Choose a disaster recovery approach by starting with the services the utility must restore, mapping the systems and people those services depend on, and checking that documented procedures, verified backups, recovery resources and trained responders can restore them safely. Treat physical damage, cyber incidents, technology failures and supply disruptions as connected risks. Backup power can keep selected loads operating, but it is only one part of recovery.
Define what the utility needs to recover
A utility’s recovery priorities should follow the consequences of losing service—not the size of its IT estate or the features of a software platform. Begin by identifying the functions that must continue or be restored first, the customers and operations affected if they are unavailable, and the systems, facilities and staff required to bring them back.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) describes energy security planning as a process of identifying, assessing and mitigating risks and preparing to respond to and recover from disruptions. Apply that logic to utility operations: determine what is essential, what can be interrupted temporarily, and what must be available for restoration work itself.
Set recovery targets from the utility’s own analysis
For each critical service, establish how long it can be unavailable and how much data, if any, the utility can afford to lose. These are often expressed as recovery time and recovery point objectives. The DOE and North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) materials relevant here do not prescribe universal targets for every utility or system. Set them through the utility’s impact analysis, operational needs and applicable obligations rather than adopting a generic number.
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A service may rely on control systems, communications, power, facilities, fuel, specialized personnel, vendors, materials and access to affected sites. A recovery plan that restores one system but leaves a required dependency unavailable may not restore the service. Record these links and use them to determine restoration order and resource needs.
Plan for physical, cyber and technology disruptions
Disaster recovery for a utility is an operational-resilience problem, not only an IT backup problem. DOE’s energy-sector response material addresses physical and cyber attacks, natural disasters and human-caused events. A utility should test whether its recovery approach works across the hazards that could interrupt its services and the shared dependencies that could affect several systems at once.
- Physical disruption: Consider damage to facilities, power supply, communications and access routes, along with the resources needed to inspect and restore them.
- Cyber incident: Plan for compromised systems and data, and preserve information that may be needed to investigate the incident before recovery actions alter it.
- Technology failure: Include failures of computing equipment or the environment supporting it, not just deliberate attacks.
- Supply or workforce disruption: Account for fuel, equipment, materials, vendors, mutual assistance and the availability of personnel with specialized skills.
These scenarios can overlap. For example, a physical event can interrupt power and communications while also limiting staff access to a site. Use scenarios to expose those interactions rather than treating each hazard as an isolated checklist item.
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Coordinate operational systems and enterprise recovery
Separate the scope of operational technology and reliability functions from enterprise IT, customer-facing systems, records and physical facilities. They may need different procedures, technical safeguards, restoration sequencing and authorized personnel. At the same time, they depend on one another: enterprise communications or identity services, for example, may be needed by responders restoring operational systems.
Decide whether the utility needs one integrated continuity and disaster recovery plan, linked system-specific plans, or both. The NERC CIP-009-7 final draft dated April 2024 describes recovery planning within a specified scope of applicable bulk electric system cyber systems and notes that such a plan may sit within a broader business continuity or disaster recovery plan. That scope should not be assumed to cover every system or every utility.
Whichever structure is chosen, plans should connect through clear activation conditions, authority to make recovery decisions, responder roles, communications, dependencies and handoffs. A plan that cannot be reconciled across system owners is likely to leave gaps during a multi-system disruption.
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Check that recovery can actually be performed
Assess the evidence that the utility can restore a service—not merely whether a plan or backup exists. The NERC April 2024 final draft discusses usable backup media, readable information and current recovery information for its applicable scope. Treat those as practical readiness checks, and verify current approved text and applicability before describing any draft provision as binding.
Inspect recovery materials and access
- Confirm that backups can be read and restored, and that backup-job records show whether expected copies were created.
- Keep current configuration information, recovery instructions, installation media and other artifacts responders need to rebuild systems.
- Verify that the people assigned to recovery can obtain required credentials, tools, facilities and vendor support when normal systems or communications are unavailable.
- Where compromise is possible, define how responders will preserve incident evidence and avoid restoring from an untrusted source.
