Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board

Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board IN THE MATTER OF The Public Utilities Act, R.S.N.S. 989, c.380, as amended -and- IN THE MATTER OF A Review of Nova Scotia Power Inc.'s state of preparedness and response to Post-Tropical Storm Arthur- July 5, 04 (P- 40.38/ M063) Supplement to Nova Scotia Power s February, 06 Progress Update February, 06

.0 TABLE OF CONTENTS.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY... 3. Winter Storm of January 9, 06... 3. Freezing Rain Storm of February 5, 06... 5.3 Snow and Wind Storm of February 8, 06... 6 3.0 STORM PREPARATION... 7 4.0 SAFETY... 5.0 DAMAGE ASSESSMENT... 3 6.0 CUSTOMER COMMUNICATIONS... 6 7.0 RESTORATION PERFORMANCE... 0 8.0 VEGETATION MANAGEMENT... 3 9.0 CONCLUSION... 7 DATE FILED: February, 06 Page of 7

Supplement to Post-Tropical Storm Arthur Progress Report 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 3 4 5 6.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Nova Scotia Power Inc. (NS Power or Company) filed its most recent Post-Tropical Storm (PTS) Arthur review progress update on February, 06. Immediately prior to the filing of the report, a storm occurred on Friday January 9, 06, which was the worst storm experienced in Nova Scotia since PTS Arthur. NS Power also experienced two other storm events on February 5 and February 8, 06. The NS Power Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) was activated for each event. NS Power has been filing regular progress reports on the action items as directed by the Board in its Order, and while some of the items are still in the process of being implemented, many changes that have been made to the storm procedures have improved the overall storm response. In the sections below, NS Power provides an overview of the three storm events and reviews how each PTS Arthur action impacted restoration activities relating to these storm events.. Winter Storm of January 9, 06 On January 9, 06 a significant winter storm blew through Nova Scotia bringing upwards of 40 cm of wet snow and high winds in excess of 00 km/h. The accumulation of wet snow on trees caused branches and full trees to fall into power lines, causing customer outages, particularly in the New Glasgow, Antigonish, Port Hawkesbury and Sydney areas. The NS Power Event Monitoring Team (EMT) commenced tracking the storm on Wednesday, January 7, 06. A Level event was declared based on the damage prediction from the pre-event weather forecast; however triggers were put in place with the EOC staff to escalate to a Level 3 if the actual weather was worse than M063, Board Order, October 0, 04. DATE FILED: February, 06 Page 3 of 7

Supplement to Post-Tropical Storm Arthur Progress Report 3 4 predicted. The EMT was on-site at NS Power s Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) facility starting on Friday, January 9, 06 at 8:00 pm and when the event escalated to a Level 3, the EOC was activated at 0:00 am on Saturday, January 30, 06. The EOC remained activated until the last customer was restored on February, 06. 5 6 7 8 9 0 3 4 The first outages began at 5:00 pm on Friday, January 9, 06 and the last customer was restored at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, February, 06. A total of 84 power-line technician crews (4 external contractor crews and 70 internal crews) were in place during the event. Travel conditions were challenging with 30-40 cm of snow in most areas, but the field crews were able to continue to work effectively throughout the event. By noon on Saturday January 30, 06, 60 percent of the customers affected had their power restored and by the morning of Monday February, 06, 95 percent of all customers had been restored. There were 67,000 customers without power during the peak of the storm; during the full event a total of 39,000 customers lost power. 5 6 7 Pictou Landing Road, Trenton, before and after the January 9 Winter Storm DATE FILED: February, 06 Page 4 of 7

Supplement to Post-Tropical Storm Arthur Progress Report. Freezing Rain Storm of February 5, 06 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 On Friday, February 5, 06, another storm hit the province bringing significant freezing rain from the Annapolis Valley all the way to Cape Breton. The hardest hit areas were New Glasgow and Antigonish as many of the trees in those areas had been weakened by the storm event on January 9, 06. The EOC team was activated at 8:30 pm on February 4, 06 and the EOC remained activated until the last customer was restored at 8:5 pm on Saturday, February 6, 06. By 3:00 am on February 6, 06, 60 percent of the customers affected had their power restored and by 9:30 am on February 6, 05, 95 percent of all customers had been restored. There were 3,000 customers out during the peak of the event; in total 7,000 customers lost power. 3 4 Ice Build-Up on Trees and Power lines During February 5 Ice Storm DATE FILED: February, 06 Page 5 of 7

