Exhibit__(CSP-REB-2)
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Exhibit__(CSP-REB-2) Exhibit__(CSP-REB-2) Objective of this Handbook Enhanced customer service is grounded in clear communications and meaningful outreach strategies. As PSEG Long Island sets out to implement an extensive array of reliability projects, it is important that the internal team charged with developing these projects is equipped with a process that calibrates its external affairs strategies to advance any of PSEG Long Island’s reliability initiatives. Management of the outreach process is one of the most important factors in garnering public acceptance and support for reliability infrastructure projects. It is the objective of this internal handbook to outline a process by which PSEG Long Island can develop a tailored external affairs plan for each of its reliability projects. Specifically: transmission, substation, distribution developments and upgrades. This handbook does not propose an entirely new outreach plan for PSEG Long Island, but rather, it is designed to improve internal collaboration between employees involved in all aspects of these projects. This Handbook is designed to be flexible and responsive to a wide variety of external affairs challenges and stakeholder interests. It is built around a five-step approach that supports project- related outreach: Organize, Assess, Prepare, Execute, and Evaluate. This Handbook is designed to be a living document and is subject to change with operational experience. • Part I: Organize – Explains the structure of a project team, underscoring the need for collaboration between the External Affairs team and Project Managers. • Part II: Assess – Outlines an External Affairs Audit for the project team to conduct a comprehensive analysis of a project’s fundamental external affairs challenges. • Part III: Prepare – Utilizing an External Affairs Scorecard, the project team can determine what level of outreach is needed and develop an outreach strategy. • Part IV: Execute – Provides clear steps to execute a project’s tailored outreach plan. • Part V: Evaluate – Offers a framework to assess the quality and effectiveness of a project’s outreach effort. It is our hope that this “living document” will serve the men and women of PSEG Long Island, and, in turn, our customers, for many years to come. Christopher M. Hahn Director of External Affairs Anne Marie Agnelli, External Affairs Vincent Frigeria, District Manager Karyn Kemp-Smith, District Manager Caisy Meyers, District Manager Chris Chaffee, District Manager Joanna Weissman, External Affairs Emily Calamari, External Affairs Table of Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Part I: Organize – Establish Project Team ..................................................................................... 6 Part II: Assess – Identify Project Fundamentals ........................................................................... 9 Part III: Prepare – Build Outreach Strategy ................................................................................ 14 Part IV: Execute – Conduct Outreach ......................................................................................... 17 Part V: Evaluate – Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 19 Tools and Templates .................................................................................................................... 19 Appendicies .................................................................................................................................. 39 PSEG: Project External Affairs Handbook 3 Introduction External affairs issues deeply affect whether vital PSEG Long Island projects can proceed in a timely manner. For example, work stoppage in response to public concerns about a transmission upgrade jeopardizes reliability to customers. Avoiding this type of situation requires that all parties – government officials and agencies, stakeholders, and customers – are engaged early and often in a meaningful way to ensure that all projects can achieve their purpose, of ensuring our customers’ power is reliable, without undue delay or disruption. This can be best accomplished by equipping each project with a tailored outreach strategy. The precise suite of tactics and overall level of activity for each project can be determined by the external affairs team through a thorough and collaborative review of a project’s fundamental elements. Like all of PSEG Long Island’s work, this Handbook promotes the following core values, which form the basis for the company’s mission: • Openness - Willingness to listen, consider and respond to stakeholders. • Honesty - Commitment to fairness, trustworthiness, and straightforwardness. • Communication – Open exchange of information, knowledge and perspectives. • Accountability – Responsibility to the public to explain project decisions. • Accuracy – Commitment to the truth. • Consistency – Regular and continuous stakeholder interactions. • Responsiveness – Timely and empathetic responses to stakeholders concerns. • Timeliness –Making timely decisions that are supported by public participation. • Sincerity – Frankness and truthfulness in all stakeholder communications. • Peer Review – Reexamination of key issues and decisions by peers. • Respect – Consideration and courtesy in the treatment of stakeholders. Long Island’s External Affairs Landscape PSEG Long Island began operations on January 1, 2014 with the mission of providing Long Island and Rockaway customers with exceptional customer service, best-in-class reliability, and award winning storm management capabilities. PSEG Long Island strives to be an active and engaged member of the communities it serves. Years of high rates, inadequate customer satisfaction, and underinvestment in the electrical system have created a challenging environment for PSEG Long Island. As the new face of electric service, navigating this external affairs environment demands a thoughtful, project-specific strategy. PSEG: Project External Affairs Handbook 4 Above all else, customers feel that reliability is the most fundamental service an energy utility can provide. This means that reliability is closely linked to customer satisfaction, which is an integral and overarching component of PSEG Long Island’s culture. Using this Handbook This Handbook can be used to develop outreach plans in Long Island that effectively educate and garner support for PSEG Long Island projects from elected officials, government agencies, stakeholders, and customers across PSEG Long Island’s service area. The Handbook is divided into five parts, representing PSEG Long Island’s five-part approach to outreach: • Part I: Organize – Explains the structure of a project team, underscoring the need for collaboration between the External Affairs team and Project Managers. • Part II: Assess – Outlines an External Affairs Audit for the project team to conduct a comprehensive analysis of a project’s fundamental external affairs challenges. • Part III: Prepare – Utilizing an External Affairs Scorecard, the project team can determine what level of outreach is needed and develop an outreach strategy. • Part IV: Execute – Provides clear steps to execute a project’s tailored outreach plan. • Part V: Evaluate – Offers a framework to assess the quality and effectiveness of a project’s outreach effort. The Handbook concludes with a Tools and Templates section to offer PSEG Long Island’s staff resources that can help enhance the outreach development process. Overall, the external outreach process for each PSEG Long Island project can be defined as the means of making a good faith effort to inform stakeholders of the project as it develops, to involve the public in the decision making process to the maximum extent possible and to respond to concerns expressed by the public, local, regulatory officials and permitting agencies in a coordinated manner. PSEG: Project External Affairs Handbook 5 Exhibit__(CSP-REB-2) Part I: Organize – Establish Project Team PSEG Long Island Structure The PSEG Long Island external affairs team is the lead group for all project-related public and government outreach on Long Island. The team is comprised of four District Managers who are each responsible for geographic areas consisting of approximately 300,000 customers. The team is led by a Director of External Affairs. Nassau County • Western Nassau Division: Responsible for Hempstead and Rockaways. • Central Nassau Division: Responsible for North Hempstead and Oyster Bay. Suffolk County • Western Suffolk Division: Responsible for Huntington, Smithtown, Babylon, and Islip. • Eastern Suffolk Division: Responsible for Brookhaven, Riverhead, Southold, Southampton, East Hampton, and Shelter Island Outreach Project Team Structure The most successful project outcomes almost always result from the continuous collaboration between a project’s designated External Affairs lead (EA) and a Project Manager (PM). EAs and PMs are assigned on a project-by-project basis, typically by the geographic regions described above. The PM is responsible for drawing on resources and personnel from PSEG Long Island’s full array of departments. The EA brings a unique expertise and important perspective for facilitating the advancement of a project. The EA and PM should work collaboratively to ensure that all external affairs factors associated with a particular project are proactively identified and addressed.