With the storm season upon us, UK utilities are once again under pressure to better manage storm damage assessment and related communication with customers and the regulator.
The high-profile storms during the Christmas period last year brought chaos to the power networks in the south of England. More than a million homes were affected and over 16,000 customers were without power for more than 48 hours. The storms led the news agenda throughout December 2013. Yet these storms were not remarkable. Previous disruptive weather conditions also resulted in power cuts to over half a million customers just two months prior to the Christmas storm. While the timing of the storms and subsequent power outages stayed front and centre of the story, so too did the criticism levelled at utilities around the power restoration process.
Repeated condemnation by MPs, the media and customers in reaction to the management and communication of actions by the affected network operators led to Ofgem levelling fines of more than £8 million. In a press release issued following the announcement of a second set of fines, the regulator said: “Further lessons need to be learned by network operators about how they prepare for this scale of weather event, how they handle large volumes of customer calls, particularly their ability to provide timely and accurate information on restoration times, and how resources are shared among different distribution network operators during major weather events.”
The focus of Ofgem’s criticism was not the network operators’ ability to efficiently, effectively and safely restore power, but on their failure to communicate and respond to customers in real time about the process, and to advise when power would be restored.
In March this year, as a result of the December 2013 storms, the regulator issued proposals to improve the guaranteed standards of performance that detail specific minimum service levels tat customers can expect to receive, and the subsequent financial payments if the utility fails to meet them.
With the threat of companies having to pay additional financial penalties to both the customer and the regulator, utilities need to prepare and respond to likely communication challenges and make improvements to working practices in the face of further looming bad weather.
The problem is that by its very nature weather is unpredictable. A single storm is capable of damaging hundreds of sites scattered across a large geographic area. These can be in remote and inaccessible areas where communication options are limited or non-existent. For crews, possibly unfamiliar with the area, it is challenging to make an accurate assessment of the situation on the ground when faced with poor weather, difficult ground conditions, potential site access restrictions and poor visibility with limited daylight hours available.
Moreover, providing an accurate assessment, which becomes the basis for detailing the process and work required to restore the network, with authority and certainty is difficult.
In addition to challenging conditions, crews on the ground have traditionally relied on pen and paper to record damage and identify workflows and materials required to repair a site. Typically the worker needs to report back to the control centre while in the field to request an appropriately equipped repair crew be sent to the site. This is potentially onerous for the field worker faced with no other option than to physically return to the office to file their assessment.
These delays are unacceptable for customers, who need timely and accurate information on their power loss and may have financial implications for the utility if it is unable to collate damage information and dispatch crews to fix the problem in a timely manner.
Utility companies are looking to technology as a way to improve the management of storm damage, and as importantly its communication of the process. Once viewed as risky and even costly, technology is now providing the power industry with the ability to collaborate in real time with field workers, the control centre and even customers.
Fieldwork management mapping and data collection solutions enable on-the-ground crews to input assessment information, via field computers and smartphones, directly into storm management systems. This improves not just the accuracy of the data but also the immediacy of that data being received and acted upon.
Integration and interaction directly with the centralised storm control process in this way mean that any approved user can access, view and respond to the data – whether that is the customer service team, the repair management crew or other field workers assessing damage in other parts of the network. Collaboration is the key to having a controlled and managed approach to storm damage.
Con Edison’s solution
If there are lessons to be learnt and best practices to be implemented after last year’s storms, then the industry can look to New York’s electricity network operator, Con Edison, as an example of how improving situational analysis has enhanced its response to its customers following the impact of Hurricane Sandy.
Sandy resulted in nearly $62 billion (£40 billion) of damage when it hit the US in October 2012. It was, and still is, the US’s most expensive storm since Hurricane Katrina, leaving nearly 7.5 million people without power in New York alone. In the aftermath of the super storm a series of utility and governmental reviews identified the need to improve damage assessment.
Con Edison decided to implement an asset-based field system that would enable it to respond efficiently and accurately to any future storm damage to its network. Working with Sigma Seven and partner SAMsix to develop an emergency management suite, Con Edison’s field workers are now able to undertake storm assessments, input their findings accurately and in real time into Con Edison’s storm management system while still in the field.
The emergency management suite system uses Sigma Seven’s GeoField product and was designed to support tablet-friendly drop down menus that allow incident notes and damage photos to be taken quickly at the scene of the damage. Nearby asset information is automatically attached along with the position of the assessor, and the package is sent electronically to Con Edison’s systems where it is available to review in real time.
Con Edison’s asset maps and databases are loaded securely on to tablet devices where they are available to field assessors with or without a network connection. This enables them to access any location in the entire Con Edison utility network without having to prepare the device in advance, meaning a quicker response in an emergency situation.
With tougher penalties and a new storm season on the horizon, network operators cannot afford to ignore the lessons from last year. While storm management will always be a challenge for utilities faced with managing the unpredictable, they need to continue to review their plans and processes for dealing and responding to storms before they hit. Collaboration and integration of systems is crucial to stepping up customer service responses and in producing timely and accurate reporting for customer communications, but it must be united in a cohesive solution that is managed and controlled in getting power back up and running.
Without technology to support assessors in the field, utilities run the risk of a less than adequate response when the next big storm hits.
Paul Reid, director, Sigma Seven