Hurricane season is underway and summer heat already has arrived in many areas, which again puts the spotlight on utilities, the power grid, and disaster response plans after a series of major weather events and wildfires caused outages and other disruptions in the U.S. and Caribbean in recent years.

“We’re seeing these events occur, and regardless of where you stand on climate change, we have to ask ourselves, ‘How do we as utility deal with this?’ ” said Darrel Anderson, president and CEO of IDACORP Inc., which includes Idaho Power as a subsidiary, as he kicked off a panel discussion titled “Taming Nature’s Fury: Electric Companies and Extreme Weather Events,” on June 11 at the Edison Electric Institute’s annual convention in Philadelphia. The panel included Margaret Peloso, a partner with Vinson & Elkins who deals with environmental and natural resource issues; Ronald Brise, a former commissioner with the Florida Public Service Commission; and Barnie Gyant, a deputy regional forester with the U.S.…

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