Utility executives offer illuminating advice as states prepare for COVID-19 ‘reopening’
The electric utility industry has seats at many tables this spring as the nation begins the tentative process of “reopening” its economy after an unprecedented hard shutdown triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many states have convened some form of a task force, roundtable, or advisory council consisting of C-level executives from a wide range of businesses, including the local power companies that have been operating at full speed as “essential” industries throughout the shutdown. These ad hoc organizations provide a degree of seasoned guidance to governors and state agencies as they develop strategies to open up businesses – many of which are teetering perilously on a fragile financial edge – at a time when COVID-19 infections may be flattening out, but the stubborn virus remains a definite threat to both employees and customers alike.
The Seattle area was an early COVID-19 hot spot and one of the first to take the radical step of ordering an overall shutdown of schools and businesses. At the same time, a civic organization called Challenge Seattle, which was formed in 2015 with Puget Sound Energy (PSE) as one of its charter members, began working with the Washington Roundtable on a more detailed report on what it would take to reopen the state. Mary Kipp, president and CEO of PSE, represented the company as one of the largest employers in the state.
“Mary Kipp has provided the group with information on how PSE is working to ensure that key and critical energy infrastructure work is performed while following COVID-19 health guidelines,” PSE spokesman Andrew Padula told Daily Energy Insider. “Mary’s participation in the group helped inform PSE’s early actions related to remote work, enhanced facility cleaning, return to work-site planning and other steps needed to protect employee health.”
Some governors, including in California, are seeking input from the business sector as they develop a science and data-driven framework to guide the timing of when businesses should gradually reopen. “I am honored that dozens of leaders in business, labor, health, and philanthropy are stepping up to meet this moment by committing their time and talent to lift up all Californians,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said when he announced the formation of the Task Force on Business and Jobs Recovery last month.
There are, in fact, around 80 people serving on the task force, including Pedro Pizarro, president & CEO of Edison International. Like other advisory councils, the California task force is not tasked with developing the finer points of the state’s reopening plans. Its mandate is to provide insights into how individual industries, including utilities, can operate under pandemic conditions. “Our goal is to present Gov. Newsom with tangible actions that leverage the task force’s expertise to rebuild California, emphasize smart, green technologies and provide a model for economic development for our country,” said the group’s chairman, former presidential candidate Tom Steyer.
With utility workers being required to remain on the job, organizations such as Challenge Seattle and Newsom’s sprawling task force in California have given utility executives the ability to lobby for the coveted personal protective equipment (PPE) needed to protect their workers. “To be clear, public power and the rest of the electricity industry recognize that healthcare workers should have first access to PPE, but these very essential utility workers should be next in line,” Joy Ditto, president and CEO of the American Public Power Association wrote in a recent letter to member companies.
Meanwhile, the Nevada COVID-19 Task Force took the PPE issue a step further. The group, which was formed by Gov. Steve Sisolak’s office and includes NV Energy President and CEO Doug Cannon among its members, has raised funds for high-volume purchases of masks, gloves and other PPE for healthcare facilities. “NV Energy is committed to this state, to all of our communities and to doing our part to help our customers emerge from this pandemic stronger and more resilient than ever,” said Cannon.
In Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer tapped DTE Energy Executive Chairman Gerry Anderson to co-chair the Michigan Economic Recovery Council. The council has already been tasked with creating risk-based guidelines for determining which regions in Michigan would be able to return to work first.
The Michigan Economic Recovery Council has two fundamental goals, Anderson explained during a COVID-19 briefing held by the governor on April 27. “The first is to put Michigan on the path for full economic recovery safely and quickly as feasible. The second goal is to ensure that we stage that economic recovery carefully in a way that safeguards the health of our residents and the health of our workers. The council’s job is to provide advice and input to the governor so that she can use our information on basing her decisions on how to stage a return to broader economic activity on the very best insights and expertise drawn from health care, public health, business, labor, and the academic worlds,” Anderson said.
The existence of business task forces across the United States provides governors and their administrations with access to many of the top business leaders in their respective states, including the utility executives who will be keeping the lights on while the rest of the world begins emerging from COVID-19 lockdown once the coast becomes more clear.
