When severe weather strikes, no utility can tackle the damage alone. Mutual Aid ensures that crews, equipment, and expertise flow quickly across service territories to speed recovery. This long-standing tradition of cooperation strengthens resilience, restores power faster, and showcases the industry’s commitment to community support when it’s needed most. Here’s a closer look at how it works:
How Utilities Get Help After Major Weather Events
1. Mutual Assistance Agreements (MAAs)
- Utilities across regions (investor-owned, co-ops, municipalities) form formal agreements pledging to assist one another in emergencies.
- These are usually organized by regional mutual aid groups (like EEI’s Mutual Assistance Program for investor-owned utilities or NRECA’s co-op mutual aid network).
- Agreements define cost reimbursement, liability coverage, and coordination processes so help can flow quickly.
2. Requesting Aid
- After a major storm, the impacted utility assesses damage and identifies the number of crews, trucks, equipment, and materials needed.
- A request goes out through the mutual aid network.
- Neighboring utilities with available crews respond, often within hours, mobilizing line-workers, vegetation crews, and support staff.
3. Coordination & Deployment
- Requests are coordinated through regional or national coordination groups:
- EEI (Edison Electric Institute) for IOUs.
- NRECA (National Rural Electric Cooperative Association) for co-ops.
- APPA (American Public Power Association) for municipal utilities.
- Mutual Assistance Agreements (MAAs) Software. Companies like Milsoft have storm response platforms that offer utilities and or statewides a web-based platform designed to allow organizations to easily coordinate mutual aid crews during large events. This role-based system gives utilities the ability to define resources that are available to provide assistance. Participating utilities just register to become part of the mutual aid network and the software does the rest.
4. On-the-Ground Operations
- Mutual aid crews integrate into the host utility’s operations, following its safety protocols, restoration priorities, and system maps.
- The host utility provides logistics: lodging, meals, fuel, and coordination.
- Costs are typically reimbursed by the requesting utility, and if the event is federally declared, FEMA may provide partial reimbursement.
5. Technology & Communication
- Increasingly, utilities use cloud-based coordination platforms to manage mutual aid, track crew locations, and provide real-time updates to customers and regulators.
- GIS and outage management systems integrate with these tools so crews can be routed efficiently to priority areas.
- Milsoft has launched StormSyte Mutual Aid in North Carolina for example. StormSyte is a web-based platform designed to allow utilities or and statewide organizations to easily coordinate mutual aid crews during large events. This role-based systems gives utilities the ability to define resources that are available to provide assistance.
Benefits of Mutual Assistance
- Faster restoration – Bringing in hundreds or thousands of extra lineworkers speeds up power restoration dramatically.
- Shared resources – No single utility can staff for once-in-50-year storms; mutual aid makes it feasible.
- Customer goodwill – Customers expect fast restoration; mutual aid helps utilities meet those expectations.
- Industry solidarity – Line-workers have a strong tradition of helping each other, which boosts morale and public trust.
Example: After Hurricane Ida (2021), more than 27,000 utility workers from 41 states were mobilized through mutual assistance networks to restore power in Louisiana.
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