1 00:00:05,600 --> 00:00:11,120 David Latona: Welcome to Co-op Conversations with DEMCO, where we dive into the topics that impact your power, 2 00:00:11,360 --> 00:00:15,520 your co-op, and your community. I'm David Latona, your host. 3 00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:20,040 Here in Louisiana, hurricane season is a part of life. 4 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:22,560 It runs from June through November. 5 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:27,760 But for DEMCO, storm preparation doesn't just happen a few months out of the year. 6 00:00:28,240 --> 00:00:30,280 It's something we focus on year round. 7 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:38,960 Today we're talking about how DEMCO prepares for storms, how we respond when outages and system damage happens. 8 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:42,040 Joining me today is an expert in that field, Mr. 9 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:47,520 Mark Phillips, DEMCO's chief engineering and operations officer. 10 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:49,840 Mark, welcome so much. It is great to have you. 11 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:51,200 Mark Phillips: Yeah, super excited, David. 12 00:00:51,720 --> 00:00:58,200 David Latona: To give our listeners a sense of complexity and scale of what goes into keeping the lights on, 13 00:00:58,360 --> 00:01:01,680 would you give us an overview of DEMCO's system? 14 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:03,120 What does it entail? 15 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:07,240 Mark Phillips: Yeah, sure. So we traverse seven different parishes here in South Louisiana. 16 00:01:07,680 --> 00:01:14,720 In those seven parishes, we have about 44 substations strategically placed across 230 miles of transmission, 17 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:22,160 about 9,200 miles of distribution lines, servicing 118,000 + meters. 18 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:27,000 Wow. Probably impact if you do the math, four members per household, 19 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:31,000 you're half a million people that we actually provide power to. 20 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:36,000 David Latona: That's a great point. Not only that, the commercial and industrial accounts that employ people, 21 00:01:36,000 --> 00:01:39,880 but then also provide services that are important to our members as well. 22 00:01:40,200 --> 00:01:47,000 So, Mark, one thing we're often asked before each storm, and definitely before hurricane season, 23 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:51,560 is what are you, DEMCO, doing to prepare? 24 00:01:51,960 --> 00:01:57,920 Mark Phillips: First and foremost, we have an emergency response plan that we review yearly by all of our staff. 25 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:01,800 We take into consideration, you know, all the employees that we have here at DEMCO, 26 00:02:01,800 --> 00:02:07,310 and we make sure that they all have assignments and tasks assigned to them in the event that we need a certain level of 27 00:02:07,310 --> 00:02:12,470 response. From there, it's reviewed by our board of directors. 28 00:02:12,470 --> 00:02:15,790 They give kind of give us a sign of seal of approval for that as well. 29 00:02:15,790 --> 00:02:20,030 And then we file it at the Public Service Commission, kind of letting them know that, hey, we're ready. You know, we're 30 00:02:20,030 --> 00:02:24,230 ready for anything. You said hurricane, but it covers more than that. 31 00:02:24,270 --> 00:02:29,830 Ice storms, unfortunately here in south Louisiana, snow, tornadoes, 32 00:02:30,150 --> 00:02:33,990 extreme weather. We don't get the traditional afternoon thunderstorm anymore. 33 00:02:34,590 --> 00:02:37,870 David Latona: So we've got to be ready for anything at any time. 34 00:02:37,910 --> 00:02:42,110 Mark Phillips: The afternoon beatdown is what we're getting now as the weather is extreme. 35 00:02:42,270 --> 00:02:48,710 David Latona: Yeah. So I think about my young life when I worked in a restaurant, 36 00:02:48,710 --> 00:02:54,630 in the kitchen, when my first job was, "Hey, you're going to cut onions and tomatoes." And I said, 37 00:02:54,630 --> 00:03:01,270 "This is not exciting at all." I didn't see any of this on Hell's Kitchen anywhere, 38 00:03:01,270 --> 00:03:08,990 so it wasn't fun. But then when my first lunch rush happened, and those tomatoes and onions were ready to go 39 00:03:08,990 --> 00:03:11,150 into the recipe that they were using. 