BHE officials urge public to be prepared for shutdowns

Be prepared.
That was one of the messages delivered by representatives of Black Hills Energy (BHE) to those in attendance at the June 25 meeting of the Custer County Commission, as the commission heard from three BHE representatives regarding the company’s planned implementation of a Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) program.
Wes Ashton, BHE vice president of South Dakota and Wyoming Utilities, told those at the meeting being proactive and prepared for any shutoff —particularly for those who have electric-powered medical devices they rely upon—is important.
“We haven’t had as many or frequent situations that would require someone to say, ‘what is Plan B, or C or D,’” Ashton said. “We would encourage customers, if you have special needs, to have a plan.”
What those plans would look like, and in what ways BHE could lessen the impact on those people took up much of the conversation at the meeting. The possible length of such shutoffs—combined with the time it would take to fire any deenergized lines up—had several people in the crowd concerned about the more vulnerable population in the county.
County emergency management director Steve Esser asked if BHE would be willing to assist with helping customers hook up generators they may already have to power their home in case of a shutoff.
Piggybacking on that was county veterans service officer Todd Fish, who said many veterans and others in the county rely on electricity to power oxygen machines and other devices, and said some can afford a generator but that, combined with the cost of having it hooked up, makes it unfeasable.
Ashton and Michael  Pogany, general manager of South Dakota Electric Operations, said that was a consideration they would take back to BHE brass.
“I’d like to see it go beyond that. We have businesses that need to survive. We have a huge population that works from home,” Esser said. “This is an event that would be created by you, so I think it’s up to you guys to do everything possible to assist the people who will be affected by your event. This will be your event. When it shows up as emergencies it will show up as a Black Hills Energy event.”
Ashton said BHE customers can make medical issues and needs known in their profile if they are comfortable doing so. 
“We are working on a communication update. How do we get that out to folks? What would it look like?” Ashton asked. “Any need that is extraordinary we want to make sure we are aware of those customers and have options available to them.”
Pogany said Winter Storm Atlas in 2013 taught BHE many lessons, including that self-reporting medical needs to the utility is helpful, as it helps with prioritization in terms of emergency response.
Custer County state’s attorney Tracy Kelley asked if BHE was considering providing generators to such people, with Ashton saying “not at this time.”
How focused any shutoff would be was also discussed, with Kelley asking if there was a minimal area that would be affected—and whether BHE could trim a shutoff down to a neighborhood or if it would have to be a larger area.
Pogany said technology has advanced to the point BHE can effect a smaller shutoff, saying the goal will be to impact the smallest area possible.
Pogany said there is a misconception that if there is a shutoff that occurs “all of the Black Hills is going to go dark.”
“That’s not true. It is sectionalized, focused areas that meet the criteria needed to be deenergized,” he said.
What is that criteria? 
Pogany said industry standards focus on wind speed gusts and relative humidity. Gusts that exceed 45 mph, combined with low relative humidity, would provide the conditions that could enact a shutoff. Pogany said a National Weather Service Red Flag Warning is not the same as conditions for a shutoff.
“The criteria the National Weather Service uses for a red flag warning has much lower thresholds than the threshold we would be using for a power shutoff,” he said.
Over the past several months BHE has engaged with an outside consultant to look at its service territory and done a number of wildfire simulation modules to look at potential impacts of a wildfire in its service territory, and has also identified critical areas that may need additional infrastructure upgrades and special considerations during a shutoff, Pogany said.
BHE took a historic look over the past six years to determine how many shutoffs would have happened during that timeframe, as well as how long those events would have lasted. In some years there would have been no such events, with the other years having one or at most two such events. The events lasted around two-and-a-half to three hours, Pogany said. The longest was seven hours.
Those timeframes do not count BHE’s patrol and inspection of deenergized lines after the weather that forced the shutoff dissipates. The time those patrols take will depend on the miles of lines shut down, but Pogany said every able body will be used to conduct the patrols so the power can be restored as quickly as possible.
Pogany said the assumption is that the shutoffs would occur in the summertime, but the historical data shows that is not the case. Rather, the incidents would have happened in the shoulder months—in March/April and October/November due to the wind and drier fuels in the forest. That data is over the entire footprint of the BHE service area, not just Custer County.
“I understand it’s not a crystal ball for the future, but looking back on data we have suggests this will not be a July Fourth situation,” Pogany said. “It could be, but it hasn’t been in the past.”
Commission counsel Aaron Davis asked how much area would have been affected by those hypothetical shutdowns during those past ripe conditions, and Custer County Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Derrick Reifenrath asked how many power outages ocurred during those times. That data was not readily available but could be investigated.
Kelley asked how many fires over the historic time frame were actually caused by power lines.
“Obviously this is driven by liability and insurance considerations,” she said.
Ashton pushed back on characterizing the program as being based on liability issues.
“I would characterize it based on safety,” he said. “We can do more for safety than we have ever been able to do. This is where the utility industry is going.”
Ashton said BHE has not spent time talking about specific causes of fire.
“That’s a question lawyers talk about and we don’t,” he said. “I’m operations-based and I say ‘what are we doing to protect and prevent the next one (fire)?”
Esser referenced a PSPS that happened in Colorado in April of last year, saying it was a “total mess,” and  asked Pogany and Ashton how they planned to prevent a similar situation here. Among the issues with that shutdown included businesses losing thousands of dollars in revenue and product and Boulder’s wastewater facility nearly overflowing sewage into Boulder Creek because the PSPS shut off power to both substations that supply power to the facility.
Esser also wondered how BHE would notify people in Custer who are not customers, and wondered if there would be a call center set up so Custer County dispatch was not flooded with calls “that have nothing to do with emergencies.”
“We are trying our best to learn from the mistakes of other utilities that have already gone down this path,” Ashton said. “It doesn’t mean we have every answer and it’s perfect. The idea is to talk about this before it happens rather than as a result of it occurring.”
Both Pogany and Ashton  stressed communication is key, and said BHE would communicate as early as possible when conditions appear to be forming to create a PSPS, and will update customers throughout a PSPS through a variety of outlets, including phone calls, emails, text message, social media, traditional media and the BHE website.
The public can learn more at blackhillsenergy.com/safety/wildfire-safety-and-prevention/public-safety-power-shutoff.
Pogany and Ashton stressed any PSPS would address “the worst case day” and is a step that would not be taken lightly.
“This is something we would take very seriously,” Ashton said. “We understand there are a lot of impacts from it. What we are trying to work on is if we have the ability to try to stop something catastrophic from happening and we have the means to do that, how do we not take that seriously? I know it’s not going to get unanimous consent.”