David Toth: Why did Ashland power outage happen and how can it be prevented?

To The Daily Sun,

Ashland residents need a full accounting of the recent power outage. While I am thankful for those who worked hard to restore power, there are a number of questions that the town needs to answer so that residents can understand why the outage occurred and how it can be prevented in the future.

First, does the electric department have an asset management plan, a computerized maintenance system (CMS), and a capital improvement plan (CIP)? These plans provide all the data, scheduling information and funding requirements needed to properly manage the department’s assets. They identify all assets, ensure they are maintained properly, establish a replacement schedule, and identify funding for upgrades and replacements. The plans also provide the data required for setting rates that will cover both the department’s short-term operational costs and the long-term capital requirements.

Using the data contained in these plans, the electric department should be able to explain why the specific equipment failed, whether it was maintained according to the manufacturer’s specifications, whether the department had the spare parts to repair the equipment on hand, and when the equipment was or is scheduled for replacement. While it is true that equipment can fail at random, these plans help to reduce that risk, reduce unplanned maintenance, and reduce life-cycle costs.

A final question. Does the town have an emergency communication plan that specifies who should communicate emergency information and how it should be communicated? Ultimately, the responsibility for emergency communication lies with the town manager and the selectboard. In this case, much of the information was spread by word of mouth and on social media by people who were not qualified or authorized to communicate the information, a fact that led to a great deal of confusion, anger and frustration.

David Toth

Ashland