40 00:03:11,430 --> 00:03:15,950 Now I see why that preparation was made at 7 a.m. 41 00:03:16,070 --> 00:03:22,470 instead of at 11:00, when everybody was showing up and wanting their table and their fajitas and nachos. 42 00:03:22,870 --> 00:03:26,230 We make preparations all year long. 43 00:03:26,270 --> 00:03:27,750 Can you share with us about that? 44 00:03:27,790 --> 00:03:30,910 Mark Phillips: We want to be prepared at all times for anything, right? 45 00:03:31,230 --> 00:03:38,390 Only when the storm is really extreme do we have to actually use some outside help or some outside resources to assist us. 46 00:03:38,390 --> 00:03:43,750 But we have an emergency response plan, like I mentioned, that we have in place that gives our employees 47 00:03:43,790 --> 00:03:47,990 a guidebook, like a playbook on how we're going to attack certain levels of certain storms. 48 00:03:48,430 --> 00:03:51,190 From their inventory, inventory is huge. 49 00:03:51,310 --> 00:03:54,550 We have a lot of inventory on our shelf in stock. 50 00:03:54,550 --> 00:03:58,030 We have storm inventory as well that we keep off system. 51 00:03:58,190 --> 00:04:03,070 You can get it at any point in time, and we have great relationships with our vendors that keep storm 52 00:04:03,070 --> 00:04:05,230 and inventory stock on their shelves as well. 53 00:04:05,340 --> 00:04:10,980 So inventory plays a huge part because I can find the damage and assess the damage and see the damage, 54 00:04:10,980 --> 00:04:14,940 but if I don't have the material to rebuild the damage, well, that can be a problem as well. 55 00:04:14,940 --> 00:04:21,900 So that's a big part of being prepared is having the inventory you need to at least get you through the first week or two of the 56 00:04:21,900 --> 00:04:25,380 impacts of a storm. Crews, equipment. 57 00:04:25,460 --> 00:04:28,632 When you talk about crews, you know, we have our own crews, DEMCO crews. 58 00:04:28,632 --> 00:04:34,100 There's about 100 linemen that service our seven parish territory through six district offices. 59 00:04:34,420 --> 00:04:39,140 There are times when you need extra assistance, and that's where mutual aid assistance comes into play. 60 00:04:39,180 --> 00:04:42,700 And that's kind of like contracts we have with other co-ops. 61 00:04:42,740 --> 00:04:45,060 I guess that's probably the best way to put it. 62 00:04:45,060 --> 00:04:48,620 To where if I need some assistance, I can request help from another co-op, 63 00:04:48,620 --> 00:04:56,580 and they'll send the resources. Even though DEMCO and Louisiana may be impacted and Mississippi and Alabama may be impacted, 64 00:04:56,580 --> 00:05:00,300 we can still get help from Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Missouri, 65 00:05:00,300 --> 00:05:05,900 Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma. I mean, these are all folks that have come and helped us restore power. 66 00:05:05,980 --> 00:05:09,860 And then we have our contract crews that are on system helping us. 67 00:05:09,860 --> 00:05:16,380 Today, they're a vital part in doing what we do every day with reliability and resiliency and hardening of our lines and our 68 00:05:16,380 --> 00:05:18,460 equipment replacing aging infrastructure. 69 00:05:18,860 --> 00:05:22,060 We have agreements with them as well that if we need extra assistance, 70 00:05:22,540 --> 00:05:26,900 they're already on system. We can bring extra assistance from those contract crews as well. 71 00:05:26,900 --> 00:05:34,580 So you think about all of that. There's a lot of preparation that goes in to making sure that all of those resources are ready, 72 00:05:34,580 --> 00:05:37,540 ready to go in an attempt to respond. 73 00:05:37,580 --> 00:05:41,340 David Latona: I know you mentioned that 9,000 miles of line. 74 00:05:41,340 --> 00:05:43,580 It's hard to even wrap my brain around that. 75 00:05:43,580 --> 00:05:47,300 But how do you stay ahead of inspections? 76 00:05:47,340 --> 00:05:52,740 I mean, you've got to know that's a dangerous product that's up in the air or under the ground, 77 00:05:53,380 --> 00:05:55,980 sensitive material that's delivering that power. 78 00:05:56,140 --> 00:06:01,540 So tell me about the upgrades necessary, and how do you know that they're in need of an upgrade? 79 00:06:01,580 --> 00:06:06,580 Mark Phillips: Yeah. So on a day to day basis, as a lineman, you're trained to look at the power lines as you're 80 00:06:06,580 --> 00:06:14,100 driving down the road, and I know that was the task that was placed on me when I first got hired as a lineman was to 81 00:06:14,580 --> 00:06:19,300 look for hazards, identify hazards associated with the lines to prevent outages, 82 00:06:19,300 --> 00:06:23,780 or to protect the public, or us even as linemen working. 