, which have well-organized and effective mutual aid systems.

As an electric distribution company, Norwich does not own any transmission lines and relies on intra-state and interstate transmission lines that are controlled by ISO New England and transmission owners for the delivery of power. Bilda discussed how Norwich is using "micro- grid" technologies and distributed generation to provide power when a transmission line is down. Bilda also requested clarification of regulations regarding appropriate use of micro grids from FERC and ISO-New England so that utility companies can depend on them for reliability – including during times of weather-related outages.

Ranking member Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) expressed frustration that the hearing had been scheduled before an upcoming FERC report on the storms in New England which could have shed light on the subject. She noted that the report would be released in four weeks, and felt the Committee should have waited as it would have helped determine the appropriate federal nexus for a hearing. Murkowski clearly was of the view that the scope of the hearing was outside the Committee’s jurisdiction – weather-related outages are typically a problem associated with distribution lines, which are not federally regulated. Murkowski also took the opportunity to highlight her work to get the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to look at the cumulative impacts of EPA regulations on electric reliability. Murkowski restated her intent to draft "safety value" legislation to ensure grid reliability.

Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) and Sen. Shaheen seemed intent on identifying a federal role in distribution outages, repeatedly asking the panel of witnesses if various solutions would be appropriate. Shaheen emphasized the need for better data collection on outages and suggested the need for federal standards and enforcement. Bilda and the other panelists refused to take the bait and repeatedly expressed the importance of local control, and the bifurcation between federal and state jurisdiction over high-voltage transmission versus distribution assets.