01
Utility and infrastructure experience
Has the team worked with essential-service organizations under public scrutiny, not only consumer brands or corporate issues?
Utility Crisis Preparedness
How to Choose a Crisis Communications Firm for a Utility
A practical evaluation guide for utilities choosing a crisis communications firm with utility experience, first-hours readiness, and regulatory credibility.
The short answer
A utility does not need a crisis communications firm that can learn the business during an incident. It needs a partner that understands the operational, regulatory, customer, and public-information realities already in motion when the first call comes in.
The strongest choice is not the firm with the broadest crisis claim. It is the one that can show direct infrastructure experience, a credible role alongside operations and counsel, first-hours capability, and proof that holds up under public scrutiny.
Step 1
Start with the operating environment, not the agency credentials
Ask prospective firms to describe the utility environment they have actually worked in: customer notification, public boards, elected officials, water-quality questions, emergency operations, regulatory obligations, field crews, and the pressure of an essential service that cannot pause while communications are being planned.
A general crisis firm may have strong media credentials. That is not the same as understanding how operations, legal counsel, public information staff, and regulators need to coordinate during a main break, treatment incident, spill, outage, or water-quality event.
Step 2
Test the first-hours answer before you need it
Do not accept a generic promise to be responsive. Ask what the first call looks like, who will lead it, how the firm receives and verifies facts, what can be drafted while technical details are still developing, and how customer, stakeholder, and media communications are sequenced.
For utility incidents, speed without discipline creates a second problem. The right partner can help establish a verified update rhythm, prepare holding language, support staff who will answer customers, and keep public messaging aligned with the operational response.
Step 3
Evaluate preparedness as seriously as active response
A firm should be able to help before an incident: assess the crisis plan, develop scenario-specific holding statements, map stakeholder notifications, prepare executives and spokespeople, and facilitate a tabletop that exposes real decision gaps.
Preparedness is also the best way to learn whether the firm can work with your people. A useful tabletop shows how its communications lead listens to operations, respects legal constraints, asks the right questions of technical staff, and helps leadership make decisions under pressure.
Step 4
Ask for proof that is relevant to your risk profile
Previous work should be specific enough to evaluate: the type of incident, the audiences involved, the communication task, and the outcome that could be documented. A firm does not need to disclose a client’s confidential facts to explain how it handled customer communication, regulator coordination, spokesperson preparation, or sustained recovery communication.
Match the proof to your actual exposure. A water utility preparing for a quality incident, pipeline failure, boil-water advisory, workforce event, or drought restriction should prioritize a partner with evidence from comparable public-interest and operational circumstances.
Buyer’s selection checklist
Ten questions to ask before you retain outside crisis support
Use these questions to distinguish a utility-ready crisis communications partner from a general agency that will need to learn your operating environment during the incident.
02
Real operational incidents
Can it explain its role in incidents such as water-quality events, breaks, spills, outages, or workforce emergencies?
03
Operations, legal, and regulators
Can it work within a coordinated response without treating communications as separate from the operating and legal reality?
04
Emergency-management familiarity
Does the team understand public-information and incident-management structures, including FEMA APIO or NIMS training where relevant?
05
First-hours response
Who engages, what gets verified, what can be drafted, and how will the next public update be managed?
06
Customers and stakeholders
Can the firm support customer service, field teams, elected officials, partners, and affected stakeholders with consistent information?
07
Media response
Can it create defensible statements, manage reporter requests, and prevent technical facts from being oversimplified or distorted?
08
Executive preparation
Can it prepare leaders and spokespeople for difficult public, board, and media questions before they are in front of a camera?
09
Plans and tabletops
Can it build and test a practical crisis plan that exposes the real handoffs and decision gaps before an emergency?
10
Relevant proof
Can it show evidence that matches your utility’s actual risk profile, audiences, and regulatory environment?
Relevant proof
See how these decisions play out in practice.
Water-quality crisis proof
Security Water District →
A named PFC contamination response where clear customer communications helped preserve trust during sustained public scrutiny.
Operational utility experience
Janet Rummel, FEMA APIO & NIMS →
Direct utility incident experience across pipeline breaks, ammonia leaks, chemical and wastewater spills, service outages, and workplace fatalities.
Utility and infrastructure depth
Southern Delivery System →
Long-lifecycle communications for a major Colorado Springs Utilities water-infrastructure program.
Continue the conversation
Related practical guides
How to Build a Crisis Communication Plan for a Water or Wastewater Utility
A working crisis communication plan framework for water and wastewater utilities: decision roles, notifications, regulator coordination, updates, recovery, and testing.
Boil Water Notice Communications: What Customers Need to Know First
A practical communications framework for utilities issuing, updating, and lifting a boil water notice with clear public-health guidance and coordinated customer information.
Common questions
Questions leaders ask before the public asks them.
Should a utility hire a crisis firm before an incident occurs?
When possible, yes. A preparedness relationship lets the communications partner learn the organization, risk profile, decision makers, customer channels, and likely scenarios before an active event compresses every decision.
What emergency-management credentials should a utility ask about?
Ask how the team has been trained to work within a public-information and incident-management structure, and how that familiarity changes its first-hours role. Credentials are not a substitute for utility experience, but they are useful evidence that the firm understands coordinated emergency response.
How should legal counsel be involved in the evaluation?
Include counsel in the selection discussion. A strong crisis communications partner knows how to support transparent public information while respecting legal review, regulatory notifications, and the need not to speculate.
What should a utility ask for as past-performance evidence?
Ask for relevant incident or preparedness examples, the role the firm played, the audiences it served, the artifacts it produced, and references or documented outcomes where appropriate.
Preparing to evaluate outside crisis support? Discuss crisis preparedness before the first incident tests the relationship.
Discuss Crisis Preparedness