Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Discover Co-op Conversations with DEMCO as we explore the power of a local member-owned not-for-profit electric cooperative. Since 1938, DEMCO has woven cooperative principles into every wire, and our business isn’t just about electricity.
At DEMCO, we’re more than just an electric company, and our work, is more than just a job. As a local member-owned cooperative, we are your neighbors, your family and your friends. We exist to serve you, and we take a lot of pride in all that we do.
Our mission is to enhance the quality of life for our members, employees, and communities by safely providing reliable and competitively priced energy services. You’ve probably seen us out in the community—at events on and off duty—doing what we can to make a difference.
And now, you can hear us on your favorite podcast platform as we discuss what makes cooperatives special and inform the community about how we are striving to serve you in everything we do.
DEMCO, Powering life and community, that’s the cooperative difference!
David Latona:
Welcome to Co-op Conversations with DEMCO,
where we talk about the topics that impact your power,
your co-op, and your community. I'm your host,
David Latona.
In this episode, we're talking about the people and processes
behind DEMCO's storm preparation and response.
Today, we're talking with Eric Ouber,
DEMCO's Manager of System Operations,
about what happens before, during,
and after a storm and how technology,
planning and people work together to restore power as safely and
quickly as possible.
Eric, thanks for being here.
Eric Ouber:
Thank you. I'm glad to be here,
David.
David Latona:
When bad weather is headed our way,
especially when a tropical storm enters the Gulf,
we often get the question, what is DEMCO doing to prepare?
Well, let's talk about that because we know that preparations
begin long before the first raindrop falls.
We've discussed with other guests what it takes to prepare,
but I know you'll have a great perspective as to your experience.
So, Eric, can you walk us through what actually happens when
DEMCO begins tracking a storm?
Eric Ouber:
So before it all starts, we'll just monitor it around the clock,
24/7.
We start having, I would say, days and days before the actual
storm hits,
we start having internal meetings with all departments,
our vendors,
the ALEC, which is the electric cooperative for all of Louisiana
to start getting the ball rolling for outside
help that may come in and what numbers we may need or anything
like that.
In-house contractors that we have on a daily basis,
we'll shift them into getting prepared to wrap up
anything they were on, get all that secure as best as possible
before the storm hits.
And then we'll also transition them over into storm ready,
prepping,
anything we can possibly do to secure personnel before the storm.
All of our equipment runs through any kind of maintenancing to
get everything as a 100%
possible to be able to tackle all the storms and everything when
it comes in.
The emergency response plan that we have is a detailed guideline
for specific personnel,
what feeders they're on, what areas they're on,
what districts.
We'll actually stage folks if high water is a an issue to where,
you know,
you're not going to be able to cross it,
just all details that you could possibly think of that would
hinder getting our members' lights back on as fast as possible.
You know, nobody's perfect, but we try our best to give it 110%
pre-thought to where when
our members are in the dark, it's just an action.
It's not a, then let's figure out what to do.
David Latona:
When you are watching the weather,
and you're maybe even watching outages that might preempt the
storm landing, what is the moment when that emergency response
plan is enacted?
Eric Ouber:
Our trigger internally to implementing our emergency response
plan is anything that we look to
last longer as far as restoration that lasts longer than 72
hours.
We won't be able to work this straight through,
so we have to have a plan,
whether it be employee rotation to save,
you know, we can only work so many hours,
and then you're mandated for a rest period.
You start shuffling of who stays,
who goes, what do you do?
If we feel that we can do it in 72 hours,
we don't typically enact the emergency response plan.
We just work it until it's on, until it's done.
David Latona:
Sure. And I know that we have, like you said,
we're obligated to regulation through OSHA that says you can only
work so many hours in a day. The work being done is so dangerous
that we want our guys to be rested and ready to respond.
Eric, I know that part of your role in the past and currently is
overseeing that control center that
monitors our entire system, all seven parishes,
all of our 120,000 meters.
So tell me when there is an emergency response,
what's happening in that control center?
