Disaster Preparedness & Emergency Management Conference

Electric utilities are confronting complex and severe emergency events that test infrastructure, operations, workforce readiness, and communications all at once. Utilities need coordinated, all-hazards strategies that help them anticipate risk, make faster decisions, deploy resources, restore service, and strengthen resilience.

The EUCI Disaster Planning & Emergency Management Conference gives utility professionals practical strategies for improving preparedness and response across the full emergency management lifecycle. The program connects physical resilience with operational readiness, exploring infrastructure hardening, vegetation management, emerging technologies, AI-enabled risk modeling, and targeted investments alongside proven approaches to Incident Command System integration, damage assessment, resource prioritization, regulatory coordination, and business continuity.  Attendees will also gain insights into preparing for and responding to specific hazards including ice storms, extreme cold, wildfires, high winds, and lightning.

Register now to connect with utility leaders and emergency management professionals, discover proven practices from across the industry, and take away actionable strategies to strengthen preparedness and response.

1. Identify the essential components of an all-hazards utility emergency management program, including preparedness, mitigation, response, continuity, recovery, and organizational coordination.
2. Explain how infrastructure hardening, vegetation management, grid modernization, and other mitigation measures contribute to disaster prevention, system resilience, and emergency response capabilities.
3. Differentiate preparedness and response strategies for ice storms, extreme cold, hurricanes, wildfires, high winds, lightning, and other hazards affecting utility operations.
4. Apply risk-based approaches to hazard identification, business impact analysis, critical-dependency assessment, continuity planning, and the establishment of emergency response and recovery priorities.
5. Analyze the roles, authorities, escalation thresholds, information flows, and cross-functional coordination requirements necessary to transition effectively from routine utility operations to emergency operations.
6. Evaluate Emergency Operations Center activation and management practices, including Incident Command System integration, operational periods, situational awareness, resource prioritization, damage assessment, mutual assistance, demobilization, and coordination with external agencies.
7. Assess resilience and risk-mitigation investments by considering implementation costs, avoided losses, disaster recovery costs, funding mechanisms, operational benefits, and improvements in emergency response capability.
8. Evaluate how AI, predictive analytics, weather intelligence, and advanced risk modeling can improve hazard forecasting, operational decision-making, infrastructure planning, and resilience investment strategies.
9. Analyze regulatory and emergency-management expectations for utility preparedness, response, restoration, mutual aid, and public communications.
10. Develop approaches for coordinating timely, accurate, and credible crisis communications with customers, vulnerable populations, critical facilities, government officials, emergency-management agencies, and first responders.
11. Evaluate lessons learned from major utility disasters and after-action reviews to identify improvements in infrastructure, emergency operations, workforce readiness, technology, mutual assistance, communications, and community coordination.
12. Design an integrated approach for connecting hazard mitigation, infrastructure resilience, emergency planning, EOC operations, crisis communications, exercises, recovery, and continuous improvement into a comprehensive utility emergency management program.