Crisis public relations: One man's success at staying sane

Nicholas Ashooh, vice president public affairs and corporate communications for Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation, really enjoys his job. His day begins at 7:30 a.m. when he reads the Syracuse Post-Standard at the breakfast table and "ends" at 6 p.m. when he goes home to his family or plays basketball. He receives and makes calls from his home and reads his mail on evenings and weekends. He could be called at any time of day or night for a power crisis. He faxes from home, uses his laptop computer in his office and home, and sends e-mail from home. "My whole career has been crisis public relations," says Ashooh. "I don't know what it's like not to be in crisis."

Ashooh constantly searches for political, financial, or environmental developments that could affect his company, its employees and customers, and even competitors. He immediately communicates potentially important information to operational managers and helps them formulate a strategy to cope with a possible problem so it does not become a crisis. Besides local newspapers, Ashooh reads The Wall Street Journal and the latest New York Times by 8:00 a.m. or earlier. He watches CNBC: Financial News on his office television and is in touch with wire services. "Being voracious in gathering information is the only way to get an edge," he affirms.

If Ashooh learned that community officials were considering increasing their school budget, he would immediately notify his tax people and regional manager to discuss what position Niagara Mohawk would take on this issue, since his company pays high taxes in the community.

Ashooh emphasizes the importance of having a plan. A ruling by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission required Niagara Mohawk to open its transmission systems for other power companies to use. "We saw this coming and prepared for it," Ashooh states. "We were ahead of the industry with a plan to compete."

Ashooh's complaint lies in the inability to control the pace of events.

Yet he asserts that this is a normal pace for him. "I need it," he declares. "I've always enjoyed learning every facet of the business and relating to all kinds of people."

Ashooh's 20-year career in public relations began at the nuclear power plant in Seabrook, N.H., continued at the fast-paced Paramount Communications in New York City, and is going strong after three-and-one-half years with Niagara Mohawk.

Nick Ashooh's spokesman role at Seabrook prepared him well for his responsibilities at Niagara Mohawk, "Seabrook was the focus of a major social movement of the country," he explains. "We were out of Viet Nam and the environmental movement was to nuclear power. There were huge protests, violent and nonviolent, and we were under intense environmental and regulatory scrutiny."

Planning is tough

The tension in Ashooh's job is in trying to plan in the midst of all the things going on. Ashooh tries not to get too caught up in the day-to-day events, and makes time to look ahead. He also delegates to an efficient staff.

A frustrating part of Ashooh's work is trying to help people understand the root of a billion-dollar problem his company has. "We need understanding and support for a solution," he declares. "New York State mandated that we buy power from the independent power producers, even if we did not need it, at six cents per kilowatt hour--twice the market price. We paid $1 billion this last year for power, $400 million of which we would save if we had made that power ourselves We have power plants in a nearby community that are sitting idle because we have to buy power we don't need."

Deregulation began in 1978 wit the Federal Public Utilities Regulatory Policies Act which led to development of independent power producers. This was during the post-OPEC oil embargo when the U.S. government encouraged development of independent sources of power so the country would not be so reliant on foreign oil.

"Niagara Mohawk used to be the lowest-cost electricity supplier in New York State," explains Ashooh. "Now, the supply of power is going up, and so is the price, and that makes no sense. Shareholders are concerned with the value of their investments, and customers are upset at us because they get our bill, not upset at the independent suppliers."

NiMo must restructure

Niagara Mohawk is trying to restructure with its "PowerChoice" plan, designed to create competition and allow customers to choose their own supplier. "We cannot restructure until we solve the unregulated power-generator problem," Ashooh asserts. "This is not easy, because some of these independent producers are gas-burning power plants owned by large corporations.

"We need fundamental change in how electricity is bought and sold," declares Ashooh. "I urge elected officials to make this problem a high priority to help the upstate economy. What we need now is to reform contracts which we are now negotiating. The six cents per kilowatt-hour has been repealed, but the old contracts were grandfathered. State leaders are helping us, but we need more help. We are falling behind other companies, and losing big dollars and jobs to companies in other states and even other countries."

Ashooh feels that people should know that Niagara Mohawk and the entire utility industry are at a crossroads with the competition issue.

"The rapid transmission of information also has an important impact on how we conduct our business," he says. "These changes are equivalent to the first transmission of electricity from Syracuse to Buffalo 100 years ago."

Ashooh's biggest challenge is the broad scope of involvement. For example, a large apartment complex has not paid its service bill, and Ashooh must consider the public perception of his company as well as being aware of the political and humanitarian ramifications of cutting off service.

"A large utility affects everyone, and everyone affects a large utility," he points out. "You can't predict what will happen. Power problems don't respect normal work hours, and I wish things were better for the company and our stockholders and customers.

"I don't deal with this all myself," admits Ashooh. "I have a terrific staff that I can delegate to. They have been reduced by one third and

still have

kept on top of things. We have people on call and

ready with

emergency procedures.

"The key is that I enjoy the pace of events," Ashooh affirms. "I don't know what I'd do if it got quiet."

Copyright Central New York Business Journal May 13, 1996
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved