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2020 PNUCC

BREAKING NEWS

ANNUAL MEETING

For several years now, the Pacific Northwest Utilities Conference Committee members have strived to embrace our
rapidly changing utility landscape. We’ve focused on transformations in energy markets, regional power supplies,

customer expectations and new technologies. We’ve consistently teed up timely topics important to our members.

This year’s big news turned out to be something unexpected and unprecedented. We lived up to our reputation
as an organization that can react and respond with agility and flexibility. We did it by leaning into the relationships
we’ve formed through the spirit of collaboration, active listening and problem-solving.

Wow. What a year! tests across the U.S. In late summer huge, issues of the electric power industry, including

We began 2020 tuned in to those issues destructive wildfires erupted throughout the resource adequacy, market transformation,
that regularly make up our agendas and by West, burning homes, displacing thousands of and evolving environmental policies.
late spring the coronavirus pandemic had people and destroying communities and the In this annual report, we take a closer look at
changed the world in dramatic ways. infrastructure serving them—including utility where we have been this year.
Suddenly, keeping the lights on had a power poles, lines and other critical assets.
significantly new meaning. As the pandemic And yet as the year unfolded, PNUCC There’s a pandemic
took hold there was an immediate shift from members skillfully shifted focus from their out there!
the familiar work environment to implementing traditional agendas to the more human-
emergency action plans for safe operations centric impacts of the pandemic and ensuing There is no denying the impacts of the
both in the field and from home. events. We met the workplace challenges coronavirus pandemic on utilities and
head-on. We had robust and sometimes customers. As the implications unfolded,
From there the headlines changed with each
sensitive discussions about racial justice and PNUCC discussions focused on what
successive month. The economy took a
how to create a more equitable and inclusive member utilities were doing to address the
deep dive. Unemployment skyrocketed.
workplace. And the severity of the wildfires rapid changes. From creating safe operating
Tens of thousands of customers couldn’t
provided a catalyst for continuing to share protocols, managing unpaid customer bills,
pay their bills. Many utilities saw declines in
lessons learned and best practices in shifting entire workforces to work remotely,
revenues as businesses and industry shut
emergency response. All while as best we and keeping the lights on, it was a mass
down. Then came massive racial justice pro-
could, tracking and engaging in the ongoing exercise in people engineering.
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