Eric Ouber:
The control center is running 24 hours a day,
seven days a week,
365 days a year. Whether there's a storm or not,
someone has to be there to monitor the
system, be there to dispatch crews in the cases of emergencies.
In the event of a hurricane, we are monitoring the entire system.
We're getting their schedules lined up to where we have
additional personnel in there.
If we're looking like it's going to be a high tier event where
offices will be closed,
we will bring in member services to assist in phone calls and
taking emergency calls.
And our control room is monitoring live data that comes in
before the storm, during the storm,
so they can see everything real time.
David Latona:
So there's a critical line of communication between the field
personnel and the control center.
That assessment phase is a big deal.
And then getting accuracy back to your guys in the control center
is critical in communicating the
effort needed, the supply and resources.
Can you talk about that some how that message comes back to your
control center guys,
of what's going on, understand what they're dealing with in the
amount of damage.
Eric Ouber:
Yeah. I've been exposed, you know,
as a lineman for a long time,
being part of gathering that data after the storm passes through.
Those guys leave as soon as the weather permits,
and they start at the substation,
inspect it, seeing if there's any damage in the substation.
Then they look at the transmission lines,
go from there.
They look at the distribution, which is the three phase main
feeders is coming out single phase down to the services.
And during that inspection time we document everything you can
imagine,
whether it be broke poles, limbs on lines,
switches, you know, fuzes,
protection devices that are open,
damage to homes that may have services down.
And all of that information comes back to the control center.
And we're blessed to have the technology that we do with SCADA,
with OMS,
and everything is tied in to one central location,
which is that control center.
So all the damages that are found are documented.
A physical, we call them tags, which is just an indication on the
map tied to an exact pole location or
exact span of wire. A home transformer,
whatever it is, is attached directly to that
location as well as the notes. It may say limb on line,
line on ground,
just something to identify what is there.
And that allows that one control center to have an entire bird's
eye view
of your complete system damage. It also allows you to run reports
to,
okay, how many broke poles do we have?
How many spans of wire down do we have?
How many transmission is down? Whatever it may be,
and it gives you hard numbers,
so you know, okay, let's attach that,
or let's lay that beside our inventory and make sure that we're
good. Do we need additional crews?
Because even when we implement that emergency response plan,
until the dust settles and everything is
passed, you really don't know until you put boots on the ground.
The control room centralizes the entire system.
One team is able to see it and relay that data to the folks and
get the crews
dispatched and get to work as fast as you can.
David Latona:
So I hear when we talk about restoration,
that there's data coming in that is super valuable to us in
assessing the storm, assigning resources,
requesting resources, and some of that is coming from equipment,
I understand. And some of it, like you said,
we need to roll a truck and have boots on the ground to assess,
physically assess. So what's the difference in those two,
the automatic and then those that we get from a human touch?
Eric Ouber:
Our SCADA system brings in real time data.
It's equipment related. It's the status of equipment,
whether it's energized,
it's not the voltages, the amps,
just the technical details that come in.
If we do see something on our SCADA that we call it opens up or
it goes off,
that's the extent of what the SCADA can tell us.
What the problem causing issue there was,
the power lines themselves,
the poles, transformers that has to be looked at in-person.
So we know a feeder goes out based off of our SCADA system,
but we won't know why until boots on
the ground, assessing from transformer to transformer,
pole to pole,
whatever it may be, unless it's just obvious what it is.
But that's just kind of the difference of we know what's out,
we just have to go figure out why it's out.
David Latona:
Makes sense though. If I've got a piece of equipment that has
lost power,
that's all that I know. I don't know if there was a vehicle
accident up the line that broke a pole that's
60ft, or if there was a limb that's on the line that caused it to
touch and create a fault.
So not until boots on the ground do I know what resources are
needed for that repair.
A lot of people look at the outage map,
right.
They're seeing that, I say people,
members, the community, anyone in the world over the internet,
they can see DEMCO's outage map.
Eric Ouber:
Yes, sir. Our outage system drives all the data that's onto the
public facing outage map,
whether that be from the my DEMCO app from the demco.org outage
map.
