Bill Moroney, President
& Chief Executive Officer
Utilities Telecom Council

  EET&D   :   It’s probably best to start with how UTC fits into the overall mix of electricity and telecommunications trade associations, since there are actually quite a few of them…

  MORONEY   :  Sure, Mike. The majority of our core members are energy or water utilities. Most major telecom service providers and equipment manufacturers belong to UTC as associate members, because they have a stake in our core members’ success; but we exist to advocate for and help electric, gas and water utilities. The “telecom” part of our name speaks to the part of the utility that we support.

  EET&D   :   This might seem like a silly question, but why the telecommunications emphasis?

  MORONEY   :  Not at all; and the fact is, most people don’t realize that utilities have built, own, and manage very extensive private communications networks all across the country. Utilities have their own fiber networks, microwave networks, and mobile radio communications systems. It is the people who design, build, and manage these networks – from the Chief Information Officer down to radio technicians – that UTC interacts with.

  EET&D   :   But, how does UTC differ from the other electricity trade associations in Washington like the Edison Electric Institute, the American Public Power Association, and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association?

  MORONEY   :  For starters EEI, APPA, and NRECA are members of UTC along with about 10 other DCbased energy and water associations plus over 500 utilities and their technology partners. We have both utility organizations and trade associations as members. For their members, EEI, APPA, and NRECA are the absolute best representatives they can have in Washington. UTC’s role is to represent all types of utilities on communications related issues. In addition, we focus on providing “anticipatory analysis” for our members from a cadre of senior staff legal, engineering, standards, and research experts.

  EET&D   :   Is this focus on communications for utilities something new with the advent of smart grids or have utilities been in the communications business for a while?

  MORONEY   :  Utilities started building their own communications networks in the 19th century with the application of telegraph technology to remote power facilities simply because we needed reliable communications to ensure the reliability of the energy grid in places that commercial communications providers could not make a business case to offer it. This is not a criticism of commercial providers, just recognition that we have very different business models.

In the early 20^th century, utilities started using radio technologies long before most businesses. UTC was created in 1948 by utilities that had been using a variety of private communications networks for decades. Today, the industry is beginning to radically increase its reliance on 21^st century information communications technology networks as we deploy smart grids.

  EET&D   :   When you talk about utility telecommunications, exactly what are we talking about?

  MORONEY   :  When we build giant solar and wind farms to add this great renewable energy source to the grid, this does not magically happen. It takes a fairly sophisticated communications system to control the integration of this variable energy source into an incredibly complex mix of energy resources and demands. Often these renewable energy sources are not located where commercial telecom networks exist.

Another example is when hurricanes strike, we are all moved to see utility bucket trucks among the first to respond to the emergency. What keeps these crews safe and makes them so effective are their private voice and data radio systems that are designed to work when the power is out for everyone else. Often, one of the first restoration jobs we have is getting power back on for the other emergency responders who do not have the kind of backup power that utilities have.

Overall, utilities’ communications systems fall into at least one of four buckets: (1) smart control systems on the transmission and distribution grids down to the substation level; (2) smart edge devices like smart meters and distribution system monitors; (3) private mobile voice and data systems; and (4) traditional business enterprise systems like LANs and smart phones.

  EET&D   :   Radio spectrum seems to be the top issue UTC has worked on over the years. Is that still the case?

  MORONEY   :  Access to radio spectrum has always been very important for utilities. UTC was established specifically to help utilities cope with new spectrum regulations immediately following World War II. We still have a radio licensing and frequency coordination business – UTC Spectrum Services – that traces its origins back to those early days of UTC. Since then, our role has expanded beyond radio systems as utilities use of other technologies, notably fiber optics networks, has expanded.

Today, we are helping utilities assess new technologies and new offerings from commercial service providers. To illustrate how times have changed, we are just wrapping up a comprehensive study of how utilities use communications, outlining what their options are looking to the future, and suggesting ways each utility can assess when it is best to expand their own communications systems and when partnering with a commercial network might be better.

  EET&D   :   But, isn’t UTC trying to get an allocation of spectrum from the Federal government?

  MORONEY   :  We are seeking to share, not take away, spectrum that the Federal government uses so that we can build smart control grids and emergency response communications systems faster and at less cost to the public than doing it without spectrum would dictate.

In the late 19th century, the U.S. government decided it would be in our national interest to have transcontinental railroads; and, so they said to the railroads, if you build it, we will give you the land you need.

Today, the clean environment and energy independence benefits of smart grids are equally, if not more, important to Americans as railroads were a hundred fifty years ago. Using secure spectrum to build out these networks would help us realize the promised benefits of smart grids far faster than waiting for more expensive solutions to be financed and built. Sharing government spectrum is how Canada has already helped utilities there; and the European Union is considering a similar sharing of spectrum with utilities there.

  EET&D   :   Is spectrum the most important telecom/IT issue facing utilities today?

  MORONEY   :  Spectrum is a value tool to implement the promise of what energy utilities will contribute to society in the years ahead, but the most important issue is data itself – managing massive amounts of new data, understanding what it all means, and keeping it secure will be the challenge for utilities in the decade ahead. On cyber security alone, utilities will spend far more time and money addressing this challenge and most are planning on it right now. We know that efforts to penetrate utilities’ control networks and usage data are ongoing.

We also know that all types of individuals and organizations make these cyber attacks, ranging from disgruntled employees and hackers to common data thieves and foreign governments. To date, utilities have been fairly successful at stopping these attacks and catching the perpetrators; but logic says their numbers will increase and they’ll get even better at in the future. The biggest problem utilities face today is conflicting messages from the Federal government on what to do, how much to do, and how to pay for it all.

Congress, NERC, FERC, and the Departments of Energy and Homeland Security are all proposing cyber security requirements; however, the best direction out there today are new smart grid security guidelines from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). This will sort itself out over the next few months, but addressing cyber security will dominate utilities’ telecom and IT work in the months ahead.

  EET&D   :   I notice that UTC’s volunteer leadership has an annual strategic planning process that it uses to set priorities for the organization. Can you tell our readers a bit about how that works?

  MORONEY   :  UTC is a technology organization that is not preoccupied with technology. Our purpose is to help those utility professionals with experience and responsibilities in the telecom and IT fields to use their skills to help achieve their organization’s overall goals. Last year, when we started our strategic planning process, our Board identified four, overarching requirements:

1. Supporting utilities’ need to address climate change policies;
2. Helping utilities contain costs while increasing investments in new technologies;
3. Managing the dramatic increase in telecom and IT regulations for utilities; and
4. Enabling improved cybersecurity for all utility systems.

And, it is from these four priorities that our policy, compliance, education, and information services evolve. All of us who work at UTC take a great deal of pride in being very good at supporting a memberdriven organization.