Poco mutual aid

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peter d

peter d

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In light of the recent ice storm I was wondering how the mutual aid system works. If you work for a out-of-state utility that has volunteered or been called up for mutual aid, are you as a lineman required to go, or is it strictly voluntary? I'm guessing the major motivation to go is $$$.
 
There is a standard mutual aid agreement developed by The Edison Electric Institute, but the whole concept is becoming outdated, in my opinion. Even with the agreement in place, the other company being requested to help out has a right to decline, and they get reimbursed for everything even if they do respond. For this reason, you'll find just as many contract crews helping out during a big storm as you will mutual aid crews. Some linemen don't even like mutual aid crews, since they'll do some "suff", we'll say. They are business competitors, after all. If a company does respond to a mutual aid request, the linemen are usually taken first on a voluntary basis and mandated next. There are always a certain amount of guys who'll suck up all the OT they an get.
 
mdshunk said:
There is a standard mutual aid agreement developed by The Edison Electric Institute, but the whole concept is becoming outdated, in my opinion. Even with the agreement in place, the other company being requested to help out has a right to decline, and they get reimbursed for everything even if they do respond. For this reason, you'll find just as many contract crews helping out during a big storm as you will mutual aid crews. Some linemen don't even like mutual aid crews, since they'll do some "suff", we'll say. They are business competitors, after all. If a company does respond to a mutual aid request, the linemen are usually taken first on a voluntary basis and mandated next. There are always a certain amount of guys who'll suck up all the OT they an get.
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Interesting, is any of this "politics" or is it just about money ? Unrelated but when we had wild fires here in CA last year there were fire crews brought in from WY and paid a lot for being here when local fire crews were never called. All politics.
 
We have not had too much of a problem with the mutual aid system. It depends on how hard the neighboring companies were hit since you have to take care of your own system before you can help out anyone else.

We have never had a big problem getting enough volunteers to go out of town to work for other utilities. I don't believe it is just a matter of sucking up the OT either. The reason for the contract crews is that we use them for regular work and don't have enough for our own work.

I agree that we compete but we also help one another out. Our system works. By the way, why wouldn't you recover your costs for helping out the other company? Do you give your service and material away? :-?
 
acrwc10 said:
Interesting, is any of this "politics" or is it just about money ? Unrelated but when we had wild fires here in CA last year there were fire crews brought in from WY and paid a lot for being here when local fire crews were never called. All politics.
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It just appears that way.
Often though it's a distribution of resources issue in cases of emergencies.
If you deplete all of the available resourses in a large area, then you have no more to use when another situation arises. The reason they bring in crews from far away is to allow them to still have a back up plan and people still available to respond to new emergencies in the local area.
 
I don't know how it works but my I'll comment on what I have seen this week.

Crews from accross the country have come here. Many form the Carolinas, and many from the midwest. Very long distances to travel on those trucks.

A crew from SC was saying all they do is travel. They had just returned from Texas and were then sent to MA.

Most of these crews have been brought in under National Grid.

The local Municipal Light departments seem to only get assistance from each other. That appears to have been a problem this week as the damage is so widespread that the other locals are not able to leave their own towns.

It is very cool to see hundreds of utility trucks from accross the country in the various staging areas.
 
seperated at birth,.... Peter & Marc :smile:

I would ditto Scott,. folks from everywhere ,.. saw a crew from Md in southern N.H. ,.. at least I think it was from Md. :confused: any way people helping people is a good thing ,.. and even better when you can earn a buck doing it .:grin:
 
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