[RFI] Utilities contacted by the FCC

Mon, 2 Dec 2002 19:55:09 -0500

So far, there have been about 20 utilities contacted by the FCC. (Behind each one of them can be from 5 to 100 hours of ARRL HQ staff time, as we try to resolve it directly as part of the deal with Riley that got him into this business.)

The letters Riley sends our are really "advisory letters," where the FCC indicates that they have a report of interference and asks the utility company to correct it if it is being caused by utility company equipment.  Most of the companies have complied, although a few are about to receive a second FCC follow-up letter.

At this stage, none of them have gone to the next stages, although a few of them are poised to do so. What Riley wants the ARRL to do with those is to arrange a "second opinion," with the ARRL Technical Coordinator or Techncial Specialist, or a club RFI committee, to verify that there is indeed noise and that it is reasonable to believe it is coming from power-company equipment (and not a noisy fluorescent light in the hams own house).

The FCC simply cannot take actual enforcment action against a utility based on a complaint of interference, so if Riley can get this 2nd tier of verification, he will turn the case over to the local FCC field office for investigation. The field office will determine what steps might be necessary from there. This could range up to and including fines, at the discretion of the FCC staff involved.  What will be a critical part of this step will be some guidance from the FCC at the national level, to ensure that these cases are handled uniformly at the field level.  

If you are having a problem with your utility company, these are the steps to take.

1. Become educated. The info and links at http://www.arrl.org/tis/info/rfi-elect.html will be a really good start.  Use this information in any way you think best to work with your power company. (Any suggestions for improving this info are most welome!)  I am hoping that the text of the letter the FCC sends out will be a big help. My expectation is that your power company will prefer reading the one on the ARRL web page to having their CEO get a customized version of their own.

2. If you need any help or advice in working with your power company, contact the ARRL RFI Desk, Mike Gruber, W1MG, rfi@arrl.org.  Many of the exchanges are best handled by telephone, so give him a call at 860-594-0392.  Do keep in mind that the priority of fixing a noise problem is going to be less than the power outage at the hospital across town, and there are a number of steps the power company has to go through, from the customer contact folks to the service folks to the RFI troubleshooter to the crew that will do the actual repairs.  It ain't right, but these things are often resolved over the course of months, not days. In many cases, the local guys want to help, but don't know what to do, or have the right tools to do it.  The best solution is to get them to go to RFI Services training courses, but if they can't, the ARRL staff can offer them some advice on what equipment and techniques they can use.  

3. If you are not successful at getting your power company to work this out in reasonable way, think long and hard about going way over the head of the local guys. I suggest this deep thought because sometimes, going to the top can undermine what may have been a salvageable relationship.  What Mike Gruber will need is your name, address, telephone and email, and the company name, CEO name, address. If you can, also research the mailing address of your state utility-control department and Mike will cc them.  Mike then writes a letter from ARRL to the CEO, under the wing of our cooperative relationship with the FCC, explaining the rules and an offer to help.  That letter includes a copy of an excellent CD on power-line interference (the CD is also one of the links from our rfi-elect web page.)  The League then often works directly with the power company, helping in any way possible.

4. So far, we are usually at 80%, with the company at least willing to address the problem. If this all doesn't pan out, it becomes apparent that only a letter from the FCC will get the company to move.  We then pass the case along to Riley. We give Riley a Readers Digest summary of the case and fill out the "FCC letter," complete with the complaintant(s) name(s) and the mailing address of the CEO. The .doc file we send him is formatted for his printer, so if Riley agrees that the case merits an FCC inquiry, he prints and mails the letter. (It is far from routine; Riley has been known to ask questions of ARRL before proceeding.)  This almost always works, but from there, it becomes a matter of judgement on what steps are appropriate and ARRL is working closely with Riley to fine tune the next steps.  

It may seem to be a long route to work through ARRL before going to the FCC, but this has been worked out after a lot of painstaking work and negotiations with the FCC.  The FCC staff simply don't have the time to put in up to 100 hours working with hams and utility companies to resolve cases; they simply wouldn't be able to do it.  The ONLY way that Riley can do the part of this that ONLY the FCC can do -- send a letter on FCC letterhead, is if all reasonable steps at "voluntary resolution" are followed first.  Riley put it to me much better than he realized at the time when, in thanks for a case we had worked particularly hard at he said, "I don't know what we would do without you... probably nothing."  ARRL can scarcely afford this time either -- we have a full-time RFI engineer who spends about half his time working on power-line cases -- but the problem simply must be solved, or for many of us, ham radio is over.  Besides, we gotta' spend your dues dollars somewhere, and this seems a might important place to put them!

There are many good reasons for power companies to want to fix these problems.  First, it is good customer service.  Fixing power-line noise efficiently keeps the FCC and other regulators where they belong -- in their offices bothering other utility companies.  As Mike Martin pointed out, power line noise can be the canary in the mineshaft, pointing out serious problems before the line is laying on the ground.  Please let ARRL know how we can help.

73, 
Ed Hare, W1RFI
ARRL Lab
225 Main St
Newington, CT 06111
Tel: 860-594-0318
Internet: w1rfi@arrl.org
Web: http://www.arrl.org/tis

> -----Original Message-----
> From: EDWARDS, EDDIE J [mailto:eedwards@oppd.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2002 1:25 PM
> To: rfi@contesting.com
> Subject: [RFI] Utilities contacted by the FCC
> 
> 
> 
> Here's a question for some of you guys that've dealt with 
> utilities and
> power line noise problems.
> 
> I'm wondering if anyone on the list knows of a utility that has been
> contacted by the FCC regarding power line interference?  If so, do you
> also have a contact at that utility or a phone number to call and
> inquire what sort of resolution was arrived at?
> 
> Thanks for any info!
> 
> 73, de ed -K0iL
> Eddie Edwards
> Omaha, NE
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