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57 Infrastructure 1 (2017-2018)

handle is hein.journals/infrastr57 and id is 1 raw text is: SB NRSTUTR N REUAE IDSRE SC IO srui turi Vol. 57, No. 1, Fall 2017 Hurricanes Harvey and Irma: -ENN 1917-2017 E l e c tri dIInstrtI mce _ _ _n Restoration, and Cost RecoveR gndua By Everett Britt O n August 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall on the Texas shoreline and began slow, meandering trek on and off and along the Texas coast. Heavy rains from the storm persisted in southeast Texas until August 31. Harvey's initial impact came from its intense hurricane-force winds, but as those winds lessened and the storm's path slowed to a crawl, the primary danger came from the steady and sustained rainfall that blanketed a wide swath of Texas and created an unprecedented flooding event. Barely two weeks later, on September 10, 2017, Hur- ricane Irma made landfall in the Florida Keys and on mainland Florida several hours thereafter, continuing north through Florida and into Georgia before losing its tropical characteristics on September 12. Irma's impact was widespread, with the state's largest utility describ- ing it as the largest hurricane event the utility had ever faced. Tropical force winds were experienced in all but one county in Florida. This article describes the major impacts of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma on electric compa- nies in their paths, the companies' restoration efforts, and how recovery of the storm-related costs for electric utilities may be addressed under the applicable regulatory frameworks. Hurricane Harvey made landfall near Rockport, Texas, as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of over 100 miles per hour and gusts exceeding 135 miles per hour.2 After Everett Britt Everett Britt (ebritt@dwmrlaw.com) is a partner with Duggins Wren Mann & Romero, LLP making landfall on August 25, the storm meandered on shore for several days, returned to the Gulf of Mexico on August 28, and eventually made a second landfall, this time on August 30, just east of the Texas-Louisiana border before moving further north and east into the rest of the country in a weakened state. Unprecedented rain totals over the course of the storm exceeded 50 inches in parts of Houston and surrounding areas, and more than 3,600 square miles were covered in at least 40 inches of rain.3 Most customers in the area initially impacted by Hur- ricane Harvey receive electric utility service from AEP Texas. AEP Texas provides electric delivery service to approximately one million customers. In its report to the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) regard- ing storm damage, AEP Texas identified 68 damaged substations, 549 downed transmission structures, 5,726 damaged or replaced distribution structures, and 220,000 customer outages at peak.' The dangers involved with restoration activities were sadly underscored when a continued on page 14 AL INIDE One Hunre Yer .fSaeUiiyReuain.1g Published in Infrastructure, Volume 57, Number 1, Fall 2017 © 2018 by the American Bar Association. Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved. This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association.

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