83 00:06:23,820 --> 00:06:26,860 I mean, there's so many dangers out there the unseen, the unknown. 84 00:06:26,900 --> 00:06:28,700 You can't see electricity flowing. 85 00:06:28,740 --> 00:06:32,820 It's just flowing. Right, the electrons are just passing through that interstate grid, 86 00:06:33,100 --> 00:06:36,060 9000 miles, and they're traversing back and forth. 87 00:06:36,420 --> 00:06:41,940 So we take it very serious. We have scheduled line patrols that we do every year. 88 00:06:42,060 --> 00:06:47,740 Every feeder, every inch, every mile, trying to identify hazards associated with the power, 89 00:06:47,740 --> 00:06:51,780 but also to prevent outages that, unnecessary outages. 90 00:06:52,060 --> 00:06:57,140 And then from there, we'll take the results of those findings, and then we'll put a plan together. 91 00:06:57,460 --> 00:07:00,980 Some response is needed faster than others. 92 00:07:00,980 --> 00:07:06,300 Like something that is very, you know, could be considered dangerous. We immediately attack on the side 93 00:07:06,300 --> 00:07:10,530 of that, you know, something that may can be delayed or planned or organized. 94 00:07:10,810 --> 00:07:14,050 In our day to day efforts, we'll push it a little bit downstream, 95 00:07:14,050 --> 00:07:20,370 but we inspect our lines, our equipment on a regular basis along with the right-of-way as well. 96 00:07:20,970 --> 00:07:26,170 That's probably the most important because it causes so much, so many issues for us. 97 00:07:26,170 --> 00:07:33,210 David Latona: So many miles of line. And I know that our districts are positioned throughout our service territory, 98 00:07:33,210 --> 00:07:36,210 so they become a part of that community. 99 00:07:36,210 --> 00:07:41,530 And they know that line, and they know that circuit coming out of that substation. 100 00:07:41,530 --> 00:07:47,850 And they can understand that is an area of concern, and we can address that as soon as possible. 101 00:07:47,850 --> 00:07:54,810 So I'm sure that's helpful to have those crews that are a part of the community throughout our service territory. 102 00:07:55,090 --> 00:08:01,490 I know that we were founded in 1938, but being a rural electric cooperative, 103 00:08:01,490 --> 00:08:05,330 I know that there's some of the areas we serve are suburban and urban, 104 00:08:05,330 --> 00:08:09,210 but there's still a lot of rural in DEMCO service territory. 105 00:08:09,210 --> 00:08:16,930 So can you share a little bit about that vast system, and how that plays a part in your 106 00:08:16,930 --> 00:08:18,450 team's preparation? 107 00:08:18,490 --> 00:08:21,370 Mark Phillips: You need to know the areas that you're working in. And like you said, 108 00:08:21,370 --> 00:08:27,290 we position our districts across our service territories to respond and to maintain our grid, 109 00:08:27,330 --> 00:08:32,610 right? Each district is assigned to a geographic region, substations, 110 00:08:32,610 --> 00:08:36,850 feeders associated with that. And a lot of our guys, our linemen, 111 00:08:36,850 --> 00:08:40,530 they live on these lines. So they're maintaining, they're looking, 112 00:08:40,570 --> 00:08:46,250 they're trying to figure out exactly, you know, what they need to do to protect the integrity of the 113 00:08:46,250 --> 00:08:48,530 power as it flows into those communities. 114 00:08:49,050 --> 00:08:52,970 When you talk about the geography and the terrain, we're in Tunica, 115 00:08:53,090 --> 00:08:57,170 which is almost to Mississippi, the driest, probably portion of our territory. 116 00:08:57,170 --> 00:09:00,770 And we're in Lower Livingston and Ascension, we're in the swamp, 117 00:09:01,010 --> 00:09:04,170 so to say. And there's a whole lot that happens in between. 118 00:09:04,170 --> 00:09:09,290 And then some of our areas, like you mentioned, are outside of the metropolitan area of Baton Rouge. 119 00:09:09,290 --> 00:09:14,320 So we have a lot of urban area as well, and it presents its own challenges. 120 00:09:14,320 --> 00:09:16,720 Some of those lines are underground. 121 00:09:16,760 --> 00:09:19,360 Some of the lines in the rural areas that are that are overhead. 122 00:09:19,360 --> 00:09:24,680 You kind of have to have a little bit of expertise, and it changes from district to district depending on what they 123 00:09:24,680 --> 00:09:26,080 deal with on a regular basis. 