POWERGRAMS

Alabama Power Company has historically excelled in many areas, but the one demanding task it may be the best in the nation at mastering is storm restoration. This company tradition has a long history. Storms have regularly blown through Alabama, usually moving north from the Gulf of Mexico, challenging Alabama Power's people to perform miracles. I had the opportunity to witness the company's reaction to storms when I was researching Alabama Power's history. In 2004, Hurricane Ivan left a trail of destruction through Alabama, and a Southern Company record 825,701 customers without power that wasn't surpassed until Hurricane Irma left nearly 1 million Georgia Power customers in the dark this past September. The morning after the storm, as I prepared to leave home for my research office in the Alabama Power Archives, my husband, George, said I should not go in because the CEO at the time, Charles McCrary, had enough to worry about other than the history book. I replied that I had an appointment to interview him, and I would be outside his office. If he could not see me, I had work to do anyway. To my amazement, when McCrary knew I was sitting in the waiting area, he brought me into a meeting with a handful of his top people, waiting for reports from all areas with responsibility to initiate and support plans for power restoration. That meeting gave me an appreciation of storm restoration and Alabama Power's commitment and organizational planning that, over the years, had been constantly improved through storm restoration experiences. Storm restoration may be the worst of times, but the dedication and advanced planning of Alabama Power's people get things moving fast. That morning 13 years ago, there was a conference call including all vice presidents and presidents of Southern Company operating companies, especially Power Delivery managers. Mississippi Power needed more cellphones. One manager spoke up and said that 200-plus phones were already on their way to the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Looking over the statistics, the vice president for Power Delivery sighed and remarked "We can't fix this. It's too much." Then he joined in plans to fix it as soon as possible. The company leaders announced goals, and employees moved mountains to make sure the power was on before the restoration deadline. Technology was essential. The computer system, SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) told Transmission and Distribution engineers exactly where circuits were out. Alabama Power's Call Center representatives took more than 900,000 calls in the days after the hurricane. They had told customers to call on their house phones because the company's computers could provide the address associated with that phone. Alabama Power established goals and expectations for when power could be restored. There was a companywide, systemwide plan for restoration, which was tweaked and then put into place. Alabama Power is part of the Southeastern Electric Exchange, a regional organization that has structures in place for electric utilities to cooperate and help each other when large storms cause extensive damage to a system. In Alabama, storms usually hit the Mobile area first, and then move north. With today's technology, power companies can anticipate when a storm will be moving into their territory and start preparations before it arrives. Storm restoration isn't just about those men and women who climb power poles to get the lights on; it is also about employees who have to feed and house thousands of Alabama Power's personnel and contract workers so they can repair the broken poles and lines. Arenas must be rented, and folding cots, pillows and blankets loaded 43 HISTORY

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