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2025 Summer Reliability Assessment (SRA)
by John Schmoker, CTS Project Manager NERC’s 2025 Summer Reliability Assessment (SRA) finds and elevated risk of supply shortfalls during wide-area heat waves and abnormal weather conditions like those that have occurred in recent summers. As a result, system...
Ensuring Familiarity with the Internal Compliance Program Document
By Carl Curry, NERC Reliability Specialist All NAES client sites are very familiar with the NERC Reliability Compliance Program (RCP) procedures and their corresponding attachments. These documents are the basis of the NAES compliance program; however, some sites may not be as familiar with some of the less commonly used…
CIP-003, Maintain Control
by Chuck Holm, NERC Reliability Specialist Forces in power plant world will work against CIP-003 compliance if left unchecked. The article presented here focuses specifically on physical access to cyber assets to comply with CIP-003-8 R1 1.2.2. CIP-003-8 Attachment 1 Section 2 – Physical Security Controls: Each Responsible Entity shall…
Positive Artic Weather Performance Report by FERC/NERC
by Leland McMillan, Supervisor, NERC Services Good news is nice to hear, especially when it comes to cold weather and performance of the Bulk Electric System. January 2025 saw another round of winter events, including winter Storms Blair, Cora, Demi, and Enzo. FERC and NERC performed a joint report, which…
VPN Security for the OT EnvironmentÂ
By Leonard Wills, NERC Reliability Specialist Your entity should require anyone who works from home – or any authorized remote location – to remotely connect to the corporate or operational technology (OT) network through a virtual private network (VPN). A VPN establishes a secure tunnel over the internet, encrypting user…
Celebrating Four Decades of Dedication
As Frank Huston approaches his retirement from NAES, he reflects on a legacy built through a front-row seat to the company’s evolution. By: Emily Adelman, NAES Communications Specialist After more than four decades of dedicated service and contributions, one of the most familiar faces at NAES is embarking on a…
NERC Annual Compliance Report Highlights
By Leland McMillan, NERC Supervisor NERC provides an annual report to summarize Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Program (CMEP) activities as well as key statistics in the prior calendar year. The report for 2024 was published on February 12, 2025 and contains interesting high-level details about what has happened as well as key initiatives…
Stay Safe from Smishing Scams
by Eddie Aveitia, NERC CIP Reliability Specialist Cybercriminals are using a new tactic to trick you into revealing sensitive information. A recent smishing scam involves a text message claiming to be from the U.S. Postal Service (USPS), stating that a package cannot be delivered due to an incomplete address. The…
NERC Actions Regarding Drones Over BES Assets
by William White, Senior NERC Reliability Specialist The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) is a nonprofit organization responsible for ensuring the reliability and security of the bulk electric system (BES) in North America. NERC’s mission is to establish and enforce reliability standards, monitor compliance, and provide education and training to improve…
ERCOT’s 2025 Summer Assessment
By Mike Moyer, Power Market Compliance Services Specialist Over the past few years, ERCOT has taken several initiatives to improve grid conditions in the Texas electric market. The goal is to have a sufficient supply of generation to meet demand and maintain capacity reserves for grid reliability during the peak…
The Periodic Data Submittal
By Stefano Schnitger, NERC Reliability Specialist In its most basic sense, Periodic Data Submittals are requests from NERC for information. This information may be operational data, models, studies, analyses, procedures, documents, or other forms of information. The purpose of these mandatory requests is for the registered entity (bulk power system…