124 00:09:26,120 --> 00:09:30,520 David Latona: That's great. I'm glad you said the underground facilities there too. 125 00:09:30,520 --> 00:09:35,640 I know that some questions we get from members and the community and our industry as a whole, 126 00:09:35,640 --> 00:09:39,240 they receive this question of why don't you just bury the lines? 127 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:42,800 That seems simple. You just put it underground. 128 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:43,760 Seems easy right? 129 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:44,680 Mark Phillips: Seems very simple. 130 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:47,120 David Latona: How do we answer that to our members out there? 131 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:52,680 Mark Phillips: You know, there's a huge difference in the overhead, building overhead lines against building underground lines. 132 00:09:52,880 --> 00:09:57,160 So the materials for one and the labor associated, that is very expensive. 133 00:09:57,200 --> 00:09:59,840 We have to bury our primary line six foot deep. 134 00:09:59,840 --> 00:10:05,760 That's a six foot trench. You have to dig our bore, which even gets to be more expensive where you try not to disturb 135 00:10:05,760 --> 00:10:09,840 the ground, but you're going under roads and going under sidewalks and driveways. 136 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:12,400 So to convert that overhead to underground. 137 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:16,400 It's very, very expensive, and we're not for profit utility. 138 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:19,120 All of the expenses we incur go into the rate. 139 00:10:19,120 --> 00:10:22,280 So to upgrade the lines in a sense. 140 00:10:22,320 --> 00:10:27,440 I'm saying there are areas that we have done that too, because they are what we call a repeat offenders. 141 00:10:27,680 --> 00:10:30,040 Maybe we can't obtain the right-of-ways we need to trim. 142 00:10:30,320 --> 00:10:32,760 Maybe we can't widen the right-of-way to that extent. 143 00:10:32,760 --> 00:10:35,800 So the next best thing is to put it underground. And we've done that. 144 00:10:35,800 --> 00:10:42,760 But it is very, very costly. You have to be very strategic where you do that at because once again, 145 00:10:42,800 --> 00:10:47,120 we're spending the members money. We want to put it where it most benefits the member. 146 00:10:47,560 --> 00:10:55,000 David Latona: That's important too. That's something not everybody knows that even going over the rivers and interstates is a 147 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:58,000 complex issue when constructing line, right? 148 00:10:58,000 --> 00:11:00,800 The permitting process, all that goes into this expense. 149 00:11:00,800 --> 00:11:08,560 So boring under an interstate or a railroad, or all that contributes to that expense. 150 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:14,320 Can you share with our listeners a little more of what's happening during a storm? 151 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:18,840 So walk me through that. I know you have some personal stories too of getting those in –. 152 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:20,200 Mark Phillips: I have a bunch. 153 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:25,280 David Latona: (laughs) Getting yourself and those employees to their duty location and responding. 154 00:11:25,440 --> 00:11:27,840 Mark Phillips: That's probably the most challenging part, right? 155 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:32,920 Is, you know, our employees are stretched out across those seven parishes that are impacted. 156 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:36,800 They may have to cut themselves out of their driveway to get their vehicle, 157 00:11:37,560 --> 00:11:40,280 at least to the road to get to the office. 158 00:11:40,880 --> 00:11:44,280 We've had employees, you know, you think about the 2016 flood. 159 00:11:44,320 --> 00:11:49,120 I mean, the area, our headquarters office, is in here in Central was heavily impacted. 160 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:54,920 I think 92% of the residents in the city of Central took on water in their homes. 161 00:11:55,040 --> 00:11:58,480 Well, how many of those folks are our employees? 