11 Oct A note from UTC President & CEO Rusty Williams on the recent hurricanes
Members of the utility industry do not take their jobs lightly. When the country experiences storm-related damage, loss of life, and service disruptions such as we have experienced recently with Hurricanes Helene and Milton, it is a reminder of how important utility services are to our society. It has often been said that following a disaster, life does not start getting back to normal until the lights are on and the water and gas are flowing again.
For more than 75 years, The Utilities Technology Council (UTC) has represented the telecommunications and information technology interests of electric, gas, and water utilities and suppliers across the country. At UTC, we recognize the importance of utility services to the quality of everyday life. We send our thoughts, prayers, and encouragement to those affected by the recent storms and to those working tirelessly to restore the disrupted services. To the utilities and their employees on the frontlines of these storms, thank you. Thank you for your tireless work to restore services, many times in terrible conditions. We also acknowledge and appreciate those utilities that were not directly affected but still answered the call to support neighboring utilities and states by sending crews, equipment, and other resources. Connecting and supporting members during their times of need is at the core of UTC’s mission and vision, and it is the culture that our members have come to expect and take advantage of for the last 75 years.
The UTC staff has stayed in constant contact with many of its members in the Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee mountain regions over the past weeks to see how we can assist with the restoration activities. We are currently in contact with our members in Florida, receiving real-time updates, status reports, andproviding more avenues of support. In the coming days, as we gather more operational information, we will work with our members to better understand how their systems performed under duress and help look for ways to improve operations during future similar events. We want to hear from all our affected members, so reach out to us if we haven’t connected with you. In the coming weeks, we will work to compile, analyze, and report the results of our members’ efforts,so be on the lookout for that information. If there is anything UTC can do to assist with your utility’s restoration efforts, please let us know and feel free to email me directly.
We never want to experience these types of events, but as we go through them, we will learn and become stronger as an industry and a community.