David Latona:
I know our communities and our members appreciate seeing the
progress of when restoration is happening.
So sometimes our members ask different questions.
Sometimes our members ask, why isn't a crew at my house first?
So talk a little bit about why you may not see a truck at your
home restoring that down line that I can see.
I see where it's disconnected. But talk a little bit about what
that means.
Eric Ouber:
Pointing back to the boots on the ground.
You know, the full assessment of the system.
We're looking from our control center that we talked about.
We have what we call SCADA, which is our real time statuses of
our breakers,
our substations, our feeders, our OMS system,
outage management system.
We have to take this as a step approach to where we have to start
at a substation or the transmission feeding that substation.
Because you can't energize single,
we call single phase, which is your small taps,
your, you know, small roads, transformers on the line to where
all power doesn't really go out at one
time. To where you may have had power,
you saw your fuze blow at the street.
Well, in the hours remaining of that storm,
your three phase circuit out front also went out.
So even if we stopped, cleared that damage off of your line,
the limb,
or it's just a switch, you know,
and we close that in.
We didn't do anything because there's no power feeding that.
So we take the approach necessary,
which is make sure our transmission lines are all energized from
there. Our substations are all energized.
From there, our main feeders, then are taps,
individual transformers,
services, issues like that.
David Latona:
Makes sense too, right? If a fuze that serves one single home is
tripped,
but it's put back in, but then you go restore some limb that's on
the line,
it might trip that fuze again once the power goes through.
So now I've got to go again and make a repair twice somewhere.
Eric Ouber:
We try to approach it and attack it to where we can have the
largest effect of restoring our
members as fast as possible. If we can clean up this transmission
line and then get an entire substation on,
that has to be our approach first to make the biggest impact.
David Latona:
That all makes sense. Now, enough of the easy questions.
Why is it that I can see a group of trucks in a parking lot,
and
they're not doing anything. Tell me about that.
Eric Ouber:
You will see crews stationed at,
it may be intersections of roads,
somewhere where we can safely get all the trucks in one location.
And we utilize what we call a bird dog,
which is usually it's going to be someone from DEMCO,
whether it be non-lineman personnel,
someone from the X-line department that has the knowledge to
guide crews that are not from our area.
And we will start at one location,
and we'll just, we're their guide.
You know, we're their bird dog. We're their eyes of where they're
going,
where the source control is for their safety.
Those guys are typically in small vehicles.
So we may say, hey, look guys, we have ten broke poles up the
road right here.
We're going to stage you guys here and let you put grounds on
poles or just pre-stage anything you
can in this safe location. I'm going to take your foreman that
came with you from your company or wherever the help may
come from. And we're going to go,
and I'm going to show him where we're going.
Let him get his mind wrapped around the terrain.
Can we turn around with all this equipment where we're headed?
Getting prepared to go fix what they're about to do.
Rather than if they tried to follow us in there and just watched
while we looked.
And it may be lunch break. And I know a lot of guys that when
they get into the rhythm,
they may not want to stop at 12:00 and eat.
So it may be 3:00 or 4:00 in the evening,
and they're like, okay,
we've finally got this big problem that we were on fixed.
Let's take a second, regroup, eat our sandwich,
and while y'all are finding us the next place to go.
It's never because we're not doing the best we can.
Everything is either a strategy or a purpose.
So that's a lot of why you will see crews ganged up,
and it's typically,
where are we going next or what's in front of us?
And we're coming up with a game plan.
We have a thing called tailgate meetings,
job safety forms.
They may be doing that and say,
hey, when we get over here, we're all going to be spread out.
Let's gang up in this one spot,
go over the hazards we found, go over what you're fixing to face.
There's just a million things happening that looks like nothing's
happening,
simultaneously.
David Latona:
That's a great point. I mean, there's so much happening.
You know, it's in the emergency response plan,
the damage assessment,
the switching, the staging, dispatching,
communicating.
There's another co-op on our lines who are working to restore our
members.
Eric Ouber:
It's a lot happening. And yes, the ultimate goal is getting power
back to the members as fast as possible.
