The Energy Industry Defends Itself.(Dan Farell, president of distribution for TXU Electric and Gas, explains security precautions in the energy industry)(Interview)

TXU talks about precautions to ensure reliability in the face of natural disaster and terrorist attack

Dan Farell is president of distribution for TXU Electric and Gas, one of the nation's largest energy suppliers. In this interview, Farell describes his response to the September 11 terror attack and also the steps utilities took to maintain electric service nationwide.

EUN: On the morning of September 11, we all woke up to a terrible tragedy. Many of us soon started to think about some of the other vulnerable targets in America, I thought of some of the utility installations throughout the country. Is there a sense at TXU and at other utilities that we have entered a new era in how we look at the value of utility installations?

FARELL: Well, you know, Kevin, electric and gas service and all the services we provide are essential services. They're a key component of America's economic engine and our way of life, our economic well being. Security and service reliability have always been priorities for us. So, I think this incident underscores essentially what we already felt in terms of the importance of security and reliability to our industry.

EUN: Can you tell me what happened on September 11 from TXU's perspective. How did you first learn of the events in New York City, in Pennsylvania, in Washington? And what was the initial response of the organization?

FARELL: The events began about 8:00 a.m. Dallas time, which is about the time most of our people are arriving at work. We were immediately made aware of the situation through our operations organization because they're constantly monitoring events around the country and around the world. We responded with additional security. We put plans in place to increase the monitoring of all our key facilities. We essentially went into an emergency mode, not unlike, in many respects, what we did in preparation for the Y2K transition of just less than two years ago.

And then we continued to protect the reliability of the electricity and gas service and with a view toward protecting our customers and our employees.