This is a letter to the UARB written by Archie Stewart , registered intervener against NS power. Great job Archie.... September 9, 2014 Doreen Friis Regulatory Affairs Officer/Clerk of the Board Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board 3rd Floor, 1601 Lower Water Street Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 3S3 Via email to: [email protected] Dear Ms. Friis: Re: M06321 – Post Tropical Storm Arthur – Storm Review Response Report The majority of outages occurred due to the lack of vegetation management The length of the outages is due to the lack of qualified linesmen on hand The lack of communication is due to an undersized automated system Arthur knocked out power to some 245,000 individuals in Nova Scotia. In the aftermath, it took Nova Scotia Power a week to restore service to everyone. By July 11, 2,400 customers remained without electricity with 187 crews working to restore it.1 An astounding 245,000 customers! That is around 50% of the Nova Scotia Power customer base. If a post tropical cyclone can do this much damage to “the most reliable infrastructure in the history of this company,”2 we can just imagine the catastrophe that would have ensued had Arthur maintained a category 1 or had grown to category 2 hurricane. Throughout the report, NSP has alluded to the possibility that the forecast was wrong and that, along with trees falling on lines, is the reason for so much damage and why repairs took so long. Perhaps Nova Scotia Power is not aware that a forecast is simply a prediction or an estimate, not a statement of fact. How many of us have heard or uttered statements similar to “It’s supposed to be a nice weekend,” followed by “Yeah, if you can believe the weather man!” Is Nova Scotia Power under the impression that a forecast is always 100% correct and never varies? On its website, Environment Canada3 states: “EC does not warrant the quality, accuracy, or completeness of any information or Data found on its Web site. Such information and Data are provided on an AS IS basis without warranty or condition of any nature. EC disclaims all other warranties, expressed or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, with respect to the Data retrieved, and any accompanying materials.” The above statement on the EC website is very similar to the statement I read on every Emera/NSP investor relations document4: Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information: This release contains forward-looking information and should not be read as a guarantee of future events, performance or results, and will not necessarily be an accurate indication of whether, or the times at which, such events, performance or results will be achieved. Emera disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under applicable securities laws. Both of these statements basically caution the reader that what they are reading is not guaranteed and may change due to future events that may or may not happen. Perhaps lost in the predictions and preparations for Arthur’s landfall was the fact that there have been major upgrades this year to the two operational National Weather Service regional hurricane prediction systems, the GFDL and HWRF models. Dr. Jeff Masters5 stated in his blog: “Meteorologists noted to improved accuracy in NOAAs Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory and Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting models in predicting the intensity and track of Hurricane Arthur.” In recent news6, the town of Shelburne wants Nova Scotia Power to pay out for losses people suffered from spoiled food in the wake of post tropical storm Arthur in July. The Town will be asking the Union of Nova Scotia Municipalities for a resolution to the provincial government to that effect. In the resolution brought to council, the Mayor offered that the situation occurred due to lack of vegetation management and a lack of employing an appropriate number of lines people. Mayor Mattatall’s resolution calls for the Nova Scotia government to immediately pass legislation requiring Nova Scotia Power to compensate now and in the future, individuals and families who live in low-income situations for those losses and any losses in the future due to power outages of more than 24 hours. The resolution further reads that Nova Scotia Power should assume these costs without a rate increase. Concerning vegetation management, Nova Scotia Power makes 4 recommendations in A2, Section 17.4 Vegetation Management page 171 of 173. These recommendations would make Nova Scotia Power the sole arbiter when it comes to tree removal decisions. This situation cannot happen. At the very least, we would need approval of the Department of Natural Resources prior to any out of ROW tree removals. Our Information Requests are attached. Sincerely, Archie Stewart, Lower Power Rates Alliance 14 Stirling Street, Port Hawkesbury, NS B9A 3M1 Phone: 902-625-3235 Cell: 902-951-0048 Email: [email protected] Twitter: LowerPowerRates Facebook: lowerpowerrates 1 Reference: cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/nova-scotia-power-s-profit-calculations-could-change-1.2757459 2 Reference: cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/arthur-aftermath-premier-slams-nova-scotia-power-1.2703841 3 Reference: weather.gc.ca/mainmenu/disclaimer_e.html 4 Reference: emera/en/home/mediacentre/archivedpr/2010/newsreleasedetails.aspx?SourceParams=reqid-1502918 5 Reference: Upgraded HWRF and GFDL Hurricane Models Excelled During Hurricane Arthur 6 Reference: novanewsnow/News/Local/2014-09-08/article-3861756/Town-of-Shelburne-wants-NSP-to-pay-up-for-losses-from-Arthur/1
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 13:02:34 +0000
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