Just spent the last three weeks working with Alabama Power on storm damage assessments after Hurricane Ida hit our area. The amount of paperwork for business interruption claims is absolutely staggering. Has anyone else had to deal with utility infrastructure damage affecting multiple client accounts? I've got seven manufacturing facilities that were without power for 4-11 days each, and the documentation requirements are overwhelming.
Anyone else dealing with hurricane damage assessments?
Warren, I feel your pain. We went through something similar with JEA after Hurricane Ian. The key is getting the utility to provide detailed outage logs with timestamps for each meter. Don't let them give you generic "area was affected" letters. Push for specific start/end times for each account. I ended up recovering an extra $89,000 for one client just by having precise outage documentation.
Alabama Power has actually been pretty good about detailed outage reports in my experience. The trick is knowing which department to call. Their Business Customer Relations group has access to the SCADA data that shows exact restoration times. Regular customer service won't have that level of detail.
Here in Memphis, MLGW has gotten much better about storm documentation since they upgraded their outage management system in 2019. They can now provide CSV exports with 15-minute intervals showing power status for any account. Game changer for business interruption claims. Worth asking if Alabama Power has similar capabilities.
TVA territory here, and their storm response documentation is top-notch. They automatically generate detailed outage reports for any business account that's down more than 4 hours. The reports include voltage fluctuations before the outage, which has been crucial for equipment damage claims. Might be worth seeing if other utilities offer similar automated reporting.
The documentation is one thing, but don't forget about the rate schedule implications. Some of our Texas clients saw their demand charges spike after restoration due to all equipment coming online simultaneously. Oncor had to manually adjust several bills when we showed them the demand profiles were clearly storm-related.
Great point about demand spikes, Nancy. Duke Energy Ohio has a specific tariff provision for storm-related demand adjustments - Schedule DM-SEC-2, I believe. Saved one manufacturing client $12,400 in September alone. Always worth checking if utilities have these provisions buried in their tariffs.
Thanks everyone - this is exactly the kind of insight I was hoping for. Going to follow up with Alabama Power's Business Customer Relations about the SCADA data and check their tariffs for storm-related demand adjustments. This forum is invaluable for stuff like this.