Test restoration, not just backup completion
Restore exercises reveal whether a copy is usable, procedures are current and the assigned staff can carry them out. Record what was restored, what failed, how long steps took and which dependencies blocked progress. A successful backup job alone does not establish that a critical service can be recovered.
Compare recovery capabilities against the utility’s needs
Evaluate capabilities and approaches rather than assuming one product category or technology can serve as the complete solution. The options below address different parts of recovery and are not interchangeable.
| Approach or capability | What to evaluate | Evidence and limits |
|---|---|---|
| System-specific cyber recovery plans | Scope, activation conditions, responder roles, current recovery artifacts, backup verification and restore testing. | NERC’s April 2024 final draft discusses these elements for its applicable bulk electric system cyber-system scope. Confirm current standard status and entity applicability before treating it as a requirement. |
| Utility-wide continuity and disaster recovery coordination | Critical functions, dependencies, command structure, mutual assistance, logistics and restoration sequence. | DOE energy-sector planning and response materials support coordinated all-hazards planning; they do not prescribe a particular vendor or software platform. |
| Backup generation | Which loads it can serve, fuel availability and duration, installation constraints, maintenance and testing. | DOE business guidance discusses generators for businesses facing utility disruptions. It is not a recommendation for a utility’s enterprise disaster recovery solution. |
| Solar plus storage or other islandable power | Islanded loads, storage duration, recharge, site suitability and integration with the systems being supported. | DOE describes islanding solar-plus-storage to support selected loads after grid loss and notes that stored solar energy can continue without fuel deliveries. The material does not provide a full utility procurement comparison. |
Use a common scorecard for the approaches under consideration. Compare their fit against the utility’s recovery objectives, hazard coverage, restoration time, data integrity, cybersecurity, interoperability with operational technology, workforce readiness, vendor support, logistics, testability, lifecycle cost and regulatory fit. These are evaluation dimensions, not a ranking based on vendor tests.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Plan for coordination beyond the utility
Recovery may require outside expertise, equipment, fuel, materials, mutual assistance or emergency-power coordination. Identify those needs in advance, name the contacts and decision-makers, and agree how requests and status information will move if normal communications are disrupted.
In the United States, DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) leads federal preparedness and coordinated response to energy-sector disruptions and serves as lead for Emergency Support Function #12 under FEMA’s National Response Framework. DOE describes support that includes damage assessment, restoration and logistics expertise, resource coordination, regulatory waivers and shared situational awareness. For prolonged restoration, DOE also describes coordination with local utilities, affected states, FEMA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers around temporary emergency power, mutual assistance and equipment and material needs.
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DOE’s Energy Emergency Response Playbook provides states and territories with a customizable planning framework and templates aligned with state energy security plans. It is a resource for public-sector partners, not a recommendation for utility disaster recovery software.
Exercise the plan and turn gaps into changes
Use exercises to check whether the plan works across people, systems and outside partners. DOE explains that exercises validate capabilities, identify gaps and produce plan-improvement actions. Include scenarios that force responders to activate the plan, restore from backup, communicate without normal channels, obtain logistics support and coordinate safe return to service.
- Choose scenarios tied to the utility’s risk and impact analysis. Include relevant cyber, physical, technology and supply disruptions, including cases where multiple dependencies fail together.
- Exercise the actual handoffs. Test who activates each plan, who authorizes restoration decisions, how operational and enterprise teams coordinate, and how outside support is requested.
- Test restoration evidence. Include a backup restore and check that recovery materials, configurations, access and staffing are sufficient for the scenario.
- Document gaps and assign corrective actions. Give each action an owner and a way to verify completion; update plans, contacts, resources or training when the exercise exposes a weakness.
Confirm regulatory scope before treating guidance as a requirement
For U.S. electric utilities, verify which NERC standards currently apply to the entity and systems in question, and confirm the approved standard text and effective dates. The CIP-009-7 document referenced here is a final draft dated April 2024, not evidence by itself of the current binding requirement. Its discussion should not be generalized to all utility types, all systems or every jurisdiction.
Keep compliance review distinct from the broader operational decision. A standard’s scope may define a specific cyber-system recovery obligation, while the utility’s all-hazards planning must also account for physical assets, dependencies, partners and service consequences outside that scope.
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