Adrienne Lotto, Senior Vice President for Grid Security, Technical and Operations at the American Public Power Association, on Oct. 28 detailed how APPA members can benefit from the wide array of programs and services that it offers including in the areas of physical security and cybersecurity.
She made her remarks at the Florida Municipal Energy Association’s 2025 FMEA Energy Connections Conference & Trade Show.
Risk Management Toolkit
Noting that a lot of smaller public power systems don’t have a risk management office, Lotto provided details on a Risk Management Toolkit for Public Power Utilities developed by APPA.
The toolkit consists of three volumes: Risk Identification, Risk Assessment, and Risk Mitigation and Communication.
The toolkit is “meant to be used at a utility that doesn’t have a risk management program, doesn’t know where to start, so that you can start to evaluate what do I really need to focus on, what’s really in that five by five corner of high risk, high impact and where do I go from there once I assess all of my risks,” Lotto said.
She noted that the toolkit is a free resource for APPA members.
Wildfire Mitigation Planning
Lotto also detailed APPA wildfire mitigation planning resources.
She noted that APPA’s resources include a wildfire mitigation plan template. Other resources available on an APPA webpage dedicated to wildfire mitigation tools include a new publication, “wildfire mitigation strategies and resources for public power utilities.”
Cybersecurity and Physical Security
APPA also offers members a Cybersecurity Resource Guide for Public Power Utilities.
“If you don’t know where to start and you want to understand some of the basic frameworks for cybersecurity for you and your utility, we have that resource guide available,” Lotto said.
In addition, she noted that APPA offers members a Cybersecurity Roadmap.
The Public Power Cybersecurity Roadmap is a strategic plan designed to help public power utilities develop a stronger, sustainable state of security that is continually monitored and improved upon.
In addition, APPA hosts a monthly virtual Cybersecurity Defense Community meeting with important updates on cybersecurity issues and relevant APPA programming, and brings members together to exchange ideas.
With respect to physical security, Lotto noted that APPA just last year developed a Physical Security Guide. “The idea is to make things very digestible,” she said in reference to this guide.
In terms of tools for member engagement, Lotto noted that APPA’s Engage platform offers groups tied to risk management, physical security and cyber security.
Emergency Management
In the area of emergency management, APPA offers an emergency preparedness “tabletop in a box,” Lotto said. It covers: Active Threat/Active Shooter, Cybersecurity Incident, Flood Tornado, Wildfire and Winter Storm.
“It’s meant to give you a quick guide on setting up and hosting your own exercise without having to hire an expensive consultant,” she noted.
Safety
Turning to the topic of safety, Lotto highlighted APPA’s Safety Manual, which is now in its 17th edition. APPA is “getting ready, starting next year, to work on the update to the Safety Manual,” she said.
The APPA Engage platform includes a group dedicated to the topic of safety, where members can share ideas on how to strengthen their safety programs.
And APPA’s Safety Committee is creating working groups to focus a variety of topics and projects, including the development of training materials that members can download and use for their workforce training programs.
Mutual Aid
APPA’s Mutual Aid Playbook is available to members online and it details how APPA and the public power community can support utilities impacted by major disasters.
“We really want to be as helpful as possible between the responding utilities and the federal government,” Lotto said.
APPA’s webpage dedicated to mutual aid includes a number of resources including a mutual aid checklist that can help facilitate the coordination between impacted utilities and mutual aid responders.
Other APPA Programs
Lotto also highlighted the following APPA programs:
• Demonstration of Energy & Efficiency Developments (DEED) program
• Reliable Public Power Provider program
• Smart Energy Provider Program
PowerTRX Pro
She also noted the recent rollout by APPA of PowerTRX Pro, the new name for the suite of products public power can use to track and improve operations (formerly eReliability Tracker and eSafety Tracker).
Designed for public power utilities, PowerTRX offers a seamless solution to easily input, analyze, and benchmark metrics related to outages, safety, and more.
