This article first appeared on my old blog at http://www.bloglines.com/blog/wsodeman?id=204
http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061019/NEWS01/610190341
In this morning’s Honolulu Advertiser, Rick Daysog reports that HECO could have added redundant systems to prevent a blackout, but the project might cost US$1B in current dollars.
That works out to US$3400 per electric customer, using an estimate of 291,000 residential and commercial electrical customers on Oahu. The number of customers is less than the number of people on the island, as there are many households with more than a single resident. A household usually counts as a single customer as far as the electric company is concerned.
Oahu residents are asking questions that Californians have asked over and over after much larger earthquakes. In information systems, vendors, departments and managers sometimes create service level agreements that define service standards, service availability, the kinds of interruptions and problems that can occur, and specify procedures to escalate and remediate the problems when they do happen.
SLAs also define the responsibilities of the multiple parties involved in the agreement. If management decides to add more desktop computers, or implement additional server-based applications, then the agreement should be modified to account for the additional resources and time required.
SLAs often accompany disaster readiness plans (DRPs) and contingency plans, as companies become more reliant on telecommunications and information systems to conduct their most basic operations.
Sunday provided several examples of contingency planning. Some Oahu supermarkets had backup generators ready to power the cash registers and credit card readers. In an emergency, it’s difficult to run out to the bank and get more cash. Hospitals, police and fire departments called in extra staff to assist. The state considered calling out the Hawaii National Guard, which was actually on duty last weekend, but decided against that move.
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