Dive Summary:

• A report conducted by New Jersey’s Board of Public Utilities titled “Performance Review of EDCs in 2011 Major Storms” has outlined a series of recommendations that utilities can use to improve storm response time.
• Some of the recommendations include developing programs to track tree outages, using social media to announce outages and expected response time, and the utilities submitting themselves to external analysis of their practices.
• The report is the result of a directive put forth by Governor Chris Christie in the aftermath of 2011’s hurricane Irene, which left many customers powerless for extended periods of time.

From the article:

Last week the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities continued its aggressive action to improve the Electric Distribution Companies’ preparedness and responses to major storms by making public a report titled, “Performance Review of EDCs in 2011 Major Storms.” The report documents Emergency Preparedness Partnerships’ (EPP) observations, findings and recommendations based on EPP’s review of the regulated EDC’s storm restoration plans. The report contains many recommendations submitted by the Board’s consultant hired to investigate the EDCs’ restoration plans and actions in response to Hurricane Irene and the October snowstorm. ...