Supplement to Post-Tropical Storm Arthur Progress Report 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0.3 Snow and Wind Storm of February 8, 06 A third winter storm with significant amounts of dry snow and high winds was forecasted to impact the province on Monday, February 8, 06. The EOC opened at :00 pm on Monday, February 8, 06 and the EOC team monitored the event throughout the night. Since the snow was dry and light during the storm and the winds never exceeded 80 km/h, there was only one feeder section outage event during this storm. In Yarmouth, 300 customers lost power due to high winds, which caused a tree to fall into a power line. Power was restored to all 300 customers in just over an hour. All customers were restored by 9:00 pm and no other outages occurred during the storm. The EOC remained active until 8:00 am on February 9, 06. DATE FILED: February, 06 Page 6 of 7

3.0 STORM PREPARATION No. Arthur Review Recommendations Impact on January / February 06 Storms Seek out and contract with an additional weather service provider to be used along with the existing services. Include representatives of the different weather service providers who should be in pre- event NS Power conference calls. 3 Challenge weather providers on these calls, seeking to understand the differences in the forecasts, what factors are producing those differences, and what range of uncertainty about key forecast elements exists. 4 Review carefully all aspects of how the model was used and how it responded in preparation for Arthur, and develop an action plan to correct any improvements NS Power continues to use Scotia Weather Services (SWS) as its primary weather provider and has hired The Weather Network as an additional weather provider. The NS Power Event Monitoring Team (EMT) was in contact with both weather services providers, as well as Environment Canada, for each of the three storm events. All three forecasts were very similar and were useful in storm preparation and planning. SWS and The Weather Network were contacted directly prior to each of the three storms and they provided more specific weather analysis for pre-event planning. This is now part of the standard NS Power storm pre-event planning. SWS were contacted prior to the January 9 storm to review the details of the wet snow that was in the forecast. SWS confirmed that wet snow was very difficult to predict as it could end up being rain, freezing rain, or snow. SWS were also contacted during the February 5 storm to discuss the amount of freezing rain expected and then again for the February 8 storm to discuss the shift in the snow track. The damage prediction model predicted 34,000 customer outages for the January 9 storm based on the Scotia Weather, Environment Canada and The Weather DATE FILED: February, 06 Page 7 of 7

available. Network forecasts. In reality, there were 39,000 customers without power during the event. When the actual weather details were inputted into the model after the event, the prediction was 0,000 customer outages. This highlights how different the actual conditions can be compared to the weather forecast, however if the actual weather is used into the model, the prediction is very close. For the February 5 storm, the model predicted 58,000 customer outages based on the Scotia Weather, Environment Canada and The Weather Network forecasts. In reality, there were 7,000 customers without power during the event. When the actual weather details were inputted into the model after the event, the prediction was 3,000 customer outages. Once again, the model (using the actual weather that was experienced) was very close to the actual customer outages. For the February 8 storm, the model predicted 49,000 customer outages based on the Scotia Weather, Environment Canada and The Weather Network forecasts. In reality only 300 customers lost power and when the actual weather details were inputted into the model, the prediction was 8,000 customer outages. The results of this event will be used to further calibrate the model. 5 Incorporate transmission damage and labor hours into the model projections. Transmission data is a new feature of the damage prediction model. The actual data from all transmission storm events is inputted into the model after each storm and the model is re-calibrated accordingly. DATE FILED: February, 06 Page 8 of 7

8 Under similar conditions, activate the EOC earlier, with all team members in place before the onset of the storm. The EOC should remain activated and in control of restoration efforts. The weather forecast for the January 9 storm was changing right up until the event itself and based on the prediction of 34,000 customer outages it was declared a Level event, with triggers in place for the EOC staff if the weather was worse than what was predicted. The actual weather ended up exceeding the forecast and brought 40+ cm of snow and 0 km/h winds in the eastern part of the province. The EMT, which is made up of EOC members, was on-site at the EOC facility at 8:00 pm on January 9. When the storm escalated to a Level 3 event, the EOC was activated at 0:00 am on January 30 and the EOC remained activated until the last customer was restored at 6:30 pm, February. The forecast for the February 5 storm had much less variability. Based on the level of outages predicted, the EOC was activated at 8:30 pm on February 4. The EOC remained activated until the last customer was restored at 8:5 pm on February 6. The EOC was activated again during the February 8 high winds and snow storm. The forecast changed multiple times in the days leading up to the event, however based on the prediction of customer outages due to high winds, the EOC was activated at :00 pm on February 8. The winds did not quite reach warning levels and the snow was dry and light, so there was only one outage of note during this event. 300 customers lost power in Yarmouth on February 8. All customers were restored by 9:00 pm and no other outages occurred during the storm. The EOC remained activated until 8:00 am, February 9. DATE FILED: February, 06 Page 9 of 7

