Power Outage Preparedness for Utilities

From wildfires and hurricanes to a variety of other extreme events, utility infrastructure faces vulnerability to damage which can result in outages and the need to repair or rebuild. Each type of emergency calls for different levels of response depending on the severity of damage and the type of event. 

For utilities, quickly restoring normalcy to the communities they serve is paramount. This means mobilizing and deploying utility crews to assess the full extent of damage, clearing any hazards, and estimate restoration time and equipment needs as quickly and as safely as possible.

Restoration to critical infrastructure and essential facilities such as communication systems, hospitals, data centers, public safety departments, water treatment and sanitation facilities are given top priority for any repairs or restoration prior to moving on to other areas of need.

Meeting Customer Expectations

Recent advances in technology and improved visibility into operations and tracking are enabling utilities to minimize service outages during major weather events and restore services swiftly following an event.

While these technological solutions have allowed utilities to act faster and smarter to ensure they maintain the performance and reliability standards that are essential to the communities they serve, there are still complex challenges that utilities must navigate in their restoration and recovery efforts. Additionally, utilities are faced with increasing pressure from customers, regulatory agencies, and legislators to improve customer satisfaction, provide greater transparency, and strengthen reliability.  

Powering Strong Communities

Utilities are deeply invested in not only providing electricity, but also in making their communities a better place to live and work.

With extreme weather events increasing in size and in frequency, utility workers are putting in longer hours to repair outages and get systems back up and running. Because much of their workforce is local to the community, utility personnel may be experiencing the same power outages or storm damage in their personal lives, and they take pride in putting their communities first and delivering on their promise to provide reliable electric service and exceptional customer service.

With utility branches all over North America, it often means Wesco’s employees are also affected by these same disruptive events. Wesco is committed to supporting utilities with the materials and services they need so that they can provide the best response efforts to the affected communities. 

What Does that Mean?

Having immediate access to an ample supply of material and component storm stock is critical in order to quickly respond to any emergency power restoration event and to meet the evolving power needs in the days and months following a large-scale disruptive event. With Wesco’s size, scope and capabilities, utilities know that in the wake of a disaster, Wesco is there to support them with the crucial equipment needed to perform restoration work.

Time consuming processes can slow down response times for a utility executing recovery and restoration work. Wesco specializes in utility disaster recovery and provides a wide array of capabilities and services built around providing the resources needed to assist utilities with a streamlined approach to storm response. This allows the utility to focus on restoration work while the material management specialists at Wesco take care of the logistical efforts and material availability needed for restoration.

Utilities know they can leverage Wesco’s world-class reputation as supply chain specialists. With proven storm response mechanisms in place and a dedicated team to ensure success, Wesco works quickly and effectively to deliver a best-in-class response to any major outage event. 

Even prior to an event, Wesco is monitoring potential impact and assessing inventory in branches, working with suppliers to ensure access to additional materials, and reviewing logistical operations to allow them to quickly move materials to the locations needed for power restoration. Wesco has built long-time partnerships with industry-leading suppliers which give utility customers access to a vast network of materials.

The Full Force of Wesco

Wesco’s teams across the country have strong customer relationships with the utilities in their individual regions. They understand the urgency required and are experienced in supporting utilities with their vital utility infrastructure needs and providing the resources needed for fast power restoration. 

Sourcing and Purchasing

Following any disruptive event, Wesco’s sourcing and purchasing team partners with you to meet product needs or to provide technical assistance in finding alternative sources of materials. This team monitors inventory levels, materials-in-transit, and builds projections based on upcoming needs. This frees up your own internal team to work on strategic storm response efforts and getting their communities up and running.

Supplier Relations

With a dedicated supplier relations team, Wesco has strong relationships with strategic supply partners which creates a framework for better response to adverse events, reducing availability problems, product delays and giving them the ability to quickly react to and accommodate emergency requests.

Financial Services

Wesco’s financial services team works diligently with their utility customers to ensure that much-needed materials are available when and where they are needed.

Logistics

In the chaos immediately following a major disruption, logistical challenges ramp up considerably. With delivery trucks of their own, and contracts with the major logistics companies across the country, Wesco’s logistical team has the experience and flexibility to ensure that urgently needed materials are delivered to the right places at the right time.

Inventory

Wesco has hundreds of branches across the country with significant investments in inventory to mitigate supply chain issues that support optimal response efforts to help utilities minimize the impact of severe weather disruptions. 

Operations

Wesco’s operations team is effectively the backbone for real-time execution of response to these types of disruptions and based on past emergency mobilizations, they have the experience, operational resilience and strategies to respond effectively to any needs.