Hurricanes, regional power blackouts and brownouts, catastrophic fires, mudslides, and earthquakes have caused severe service disruptions and significant loss of revenue to utilities throughout the nation. At the same time, customers are more dependent on continuity of service, and even less willing to accept 'force majeure' as a reason for a lengthy disruption of service. When a major event does cause a problem, it is likely that the local utility will face a public inquiry or audit.

Under these conditions, utilities must be sure that their emergency preparedness and service restoration are as good as they can be, capable of effective execution during an emergency, and of detailed scrutiny afterwards. By analyzing and strengthening existing emergency response and preparedness plans and procedures, a utility puts itself in the best possible position to make a convincing rate case to regulators and public after any major disruption of service.

This conference will reveal the latest tools and techniques in emergency preparedness and service restoration, allowing utility executives and managers the chance to compare their plans and processes against the best in the business, and to learn from those who have lived through the worst conditions what worked well and what needed improvement.

You will learn to:

• Assess your emergency response plan and capabilities,
• Meet or exceed public expectations for performance in emergencies, enabling the recovery of the costs incurred in disaster recovery in rate cases
• Implement the most effective communication strategies with both media and public stakeholders, and guide the public's expectations of the utility
• Improve your management of mutual assistance programs, based on the lessons learned in recent emergencies
• Manage the logistics of a restoration effort, including food, shelter, communications and security for a large temporary workforce
• Optimize call center operations to handle high volume situations
• Incorporate the lessons learned in recent hurricane, snow and ice-storm disasters in your planning, training and execution