Chugach Electric details vegetation management, new line-safety measures to reduce wildfire risk

Chugach Electric told the Anchorage Assembly the utility’s primary tool to reduce wildfire risk is routine vegetation management in rights of way and easements, and it plans to add more sensitive power-line safety settings and other operational steps as fire danger increases.

“The number 1 thing that Chugach Electric does to prevent wildfire is vegetation management within our easements,” said Trish Baker, government affairs manager for Chugach Electric, describing tree and brush removal along the roughly 10-foot easement on either side of poles and subsequent mulching to discourage regrowth.

The measure is part of a broader five-part program Chugach described to the assembly that includes vegetation management, disabling automatic reclosing on selected feeders, enhanced power-line safety settings (EPSS), public safety power shutoffs (PSPS) and coordination with incident command and emergency operations.

Nut graf: Officials said the combined steps aim to reduce electrical ignitions during high fire-danger periods while recognizing some measures increase outage scope or duration. Chugach emphasized it will apply those measures selectively and communicate proactively when it takes steps that materially affect customers.

Chief Operating Officer Andrew Laughlin explained industry terms and how operations will change during elevated fire danger. He said breakers on the system normally trip and then reclose automatically to restore power after short faults; under some conditions the utility disables automatic reclosing so crews can patrol before reenergizing lines. “Closed means energized. Open means not energized,” Laughlin said, clarifying terminology for non-technical listeners.

Laughlin described enhanced power-line safety settings as making protection thresholds more sensitive so breakers trip on smaller fault signatures; that reduces the chance an energized conductor will spark off vegetation but increases the number and area of outages and the time crews must patrol before reenergizing. He said when EPSS or disabled reclosing is used, crews physically patrol affected lines before restoring service.

Julie Haskett, senior corporate communications manager for Chugach Electric, said the utility will notify the public and media before major operational steps. “If we were gonna do any of those steps beyond vegetation management, we send out alerts to the media, social media,” Haskett said, and added the utility has a membership list (about 92,000 members) and an email list of roughly 60,000–70,000 addresses it uses for notices.

Assembly members asked where undergrounding fits as a long-term mitigation step and about recent under-frequency load-shed events the utility has executed. Chugach said it collects a small undergrounding fee on bills and is proceeding with a multi-decade undergrounding program for older neighborhoods; homeowner permission is required where work extends onto private property. On under-frequency load shed, Laughlin said that is a separate protective scheme that acts in seconds to preserve system stability and that the recent event caused about a 10% staged load shed until units were returned to service.

The utility said it monitors a fire weather index (fuel moisture, temperature, wind and humidity) and will use that index as a trigger to change operational settings. Chugach also described continued participation in community wildfire protection planning and incident-response coordination, including working with local fire departments on line de-energization requests during incidents.

Ending: Assembly members thanked the utility for the briefing and indicated they expect follow-up information on undergrounding priorities and communications protocols should Chugach move to more aggressive operational steps in a high-risk period.