|
Time
By Mike Hyland
Executive Director, NEPPA
William Penn wrote "Time is what we want most, but what we use worst". I’ve always loved that quote. Maybe I'm a bit biased as I’m a Pennsylvania boy and fond of historical figures such as Penn, Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris and John Morton who helped shape not just Pennsylvania, but the United States as a whole. In fact, the Morton Homestead was built within walking distance from my childhood home in Ridley Park. Maybe that’s what stoked my interest in the beginnings of our country since Morton was one of the historical giants that signed the Declaration of Independence.
Well, here we are in February, the month that used to bother me as a young student and future engineer. Why do all months have 30 or 31 days, yet February has only 28 days? I remember questioning this to my parents when I was in second grade. The catholic school nuns did a nice job of teaching us time management. They instructed us on the concept of discipline to ensure all homework was completed on time, as well as chores at home, attendance at church, and prayers each morning and night. It's kind of funny to think about how Sister Thomas used to instruct us on how many times a week we needed to shower or bath, brush our teeth, compliment our mothers, praise our fathers, etc. I wonder if they still do that in today’s second grade class….
Okay, what was I talking about? That’s right - Time. (Sorry about the random squirrel moment.) February indeed has only 28 days, 29 during the leap year. This brings us back to the question of - why? A lot of this goes back to when the Roman calendar was used during the Roman empire. In fact, there were many different calendars in play, some based on the lunar cycles, others based on the harvest seasons. At one point, there were only 10 months from March to December in the Roman calendar, and the period between the end of December and the beginning of March was thought of as irrelevant. It wasn’t until Julius Ceaser commissioned a study of the moon and a change to resemble the Egyptian Calendar. This change became known as the Julian Calendar. It meant adding two new months (January and February), adding a leap year every four years, and became close to the Gregorian Calendar that we use today. One crazy fact is that this transition from one calendar to another occurred in 46 BC and 45 BC. 46 BC is known as the "Year of Confusion" as it was the last year to use the Roman calendar and actually had 445 days!
So…time. We think we have a lot of it. Each and every morning we get to work, we think of all the great things we will get off of our "to do" list and within 10 minutes of walking through the door – Bam! – the day goes sideways. Heck, we haven’t even had that second cup of coffee and the day isn’t working out as we planned. An unexpected outage, the dreaded HR issue, a request from the boss to attend an unplanned meeting with a developer, an old colleague stopping by the office unexpectedly and what do you mean the bucket truck has a dead battery? You all get it. You’ve been there.
What’s the solution to unplanned interruptions to your well-timed day? Not sure there’s a silver bullet – but I’ve always relied on Steven Covey’s four quadrants for help. It’s a simple concept that has one axis labeled “Urgent” and “Non-Urgent” and the other axis labeled “Important” and “Non-Important”. The daily pressing issues that must be dealt with to run your utility are both Urgent and Important. That’s the bucket truck flat tire issue. It's tough to run a utility and fix outages if your only bucket is out of commission. After that is taken care of and the fires are out – your next step makes all the difference. Which quadrant do you head towards in the Steven Covey chart? The logical mind would say “Important – Non-Urgent”. But is this what people typically go to? Most do not. We tend to head over to the ’Urgent - Non-Important” quadrant, or worse – the “Non-Urgent – Non-Important” quadrant, which looks like sitting deleting spam emails or talking to someone who pops into the office about their weekend.
Ah yes, Time Management 101. Let’s go back to the calendar. Not the Roman Calendar, but the Gregorian one we use today, created in 1582 by Pope Gregory the 8th. Use it, plan with it, make it work for you. The most effective managers I’ve worked with over the years were very effective with calendar use and set aside time each week for "Me time" (time to write, read and make phones calls). They asked their employees to schedule meetings onto their calendar in spaces when they had open times, not the other way around. They were realistic with their calendar. If they have lunch from noon to 1 pm across town they would block off 11:30 am to 1:30 pm to account for travel.
It is good practice to look ahead for big events and get them on your schedule. Vacations, conferences, everything. Although today's cell phones make it easy to use the calendar app, I still love the old wall calendar that show’s me the entire year at once. It allows me to visualize both work and personal life together. I can step back, look at the bigger picture and identify my "pinch points" and possible hiccups.
NEPPA does it’s best to provide ample time for our members to participate in all of the programs, from Apprenticeship Line School, to General Foreman Roundtables, as well as, our PUMP program and Customer Service 101. Please put the following on your calendar now if you haven’t done so:
May 11 – 14th: NEPPA RodE&O, Loon Mountain, NH
June 28th – July 1st: APPA National Conference, Boston, MA (first time since 1984)
August 16th – 19th: NEPPA Annual Conference, Hyannis, MA
October: NEPPA Energy Connect Conference - TBA
December 3rd: Annual Membership Meeting, Worcester, MA
Better yet, please go to the NEPPA website to look up all our training, education and meeting dates. We offer such a variety of programing throughout the year, it is worth checking out. Many of us that have reached the later part of our professional journey tend to joke that time is moving too fast. Time mysteriously speeds up and right when I get accustomed to nice weather – the leaves are turning brown again and winter is on its way. Michael Altshuler summed it up well: “The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot.” I’m partial to the Rolling Stones who once crooned: ‘Time is on my side, yes it is’.
