Cost based and reliable electric service is the Public Power mission and has been forever. The question has always arisen about what is more important to the customer. My belief is that the average customer is more concerned with the cost than reliability until that time when the power goes out. Then reliability jumps to the head of the line. People take for granted that when they switch the light on it will come on. And really that is the way it should be. We in the industry are the ones that should be concerned about reliability, not the customer. We want customers to take it for granted that the power is always going to be there. That means that we are doing our job.
    Reliability does not come easy nor cheap. Every day we come to work, reliability is the main priority, second only to safety, that we plan and work toward. To get that power to switch on when you need it takes the effort of many entities and people. To start at the top policy makers and regulators at both the state and federal level can play a big part in establishing a reliable electric grid. There was a saying when I was in the military, which I would clean up for this publication. “Lead, follow or get the heck out of the way.” In many cases the best thing a politician can do to help is just get the heck out of way and let us do our job. 
    To get the electricity from the generator to the end user is a multi-faceted process with many steps taken along the way to ensure peak reliability. The generation facilities need to ensure a steady supply chain of fuel and proper maintenance to keep everything running. The next step is to get the energy to the end use customers. This requires a robust transmission system which not only requires maintenance, but also experienced system operators to manage the flow of electricity correctly. There is always the threat of bad actors at all levels which is why cybersecurity is becoming a major part of reliability. 
    At the distribution level we have many avenues we take to achieve peak reliability. Two-way feeds are one way. If one feed goes down, we can switch it over to the other source. This is always a major goal of our work plans. A strong maintenance plan can go a long way to ensure reliability. We have transformers, breakers and other components on a regular schedule to be inspected and serviced before issues arise. Pole checking and replacing is probably the main tool in the toolbox for us. We schedule our whole system to be checked on a 10-year cycle, and all reject poles are replaced when they are found.
    However, you can spend all the money and perform all the maintenance in the world but at the end of the day if the right amount of wind, snow and ice hit your system it is going to be affected. The best you can do is try to minimize the damage.
    The goal will always remain the same. Let us worry about keeping the lights on. Public power has been and remains the best at providing this service.