AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) – Earlier this month, 45,000 people in Moore County, North Carolina were left without power after two Duke Energy substations were shot and this past weekend four Tacoma Public Utilities and Puget Sound Energy substations in Washington were vandalized leaving 14,000 people without power.
MyHighPlains.com reached out to Xcel Energy about these recent attacks and what they are doing to prevent similar incidents.
In a statement, officials said:
At Xcel Energy, the protection and resilience of our energy grid from cyber and physical threats are a top priority. We are closely following recent vandalism incidents to understand what potential threats like these mean for energy systems across the country.
-Xcel Energy
We’re always working with industry and government partners as security threats, cyber and physical continue to evolve. Our focus is keeping the public and our employees safe at all times. Our security programs are designed to quickly identify threats against the grid and mitigate and respond to cyber and physical attacks similar to those that affected customers in other states recently.
Earlier this month, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ordered the North American Electric Reliability Corporation to review and assess the existing “physical security” for the components of the Bulk-Power System.