9 Be more aggressive in activating the EOC, placing all team members in place at least (preferably 8) hours before the onset of the storm. As indicated in the ESRP, the EOC is opened -8 hours in advance of any Level 3 or Level 4 storm events. Based on the outage prediction of the 34,000 customers for the January 9 storm, it was declared a Level event. The Event Monitoring Team, which is made up of EOC members, started working out of the EOC facility at 8:00 pm on January 9. The Storm Lead, Regional Operations Lead, Transmission Lead, and the Duty Officer were all at the EOC from 8:00 pm onward. When the actual outages exceeded 50,000 customers (the peak was 67,000), the event was declared a Level 3 and the EOC was activated at 0:00 am on January 30 and remained activated until the last customer was restored at 6:30 pm on February. Based on the prediction of a Level 3 event for the February 5 storm, on February 4 th the EOC was activated 0 hours prior to the onset of the expected storm and remained activated until the last customer was restored at 8:5 pm on February 6. Initially the February 8 storm was predicted to be a Level event based on the weather forecasts. During the 0:00 am forecast on February 8 the weather escalated and a Level 3 was declared. The EOC activated at :00 pm on February 8 (eight hours prior to the onset of the expected storm) and stayed activated until 8:00 am on February 9. 5 Follow through promptly on the plan of developing and strengthening ties with mutual assistance allies. NS Power has strong ties with neighboring mutual assistance allies. Contractors used during the three storms were from New Brunswick and Quebec as well as contractors DATE FILED: February, 06 Page 0 of 7

from Emera Utility Services (EUS) in Nova Scotia. EUS and the out-of-province contractors were brought in for both the January 9 and February 5 storms. Only EUS contractors were used for the February 8 storm. 4 How NSPI is implementing a coordinated communication strategy with EMO, as well as public and private meteorological services, to communicate effectively amongst themselves, and with the public, during and after such storm events. The NS Emergency Management Office (EMO) has agreed to open whenever the NS Power EOC activates and for the three events EMO opened each time. Overall coordination has improved between NS Power and EMO and there was an NS Power representative stationed at EMO for all three events. 3 4 Snow Accumulation on Trees and Power lines During January 9 Storm DATE FILED: February, 06 Page of 7

4.0 SAFETY No. Arthur Review Recommendations Impact on January / February 06 Storms 7 Review in detail safety performance during the response to Arthur, identifying and correcting any items found that can be improved, and building upon their successes in this effort Prior to each storm arriving, planning commenced to develop and distribute morning safety messages for crews on relevant topics to ensure safety. This was performed each morning while outages persisted. Safety orientations were planned and delivered to all contract line workers at a staging area in Truro as they arrived from New Brunswick. An excellent safety performance was realized for all three storms with only one minor first aid incident involving a contract worker for the duration of the outages during the January 9 storm. 3 DATE FILED: February, 06 Page of 7

5.0 DAMAGE ASSESSMENT No. Arthur Review Recommendations Promptly conduct a thorough review of the damage assessment performance, identifying problem areas, and developing action plans. Impact on January / February 06 Storms Actions taken in response to the PTS Arthur review were integrated into the January 9 restoration plan. Thirty-five Damage Assessment (DA) teams were staged in the areas of the province that were forecast to be affected by the storm. The same process was followed for the February 5 and 8 storms. Twelve DA teams were staged throughout the province for each of those events. For all three storms, the Damage Assessors were equipped with enhanced data collection tools that delivered damage information to the Emergency Operations Centre in a timely manner. 3 Develop expertise in using a projection tool such as statistical damage projection, in which a given feeder or geographic area is completely surveyed, and then damage figures from that survey are used to project what total damage for a larger area can be expected. 4 Correct the problems experienced in attempting to determine early on how much damage had occurred and the resources needed Damage Assessment tools were used to capture damage information and travel conditions from the field for affected distribution feeders and/or geographic areas in the first two storms. This was not required for the third storm on February 8. The information collected was used to inform a DA overview for a larger area where it was reasonable to do so (adjacent feeders and geography). DA teams were staged and deployed ahead of all three storms. Early reports of damage and travel conditions in each storm were received and used as inputs into the restoration plans. Helicopter patrols were used to supplement DATE FILED: February, 06 Page 3 of 7

