SAN ANTONIO \u2013 CPS Energy interim CEO Frank Almaraz says the utility is evaluating its response to a severe weather event last Friday night that knocked out power to more than 300,000 customers across the San Antonio area.<\/p>\n
Almaraz said power for the final customer affected by the storm was restored at 8:38 p.m. Tuesday, four days after powerful winds and falling trees caused widespread damage to the electrical system. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m relieved to have our customers restored,\u201d Almaraz said, thanking customers for their patience and CPS Energy employees and outside crews for their work.<\/p>\n
At the peak of the event, Almaraz said automation technology helped restore service to more than 200,000 customers relatively quickly. CPS Energy has invested about $70 million in that technology over the past five years. The utility also received approximately 1,000 reports of downed power lines.<\/p>\n
Watch the full interview with Almaraz below:<\/p>\n
Almaraz said those dangerous situations are given top priority, followed by outages affecting the largest groups of customers. Crews also prioritize medical facilities, medically critical customers, police and fire facilities and infrastructure such as water systems. <\/p>\n
He rejected any claims that certain areas of San Antonio received preferential treatment. <\/p>\n
\u201cCPS Energy does not, has not and will not focus on a particular part of town\u201d outside of established restoration criteria, Almaraz said.<\/p>\n
The storm also renewed questions about vegetation management after trees and limbs damaged power lines. Almaraz said CPS Energy has tripled its investment in vegetation management in recent years, but some storm damage cannot be prevented. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you have wind that will lift a 100-year-old tree out of the ground and drop it on a power line, that\u2019s not the sort of thing that you can mitigate with vegetation management,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
CPS Energy\u2019s board plans to hold a future session examining lessons learned from the storm and what worked well during the response. <\/p>\n
Almaraz also confirmed he is interested in becoming CPS Energy\u2019s permanent CEO. He said the decision and timeline are ultimately up to the utility\u2019s board.<\/p>\n
Read also:<\/p>\n
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