Emergency planning and business operation continuity

Improving the utility stakeholder experience in a changing world

Reliable utility services are essential to maintaining and advancing standards of living and provide the infrastructure for advanced and emerging economies.

Preparing for storm and disaster events and restoring an electric power system in the wake of an emergency quickly and effectively is paramount to a utility’s goodwill and to the stakeholders it serves.

 

Learning from the past for more effective emergency response planning

KEMA helps utilities evaluate their emergency response planning, execution, design and maintenance programs—identifying opportunities to improve operation, processes and planning. We help clients learn from the past and from leading industry practices to improve for the future. We study a utility’s ability to adequately prepare for and respond to severe weather events and disasters from an enterprise-wide perspective, covering critical issue points including:

  • recovery estimates

  • weather forecasting

  • damage assessment

  • managing staffing requirements during lean times

  • heavy reliance on systems

  • integration of different systems into a cohesive tool set for management

  • strategic approach to major vs. moderate events

  • overall interface with outside

  • foreign crew management

  • material shortages

  • managing customer & regulatory expectations

  • readiness

  • unrealistic hardening issues

  • good stewards of the system

  • the impact of smart grid solutions on restoration.

Applying leading practices to improve business continuity and disaster recovery

Our emergency planning solutions help utility clients identify and apply leading practices to improve their organization’s emergency response planning and execution—helping utilities ensure business operation continuity and efficient and effective disaster recovery.

 

Based on detailed review of a clients’ process, policies and organization, we make specific recommendations for more effective response strategies including improved storm hardening opportunities and maintenance programs. We also evaluate overall communications and messaging efforts to enhance customer experience before, during and after storm events. 

 

Integrated emergency planning solutions, proven tools and techniques

We offer a full range of integrated emergency planning and evaluation solutions—using proven techniques and tools that support both the quantitative and qualitative analyses required for a full understanding of a utility’s operations and organization. Our services cover:

  • restoration evaluation and statistical failure analysis

  • plan development and enhancements

  • restorationIslandstrategies

  • storm damage modeling

  • plan and execution assessments

  • communication strategies

  • technical communications strategies

  • system integration

  • hardening strategies

  • benchmarking studies.

As much of the evaluation involves analysis of data from various systems and reports, KEMA uses a number of effective data modeling and analysis techniques. And our restoration model emphasizes seamless information flow, clear accountability and adequately prepared resources to manage storm restoration.