The surge in electric demand has far-reaching implications for electric companies, including how they upgrade aging infrastructure, increase load, respond to new regulations, and more.
These challenges were the focus of a lunch and learn hosted by Irth Vice President Patrick Norris, “The Impact of Growth on the Customer and Ensuring a Neighborly Approach.” Patrick’s guest was Tom Schaffer, Transmission Right-of-Way Senior Manager at American Electric Power (AEP), the largest electric transmission provider in the United States. During the event, Tom shared how AEP responds to the complexities of customer and landowner outreach required to meet demand while maintaining more than 40,000 miles of transmission lines.
In almost any industry, growth is a primary goal—but scaling too fast can affect the quality of customer service.
AEP’s service territory stretches across 11 states, from Texas to Ohio. Schaffer shared AEP has around $3 billion of CapEx investment across the system. In response to the 400% growth AEP has experienced during Shaffer’s 12-year tenure, the teams to support that growth and its structure have changed and grown to 75 total employees, including a more regionalized set-up. Each of the six regions is headed by a manager and is supported by 10-12 right-of-way agents and additional administrative staff.
Additionally, AEP relies on external agents from three suppliers. The mix of internal and external resources collaborating allows AEP to manage right-of-way projects across such a large system.
How can companies like AEP, who deal with right-of-way matters, maintain their neighborly approach as they adjust to increasing electric demand? During the lunch and learn, Schaffer shared how AEP addresses the common challenges faced by electric operators in North America.
AEP needs to upgrade or replace a quarter of its system over the next decade. “At the end of the day, continuing to invest in our infrastructure is always going to be a priority across our system and network,” said Tom. When a line needs to be replaced or rebuilt, AEP ensures they are proactively reaching their stakeholder groups, whether it’s regulatory bodies or customers, and telling the story of why they’re doing what they’re doing.
When they are replacing or rebuilding lines, AEP’s team is looking at the existing accesses and easements. If necessary, they supplement or amend the terms of the right-of-way agreement for today’s requirements.
AEP’s team is proactive when they discover land agreements that need to be modernized. First, they rely on the latest technology, such as a GIS platform, to ensure they keep their land management records current. They take proactive measures to address safety threats before they go out in the field. AEP also pulls up easement data and evaluates the width that’s established to discern if it should be maintained or needs changes due to new standards. When they are in the field, they can pull up all the information they need not just to do the job but do it safely. These proactive conversations and outreach are continuously happening to prevent customer misunderstanding or dissatisfaction.
AEP’s economic development strategy is based on solid relationships built over time with its customers. Electric transmission companies need to determine the investment opportunities to meet the load requirements while investing back in their facilities to ensure reliability. Customers and future customers are primarily concerned about what electric companies can bring them and how quickly it can be deployed. Everyone is racing to be able to deliver services, so it’s essential for electric companies to be ready to respond to the surge quickly and effectively.
One of the biggest challenges that AEP and other electric companies have is ensuring that they’re going to deliver and doing what they say they’re going to do with the commitments that they have. This is part of why proactive communication with all stakeholders is beneficial, so they have understanding and trust in the process.
Communication—early and often—is also important when working on renewable energy transmission. Customers in the renewables space especially feel like they’re in a race to the finish line, as they want to see the environmental and economic impact of connecting to the grid as quickly as possible.
Schaffer said that the first piece is to understand the commitment. That means conducting studies and assessments to understand the total impact of the work. It means doing omnichannel outreach from mailings, door hangers, newspaper articles, social media, phone calls, and right-of-way agents in the field having conversations, to understand landowner and customer concerns, and using this insight to find the least impactful route for the transmission line. Then, you need to communicate openly and clearly so that all parties know what to expect regarding schedule and impact.
A decade ago, there was a lot of chatter about how a lot of institutional knowledge was about to leave as workers in the sector retired, and then five years later, it happened. Now, there’s a new wave of employees with different expectations, not just due to generational differences but because the pandemic changed what people wanted from their jobs. Employees now expect hybrid and remote work options.
Schaffer said that AEP has succeeded with a blend of remote and in-office work. Some teams are fully remote, but right-of-way, siting, and outreach teams are in the office three days a week to create a culture that encourages interpersonal connection and collaboration.
Ultimately, companies need to communicate clearly about their work environment parameters while maintaining flexibility to make work widely accessible and comfortable for a generation that has come to expect it.
Additionally, as AEP grew, they needed to assess employee growth and development. Schaffer said they created forms to identify culture gaps and to help its teams feel comfortable having a voice to share feedback, questions, and concerns. They also work with employees to help them understand the “level of voice” they have regarding how to work better and more efficiently and what, for example, tools they need to have to succeed. Ultimately, Schaffer suggested giving employees a career path and trajectory to succeed.
Whether it’s new guidance from NERC on vegetation management around transmission lines or any new or other regulation updates, electric companies need to be ready to respond. When faced with changes to regulations, AEP always aims to be in front of them with a proactive approach. They prioritize their most critical lines in terms of customer impact and reliability for the grid. The AEP team meets regularly with specialized teams, such as forestry, to ensure they maintain proper compliance and have a plan to communicate to landowners when additional actions are necessary. Regardless of the regulation, AEP uses the tools and technology to properly document compliance.
Schaffer said that one of the key considerations when evaluating new technology for the team is to determine if it will play nicely with the other tools they already have and that it’s not duplicating effort. His team needs information readily available when interacting with stakeholders and landowners each day to prevent dissatisfaction. This requires a system that contains all the project details and necessary data from each team, including those who operate in the field. Whether it’s scheduling, acquisition costs, and budget details, or any other data points, one system for all the information on land management and right-of-way projects is essential to build efficiencies.