6 Address the issue of damage assessment quality and timeliness. ground resources during the January 9 storm, but were not required for the storms on February 5 and 8. Damage Assessment information was quickly available to assist with restoration plans for each storm. During the initial restoration cycle, when travel conditions were the most difficult due to heavy snow accumulation, qualitative damage assessment was received from the field to inform restoration plans. Once roads were cleared and travel was safe, damage assessment crews were able to collect discrete damage data and send it to the Emergency Operations Centre for review and input into restoration planning. The review cycle ensures the information delivered to the restoration planning team was of sufficient quality. DATE FILED: February, 06 Page 4 of 7

3 Damage Assessors Identify Snow Accumulation on Power lines During January 9 Storm 4 5 Damage Assessors Identify Trees on Power lines during January 9 Storm DATE FILED: February, 06 Page 5 of 7

6.0 CUSTOMER COMMUNICATIONS No. Arthur Review Recommendations Impact on January / February 06 Storms 9 Redesign the automated Outage Line to provide individualized outage restoration status to all callers. This item was implemented in October 05 and all customers who called into the High- Volume Call Answer (HVCA) system during the three storm events received individual outage restoration status as designed. During the January 9 storm, 80% of customer calls were served by the HVCA compared to 7% during PTS Arthur. During the February 5 storm, 84% of outage calls were served by the HVCA. This was not tracked for the February 8 storm due to the lack of significant outages. 0 In concert, revise the global messaging presented to customers during a storm or large outage. Communications and Customer Coordinators should be responsible for developing and posting the appropriate global messaging for each day of a storm. The global messaging was also revised and implemented in 05. During all three storms, a global message log was created prior to any customer outages and maintained to track the developing, posting and updating of appropriate messaging as the weather and restoration efforts evolved. The role of a Global Message Coordinator was created in the Customer Care Center following PTS Arthur to manage all global messages created by the EOC. Throughout each storm, customers heard pertinent global messages whenever they called the NS Power outage line. Suspend normal customer service business hours during major storm events to dedicate all Customer Care Center The nature of the time-of-day when these storms arrived did not compete with standard business hour requirements for customer DATE FILED: February, 06 Page 6 of 7

resources to the restoration effort until call volumes decline sufficiently. Fortify the website so that high demand does not render the site unusable. service volumes and as such normal customer service business hours remained in place. All regular customer service levels were successfully maintained during each storm. The fortification of the outage website occurred in 05. During the January 9 event, 87,500 different devices visited the website and 87,87 page view requests were successfully delivered. During the February 5 to February 9 period, 8,764 different devices visited the website and 60,9 page view requests were successfully delivered. All improvements implemented since PTS Arthur worked as designed with no known negative customer experiences. 3 Enhance the website to let customers report outages, and get individualized outage restoration status. 4 Enhance the website to provide the same individualized outage information to customers logging-in as the automated outage line. 5 Revise the ETR Strategy in light of the events of this storm, changing customer The Outage Communications project is still in progress and as such it did not have an impact on these three storm events. Web Reporting is to be delivered in the upcoming phase of Outage Communication Project and will be implemented in June 06. The Outage Communications project is still in progress and as such it did not have an impact on these three storm events. The new outage map with individualized outage information is to be delivered in the upcoming phase of Outage Communication Project and will be implemented in June 06. The Estimated Time to Restore (ETR) Strategy was changed in 05 to provide DATE FILED: February, 06 Page 7 of 7

