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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Wwp Vows To Do Better In Next Emergency Utility Says It’ll Improve Communication, Establish Clear Priorities, Re-Evaluate Procedures

Washington Water Power Co. will take several steps to improve its response to the region’s next weather emergency, says a new WWP report on the November ice storm submitted to state regulators Tuesday.

The utility says it plans to:

Improve the “clarity, accuracy and amount” of customer communication during major outages.

Establish a clearer system of priorities for who gets power restored first.

Pre-assign WWP employees to specific emergency tasks.

Re-evaluate the most efficient deployment of crews restoring power in the field.

“Because ice storm ‘96 was the most devastating event ever to occur on its system, WWP gained experience which can be applied to future wide-scale outages,” the report says.

The storm packed the worst punch in 115 years. The top of a typical 30-foot pine tree was slathered with an additional 2 tons of ice - up to five times its normal weight - according to the report.

WWP spends about $4 million a year on tree trimming, but more trimming wouldn’t have avoided the catastrophic failure of treetops, the report says.

WWP’s ice storm analysis still is preliminary and won’t be completed until after company officials hear from the public in Spokane next month, said WWP spokesman Rob Strenge.

The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission has scheduled a 5:30 p.m. hearing on Feb. 13 at Spokane Falls Community College to review the utility’s response to the storm.

This week’s report “provides an overview for the Washington commission to make it more familiar with the events and the issues in advance of the hearing,” said Strenge.

The storm caused $11.1 million in damage to the utility’s electric distribution system.

A recent WWP survey of 400 Spokane County residents shows most of the utility’s customers think WWP did a good job during the ice storm, Strenge said.

Overall, including results from the Coeur d’Alene area, 81 percent of the respondents said WWP made a good or excellent response, while only 2 percent said the company’s response was poor, the survey indicated.

However, several dozen Spokane residents wrote to the state regulatory commission to complain about WWP’s response.

“Being without power for over six days is not acceptable,” Don Kreuziger of Spokane wrote in a December letter.

The Kreuzigers, who were without power from Nov. 19-25, also praised the crews who worked during the emergency.

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: MEETING The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission hearing on the ice storm will be Feb. 13 at 5:30 p.m. in the music building auditorium (Building 15) at Spokane Falls Community College, 3410 W. Fort George Wright Drive.

This sidebar appeared with the story: MEETING The Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission hearing on the ice storm will be Feb. 13 at 5:30 p.m. in the music building auditorium (Building 15) at Spokane Falls Community College, 3410 W. Fort George Wright Drive.