However, that does not trump safety.
The behind the scenes that happens is just a,
until you're in it,
it's hard to wrap your head around it.
So, you know, opportunities like what we're doing right now is
one of the only ways that you can actually get an inside sight of
any of the details we can possibly share.
But it is from the pre-storm to after the storm,
down to documenting work orders,
job numbers, the hours worked. You know,
if it's a FEMA event, we possibly have the reimbursement from
FEMA, which allows us to reimburse that way and not have to pass
along the cost to our members and try to keep costs down.
David Latona:
So I know we've talked about a lot of storm restoration,
but let's talk a little bit about technology.
DEMCO has invested in some impressive technology over the years.
We're a Cadillac system, some people say.
So tell me how that technology,
those advancements in switches and substations and conductors
even, how that helps our crew members at DEMCO.
And then also, what does that mean to the members?
Eric Ouber:
You know, being from the line department and having the
opportunity to go assist others in the time of need and help get
their power on, you realize just how advanced DEMCO really is and
the forethought that was put
into technology and anything that most people wouldn't – I mean,
I'm impressed sometimes.
I'm like, how did they even think of that? But it goes back from
1938 to whenever that was implemented,
trial and error. See, what can I do to improve that,
and that never stops.
In my area that I'm in now is substation,
our metering and our systems operations,
the control center. And all three of those are very
technologically involved,
whether it be from our internal communications,
to bring all of our data from the field back to the SCADA system
we talked about, which is real time.
It allows us to operate equipment remotely.
Our outage system, the text messaging that goes out to members,
our apps that are
used, MyDEMCO, which is Apple and Android,
and a lot of that technology comes in clutch during a
storm situation because you can see the entire area from a
computer screen.
And then you don't have to wait until we get trucks to go look at
9,000 square miles of line or 41
substations. And you know, our metering points and all this.
We know what we're looking at as far as what's out before we even
leave the office.
And all we need to go look at now is what can we do to fix it?
This is the benefits that you get and try to be mentor and lead
what we can from all our years
of experience.
David Latona:
Absolutely. We want to help each other and be a part of that for
them,
because I'm gonna tell you, they're going to be able to help us
sooner or later.
Eric Ouber:
The other cooperatives around our state and even adjoining states
over the years,
it's more family than you would realize,
and not helping is just not an option.
You know, if somebody needs something,
we're going to do it because when we call on them,
they'll be here also. The cooperatives have an edge up,
I believe,
that others don't just because of the tight knit across the
state,
across the country. You work with someone long enough or you've
been hanging around long enough,
there's nothing that we need we couldn't get in a crunch.
So there's some relationships there that I believe puts it over
the top to most.
David Latona:
Yeah. Now, Eric, I know you. You're a family guy.
Eric Ouber:
Oh, yeah.
David Latona:
You like to help people out. When you think about those members
out there on the lines,
what do you want them to know based on what we've talked about
today that would help those family members before,
during and even after that storm passes through?
Eric Ouber:
The most important thing we can do is just pass along the fact
that
24/7, during these hard times, somebody at DEMCO,
whether it be a skeleton
crew taking care of emergencies,
or if it's during the main restoration hours of the day,
all hands are on deck. We're trying our most diligent effort to
get their comforts back,
get their air conditioner back,
get their power, their, you know.
So many needs of the members out there,
and we know that.
David Latona:
Eric, thanks so much for that behind-the-scenes,
heartfelt look at storm restoration and storm
response. Storm response isn't just repairing damage after a
storm.
It's about preparation, planning,
technology, and teamwork.
Teamwork, and it's something that begins well before any severe
weather hits the Gulf.
For more information and lots of helpful storm resources,
our members can visit the DEMCO Storm Center at
demco.org. Thanks for tuning in to Co-op Conversations with
DEMCO.
If you liked what you heard, leave us a review.
Like and share the episode with a friend.
Be sure to subscribe so that you don't miss an episode.
For Eric Ouber, I'm David Latona.
Let's keep the conversation going.