expectations, and future communications needs. Expand the strategy to provide ETRs for all customers affected by an outage or storm. 6 Pursue other multi-channel communication options, such as two-way SMS Text messaging or Broadcasting options, to enable proactive communication of individualized outage status to customers during a large outage or storm. 7 Undertake a campaign to educate customers on the new and improved outage communications options. Properly communicate these options to all key constituents, especially government officials and other organizations that assist the public during large storms and outages. 35 Generally, how are "critical facilities" such as nursing homes, hospitals, fire halls and community centers, etc., placed on a priority list with respect to power outages? individual customer estimated restore times. The revamped ETR strategy was used for all three storms and it worked well as designed. During the January 9 storm the initial ETR strategy was only revised twice throughout the storm and during the February 5 storm the initial ETR strategy did not need to be revised at all during the storm. The Outage Communications project is still in progress and as such it did not have an impact on these three storm events. Twoway text messaging is to be delivered in the final phase of Outage Communication Project and will be implemented by the end of 06. Communications campaigns have been undertaken with the recent Storm Wars video series being published to promote storm readiness and the NS Power event planning process. Critical care customers, including critical care facilities like nursing homes, were proactively communicated with prior to each storm event and throughout their outage event if they experienced any power outages. A unique -800 telephone line was also implemented following PTS Arthur for these customers to use in addition to the customer care and outage phone lines. Details of these critical customers, as well as DATE FILED: February, 06 Page 8 of 7

critical facilities without power, were made available to the EMO throughout each storm. 40 Clarify the roles of Resolve Specialists and key account managers and document an improved communication plan to its industrial customers. 4 Further assessment of broader application of smart-grid technology would provide cost-effective benefits for outage monitoring should be considered. All roles have been clarified following PTS Arthur and there were no issues from Industrial Customers during the three storm events. All key account customers were communicated with on a daily basis by Key Account Managers. This item is not applicable to any of the three recent storm events; however the analysis of smart-grid technology is on-going at NS Power. DATE FILED: February, 06 Page 9 of 7

7.0 RESTORATION PERFORMANCE No. Arthur Review Recommendations Impact on January / February 06 Storms 6 Establish a standard practice of rerunning the model during the restoration effort after, as actual weather factors become known, and as damage assessment information matures. This is now a standard procedure in NS Power storm response. The damage prediction model was re-run on January 30 after the January 9 storm event, using the actual weather details. Inputting the actual weather data into the model resulted in a prediction of 0,000 customer outages, which was close to the actual outage figure of 39,000. During the February 5 storm, the damage prediction model was re-run on February 6 using the actual weather details. Inputting the actual weather data into the model resulted in a prediction of 3,000 customer outages, which was once again close to the actual outage figure of 7,000. During the February 8 storm, this practice was followed again. The model was re-run on February 9 using the actual weather details. Inputting the actual weather data into the model resulted in a prediction of 8,000 customer outages; however in reality only 300 customer outages occurred. This actual data will be used to further calibrate the model for future storms. 7 Use the resulting information as a tool to verify that the correct amount of resources have been obtained and assigned to the correct areas, and to aid in setting realistic restoration targets. This is now a standard procedure in NS Power storm response. Restoration targets are set based on damage prediction and crew availability. For the January 9 storm, an additional 50 contractor crews were brought in on Saturday, DATE FILED: February, 06 Page 0 of 7

January 30. By early on January 3, 4 contractor crews were in place. Based on re-running the damage model output for the February 5 storm, using the actual weather details, contractor crews were relocated across the province to focus on the hardest hit areas. No reallocation of crews was required for the February 8 storm. 0 Clarify the EOC deactivation process as covered in the ESRP, specifically the roles and responsibilities of the EOC once it shifts to a matrix mode. The EOC should not be considered deactivated until all power is restored. Regular conference calls should be scheduled each day, and EOC team members should maintain direct involvement in decision-making and coordination until all service is restored. Revise the ESRP to more accurately reflect the matrix process The ESRP now includes the deactivation process in Section 5.4. Once a Level 3 storm was declared, the EOC was activated for the entire January 9 event, right up until 6:30 pm on Tuesday, February when the final customer was restored. The same process occurred for the February 5 storm event. The EOC remained activated until the last customer was restored at 8:5 pm on Saturday, February 6. While there were no significant outages during the February 8 storm event (300 customers out during the duration), the EOC remained activated until 8:00 am on Tuesday, February 9 to ensure that there would not be any customer impact from the storm. The ESRP now has more details on the matrix process in Sections 4.8 and 5.3. During the January 9 event, the majority of the damage occurred in the eastern part of the province. The east was divided into three sub-nodes, with a Storm Ops Lead in each area. The three subnodes were in New Glasgow, Port Hawkesbury DATE FILED: February, 06 Page of 7

and Sydney. Sub-nodes were not needed for the two other storm events. During the February 5 storm, 7,000 customers lost power and they were all restored within 4 hours. There were no significant outages during the February 8 storm. 8 Follow specifically the PEC process for Arthur as set forth in section 7 of the ESRP, and address the action items identified through that process The Post Event Critique (PEC) was scheduled immediately following the January 9 storm completion, however due to the two back-toback storms on February 5 and 8 it was rescheduled to cover all three events. The PEC was conducted on February 7 and all action items are being tracked to completion. DATE FILED: February, 06 Page of 7

