IS SWEPCO REALLY THE BAD GUY THAT PSC MEMBER CAMPBELL PORTRAYED?

Last Thursday's press conference in the office of Public Service Commissioner Foster Campbell featured Cambell and SWEPCO president Brett Mattison.

Here is a summary of the comments by Campbell:

a. SWEPCO's electricity price is reasonable compared to other states.

b. SWEPCO is a fine company, but there have been too many outages.

c. A review of SWEPCO's electrical service and pricing will be requested at the next meeting of the Public Service Commission.

He expects the study to be approved and it may take a year to conduct. It will be by an unbiased third party.

d. Since January 1, there have been at least 10 power outages in Caddo, Bossier, and Desoto parishes, primarily in Blanchard, west Shreveport, Stonewall, and Haughton. (The storms over the weekend added to the outage number)

e. In April and May 122,000 people experience power outages, which is nearly half of all SWEPCO customers.

f. He believes that SWEPCO's "grade" for service is a "C".

Here is a summary of the comments by Mattison:

1. Approximately 50% of the outages are from trees, many of which are outside the SWEPCO easement and not subject to SWEPCO jurisdiction.

2. Approximately 35% of the outages are due to weather.

3. SWEPCO has been performing vegetation management with an $18 million allowance set by the PSC for the past 10 years. Only 600 miles of linear SWEPCO lines can be managed/cut per year versus 1500 linear miles 10 years ago with that sum.

4. New poles installed by SWEPCO are more resilient: stronger poles, larger concrete base, and fiberglass cross arms.

5. Last summer's dry summer reduced the root ball of trees thus weakening tree stability making more vulnerable to high winds and excessive rainfall.

6. Burying power lines has advantages as well as disadvantages, one of which is the substantial cost.

Seemingly Campbell ignored the tremendous impact of Old Man Weather this year on northwest Louisiana and especially SWEPCO:
aa. Rainfall for year is almost 20 inches above normal causing less tree root stability.

bb. Frequent storms moving through the area with excessively high winds causing substantial tree damage.

cc. Frequent flooding in low lying areas that impeded traffic and road access.

It’s the job of the Public Service Commission to monitor SWEPCO rates, outages, and service. At the same time the Commission has a responsibility to provide sufficient allowances for vegetation clearance and grid resiliency as well as a rate of return for SWEPCO.

The study Campbell expects to be conducted is not unreasonable step. However, the expected timeline of a year (or more) for completion and then analysis of the study offers little relief to SWEPCO and its customers during the interim. A first step that could be taken in the interim is to increase the allowance for right of way clearance and maintenance.