162 00:11:58,520 --> 00:12:02,960 A bunch of them. So we've got to get our employees here. We've got to get them here safely. That's really, 163 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:06,360 really, really important. It's probably the most important thing to DEMCO, 164 00:12:06,360 --> 00:12:12,240 is making sure that our employees are taken care of. Because they can't respond to the event if they can't get here. 165 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:14,630 So, you know, that's the first check for us. 166 00:12:14,670 --> 00:12:19,470 It's a check to make sure that our employees are okay, and they can make it in to their assignments, 167 00:12:19,470 --> 00:12:22,910 whatever that may be. But that's super important is our employees. 168 00:12:22,910 --> 00:12:26,350 David Latona: So you mentioned that we've got crews, in-house crews. 169 00:12:26,350 --> 00:12:30,030 We've got in-house contract crews that are on our system daily. 170 00:12:30,070 --> 00:12:35,030 But then you said we get assistance from elsewhere, whether that's even outside contractors, 171 00:12:35,070 --> 00:12:38,550 electric cooperatives that come, and they're a part of that. 172 00:12:38,550 --> 00:12:46,350 So how does DEMCO go from an employee pool the size that it is, and expand times five and times 173 00:12:46,350 --> 00:12:50,830 seven to get coverage over that 9,000 miles of line? 174 00:12:50,870 --> 00:12:56,190 Mark Phillips: Yeah. That's a great question. So, you know, we have to number one, 175 00:12:56,190 --> 00:12:59,630 we have to give them a warm bed to lay in and a hot meal. 176 00:12:59,830 --> 00:13:02,550 The most important part of that is housing. 177 00:13:02,830 --> 00:13:07,470 When we bring extra resources in from the outside, whether it be contract or mutual aid, 178 00:13:07,470 --> 00:13:11,190 depending on the size of the storm, we enact certain parts of our response plan, 179 00:13:11,230 --> 00:13:15,910 right? We may use hotel rooms to some extent to try to house the assistance that's is coming in? 180 00:13:15,910 --> 00:13:22,030 And then if we have to get even broader, we'll open up a couple of camps or summer camps for kids. 181 00:13:22,030 --> 00:13:29,110 But they're summer camps for adults when the weather's coming through because we house them in those areas as well, 182 00:13:29,150 --> 00:13:32,470 because we can put a lot of folks in one place. 183 00:13:32,590 --> 00:13:37,590 And then at the most extreme of that is actually developing and creating somewhat of a tent city. 184 00:13:37,590 --> 00:13:40,870 That's where we have these circus tents to give you a visual. 185 00:13:41,270 --> 00:13:43,990 They may have a mess hall. They may have a laundry mat. 186 00:13:44,030 --> 00:13:48,550 They may have a shower trailers, and you know, everything that they need to give them, 187 00:13:48,590 --> 00:13:51,030 you know as much comfort as we can provide. 188 00:13:51,070 --> 00:13:57,230 David Latona: Look, as I know I work at DEMCO, but as an employee, I'm super thankful that those guys and girls 189 00:13:57,230 --> 00:14:01,950 would come from all over the country, even in those serious cases, 190 00:14:02,230 --> 00:14:05,310 to help us out. So you're right, we want to treat them well. 191 00:14:05,470 --> 00:14:07,950 We want them to come back the next time there's a storm. 192 00:14:07,950 --> 00:14:11,750 We don't want another storm, but we want them to be interested in coming back. 193 00:14:12,070 --> 00:14:14,510 So, Mark, thanks so much for walking us through that. 194 00:14:14,830 --> 00:14:19,300 Everything that goes into DEMCO's year round storm readiness. 195 00:14:19,300 --> 00:14:21,460 This is not something you think of the week before. 196 00:14:21,500 --> 00:14:27,860 This is something that's on your mind as that storm manager or the emergency response manager throughout the year, 197 00:14:27,860 --> 00:14:35,740 it's clear that the work you and your team do long before the storm plays a huge role in keeping our system prepared and also 198 00:14:35,780 --> 00:14:38,420 our members safe. That's most important to us. 199 00:14:38,620 --> 00:14:41,580 So we're not done yet. I know we have another episode. 200 00:14:41,740 --> 00:14:47,620 We'll continue the conversation, cover what happens after the storm has passed and how DEMCO 201 00:14:47,620 --> 00:14:53,180 restores power. That step by step process that I'm sure all of our listeners are interested in. 202 00:14:53,220 --> 00:14:55,020 You want to know what's going on out there. 203 00:14:55,020 --> 00:14:59,300 So thanks for tuning in to Co-op Conversations with DEMCO. 204 00:14:59,780 --> 00:15:02,700 Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode. 205 00:15:02,980 --> 00:15:06,900 And if you found this helpful, leave us a review or share it with a friend. 206 00:15:07,340 --> 00:15:09,460 For Mark Phillips, I'm David Latona. 207 00:15:09,460 --> 00:15:11,620 Let's keep the conversation going.