Utilities outline storm‑hardening, undergrounding and storage plans to bolster grid resilience

Green Mountain Power, Washington Electric Cooperative and other Vermont utilities told the House Energy and Digital Infrastructure Committee on Jan. 24 that they are expanding storm‑hardening work — including targeted undergrounding, higher‑strength spacer cable on main feeders and new energy‑storage deployments — to reduce outages and speed restoration after increasingly intense weather.

Committee members heard that recent events have delivered larger, wetter winter storms and higher wind speeds that break traditional restoration models and raise costs for customers. "Since that day, we have had 50% of our storm costs in the last 13 years since December 2022," said Michael Burke, a Green Mountain Power representative, describing an uptick in storm damage and restoration expense after a December 2022 wet‑snow/wind event.

Why it matters: utilities said more frequent heavy wet snow, ice and storm clusters are producing repeated, costly outages — especially in mid‑elevation and heavily forested rural areas. Utilities described a mix of short‑term response practices and longer‑term investments meant to cut restoration time and lower the recurring price of storm response.

Most urgent actions and how restoration proceeds

Presenters explained that restoration follows a consistent, safety‑first sequence: clear road access for emergency vehicles and crews, restore transmission and substations, then repair main distribution feeders and finally more remote lateral lines and single‑customer taps. Burke said companies are decentralizing dispatch in big events so district offices — not just a single central dispatcher — direct crews and outside contractors to reduce bottlenecks.

Where utilities plan to harden the grid

Green Mountain Power said it is pressing multiple tools: spacer cable (a steel reinforced cable that can carry conductor strength while resisting tree loading) on main routes; undergrounding of vulnerable laterals in rural terrain; and additional distributed and community storage that can keep customers safe and provide local power when lines are damaged. "We have about 70 megawatts of stored energy on our system," Burke said, adding that storage is both "dispatchable" for system peaks and useful as on‑site backup for customers.

GMP described a long‑term undergrounding objective spoken to the committee with the phrase "3,000, 30 500 miles by the end of 20 30"; presenters also said the utility will start with roughly 50 to 200 miles of undergrounding over the next two years under recently approved work. The transcript language on the overall miles target was unclear; committee presenters emphasized the two‑year near term deployment and said work will prioritize mid‑elevation central and southern Vermont locations that have seen the worst repeated damage.

Washington Electric Cooperative and Vermont Electric Cooperative described parallel programs but emphasized scale and terrain differences. "We are largely residential," said Louis Porter, general manager of Washington Electric Cooperative, noting WEC's long rural laterals and lower customers‑per‑mile. WEC highlighted the Coventry landfill gas plant it owns and the operational constraints of very low customer density when planning repairs and upgrades.

Construction methods and costs

Speakers described a directional machine used for conduit installation along rural roads. Michael Burke said the machine can install power and communications conduits in a single pass and then be tamped over within about 30 minutes, a technique GMP and others are using to reduce the unit cost of undergrounding in areas without sewer or other buried utilities.

GMP and others described an overhead “spacer cable” solution for main feeders that the manufacturers and utilities report eliminates roughly 90% of weather‑related outages on the lines where it is applied by preventing falling branches from interrupting the conductor. Utilities said the majority of weather outages occur on laterals and heavily forested single‑feed circuits; those are the lines most often targeted for undergrounding or other storm‑hardening.

Energy storage, vulnerable customers and short‑term help

Utilities also described storage programs targeted at vulnerable households. GMP said it operates both lease and bring‑your‑own‑device residential storage options and has an ARPA‑funded program with the Department of Public Service to supply energy storage to qualifying income‑qualified households. Burke and other speakers said portable storage can also be deployed in some cases to power medical devices while crews or community partners move vulnerable customers to shelter.

Outreach and coordination

Presenters said they regularly coordinate with local emergency managers and route status reporting to towns, and use robocalls, emails and press releases to warn customers ahead of severe weather. Utilities also said they are improving pre‑storm analytics that combine weather models with system monitoring to decide when to pre‑stage crews and contractors.

What presenters did not decide at the hearing

No formal committee action or vote occurred. Several presenters noted the expense of the work and said long‑term funding and regulatory decisions will affect pace and selection of projects, but they did not present a final statewide funding plan or tariff change during the session.

Ending

Utility representatives asked lawmakers to consider how policy and funding can best support durable, cost‑effective grid hardening and targeted resilience for low‑income and medically‑vulnerable customers. They said the mix of spacer cable, selective undergrounding and community storage can cut recurring storm costs and improve safety, but decisions about speed, scope and financing will shape how quickly those benefits reach rural Vermonters.