Full Title: White Paper: 10 Best Practices to Reduce the Risk of Power Line Wildfires
Author(s): Tony Sleva
Publisher(s): Prescient Transmission Systems
Publication Date: June 10, 2024
Full Text: Download Resource
Description (excerpt):
Wildfires caused by transmission and distribution lines impact insurance rates, customer/public relations, and electric utilities’ bottom line. As wildfires ignited by faulted power lines are becoming more litigious, electric utilities need to demonstrate that they are quickly working to address and reduce risks.
Over the last decade, lawsuits and settlements from these types of wildfires have cost electric utilities billions of dollars. In 2024, insurers increased rates for wildfire coverage by 200% to 300% based on prior year losses.
This paper provides ten low-cost, immediate actions that every electric utility can implement to reduce the risk that a wildfire will be ignited by faults on a transmission or distribution line. All ten of these actions can be implemented in less than a year, as none require the installation of new components.