8.0 VEGETATION MANAGEMENT No. Arthur Review Recommendations Impact on January / February 06 Storms 9 Develop a comprehensive plan for widening 69 kv line corridors. The highest priority for widening involves line sections where adjacent land clearing operations have left a thin strip of trees. There were two transmission outage events during the January 9 storm, both due to tree contacts. One was on L-55 in Sheet Harbour and the other on L-4049 at Acadia University. NS Power has proposed an 8-year capital project beginning in 06 to widen all 69kV transmission rights-of-way in the province. This project will commence in 06 if it is approved in the 06 Annual Capital Expenditure (ACE) Plan Decision. There were no transmission outages during the February 5 and 8 storms. 30 Develop a comprehensive plan for reclaiming and/or widening the overgrown ROW corridors. The IVM program has reduced tree events per length in normal weather, but it has not addressed overgrown ROWs sufficiently. NS Power should estimate costs, schedule options and funding options Similar to PTS Arthur, approximately 90% of the outage events during the January 9 and February 5 storms were due to tree contacts. There were no significant outages during the February 8 storm. NS Power has submitted the first year of a ten-year distribution right-of-way management program in order to create a sustainable state for all rights-of-way in the province and expedite the pace of the overall vegetation management program. The first year of the program was submitted as part NS Power s 06 ACE Plan and NS Power is waiting on the Board s Decision. DATE FILED: February, 06 Page 3 of 7

3 Develop a cyclical program for three phase lines being aerially trimmed along the highways (Asset Protection and Urban Management). Normal industry practice for long term reduced unit costs and consistent reliability consists of cyclical trimming on a feeder basis. The threephase line segments should represent a priority, because they are more susceptible to tree contact outages. 33 Contractors working on Crown and industrial lands follow the Province's guidelines "Working near Power Lines". However, contractors working on private lands generally do not follow these guidelines and NSPI needs to address this issue. A thorough review of the Feeder Classification System was carried out in 05 to better reflect urbanized areas previously classified as Asset Protection. As a result of the review, the Asset Protection category was eliminated. A new category was created to more appropriately align with opportunities to provide cyclical management on 3-phase line segments in urbanized areas. Two new categories have been implemented: Asset Reclamation Urban (ARU) and Asset Reclamation Sustainability (ARS). Two original categories, Urban and Sustainability, remain unchanged. Urban areas, or those areas associated with municipal units, such as cities, towns and some villages were placed on a 7-year cycle with work initiated in 05. NS Power continues to develop a multi-year plan to determine the management priorities of ARU areas in response to the recommendation. NS Power developed an exhibit used for educating the public about harvesting trees near power lines. The exhibit was displayed by the NS Power Vegetation Management team at the following locations in 05: March/April - three Woodland Conferences organized by the Association of Sustainable Forestry held in Meteghan River, Truro and Port Hawkesbury. These meeting were full day workshops designed to provide technical education to woodlot owners. March (Truro) Annual General Meeting of Forest Practitioners DATE FILED: February, 06 Page 4 of 7

(Registered Professional Foresters, Forest Technicians and Canadian Institute of Forestry). April (Moncton) Canadian Woodlands Forum Annual Meeting for Forest Harvesting Contractors from Atlantic Region, October (Halifax) - Open Forest Day, organized by the NS DNR as a public forum for forestry education held at Kearney Lake Trails. DATE FILED: February, 06 Page 5 of 7

3 Trees Falling on Power lines During January 9 Storm 4 5 Ice-Covered Trees on Power lines During February 5 Storm DATE FILED: February, 06 Page 6 of 7

3 4 5 6 7 9.0 CONCLUSION As outlined in this supplemental report, significant progress has been made on the PTS Arthur Review action items and the overall storm process is improving in each subsequent storm event, as demonstrated by the three recent storm events. NS Power will continue to implement the remaining action items and file the required semi-annual progress updates. DATE FILED: February, 06 Page 7 of 7