Cheers,
-Mike
| | Upcoming Training & Events | | | | |
OSHA-10 General Industry
February 24-25, 2026
8:00 am - 2:30 pm
NEPPA Training Center
Littleton, MA
| | |
Industry Day
Hosted by Shamrock
February 26, 2026
8:00 am - 2:00 pm
NEPPA Training Center
Littleton, MA
| | | | | |
Hoisting 1B-1D
March 3, 2026
8:00 am - 12:00 pm
NEPPA Training Center
Littleton, MA
| | |
Hoisting 2A-2C
March 4, 2026
8:00 am - 12:00 pm
NEPPA Training Center
Littleton, MA
| | | | | |
Tactical Tuesday
March 10, 2026
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Held Virtually
(Free to members)
| | |
General Manager/
Leadership Roundtable
March 9, 2026
8:30 am - 1:00 pm
NEPPA Training Center
Littleton, MA
| | | | | |
Metering I Program
March 10-12, 2026
8:00 am - 2:00 pm
NEPPA Training Center
Littleton, MA
| | |
Substation I Program
March 17-19, 2026
8:00 am - 2:00 pm
NEPPA Training Center
Littleton, MA
| | | | | |
URD Program
March 24-26, 2026
8:00 am - 2:00 pm
NEPPA Training Center
Littleton, MA
| | |
General Foreman Roundtable
March 26, 2026
8:30 am - 1:00 pm
NEPPA Training Center
Littleton, MA
| | | This Year's NEPPA Quilt is in the Works | | Thank you to those who donated shirts | | |
January 17, 2026 - Littleton, MA - We appreciate the contributions we have received over the last few months of shirts to be included in our quilt this year. These shirts are currently being sewn together into a 6x6 quilt by All American Quilt Co. out of Nashua, NH. Similarly to last year, this quilt will be raffled off to benefit NEPPA's Benevolent Fund. Last year's quilt theme was NEPPA shirts and this year we are excited to have Utility Member shirts from across the northeast.
Raffle tickets will be available to purchase at all our conferences throughout the year and also from our office in Littleton, MA. The winner will be drawn at the end of the year at our Annual Membership Meeting held December 4th in Worcester, MA.
| | HMLP Achieves Savings Through a Strategic Demand Response Effort | | |
January 20, 2026 - Hingham, MA - Brianna Bennett, Sustainability Coordinator at Hingham Municipal Light Plant, and Chris Kelley, Vice President at Beam Reach Consulting Group, participate in APPA's Public Power Now podcast and discuss a recently completed case study that shows how HMLP achieved savings through a strategic demand response effort.
Listen to Podcast
| | FirstLight and Energy New England Expand Landmark Partnership to Deliver Cost-Competitive Clean Energy to New England Communities | | January 29, 2026 - Burlington, MA - FirstLight, a leading clean power producer, developer and energy storage company, today announced the expansion of the company’s landmark municipal utility power purchase agreement (PPA) with Energy New England (ENE). As part of the agreement, 21 New England municipal public power entities have agreed to purchase 197 gigawatt hours per year of clean, local, cost-competitive hydropower produced by two of FirstLight’s hydroelectric facilities in Massachusetts. The original PPA between FirstLight and ENE’s customer group was executed in 2020, and at the time, it represented one of the largest municipal electric department purchase of clean energy in New England history. | | | Danvers Electric Integrates Battery Energy Storage System Using Caterpillar Asset Management Platform | | |
February 6, 2026 - Danvers, MA - Massachusetts public power utility Danvers Electric has integrated a new battery energy storage system (BESS) for long-term energy cost management using the asset management platform of Caterpillar Inc., Cat® AMP.
“This innovative municipal solution positions the utility to reduce costs and support Danvers’ climate action plan,” Caterpillar said in a news release. Developed in collaboration with Tangent Energy Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of Caterpillar, the 4.99 MW/15 MWh system operated by Cat AMP gives Danvers Electric “a step forward in providing cost-efficient power to the community of more than 30,000 residents and businesses.”
| |
Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department Receives Leading by Example Award
| | (Pictured above: WMGLD General Manager Pete Dion (fourth from right), Engineering and Operations Manager Dave Polson (third from right) and Commissioners Jennifer Kallay (second from right) and Sharon Daly (right) accepted the award from (from left) Joanne Bisetta, Director of Green Communities Division of the DOER; Adam Baacke, Commissioner Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM); Elizabeth Mahoney, Commissioner, DOER; and Rebecca Tepper, Energy & Environmental Affairs Secretary.) | | |
Wakefield, MA – January 9, 2026 – The Wakefield Municipal Gas & Light Department (WMGLD) recently received a Leading by Example Award from the Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources (DOER) in a ceremony at the State House. The award was accepted by WMGLD General Manager Peter Dion, Engineering and Operations Manager Dave Polson and Commissioners Jennifer Kallay and Sharon Daly.
The Leading by Example Award recognizes outstanding efforts among agencies, public colleges and universities, and municipalities in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that have implemented policies and programs that have led to significant and measurable environmental and energy benefits. The WMGLD has implemented several sustainable and clean energy initiatives in recent years, including the Energy Park on Hemlock Road, the Kenneth J. Chase community solar program, and the development of residential and commercial Electric Vehicle Time of Use rates as well as a residential heat pump rate. The utility recently received a $2.86 million grant from the DOER in partnership with the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center for its microgrid at Northeast Metro Tech and Wakefield Memorial High School currently under construction.
| | Keeping you Connected... Events & Opportunities | | BuildingEnergy Boston 2026 | | |
WHEN: Monday, March 23, 2026 - Tuesday, March 24, 2026
WHERE: Westin Boston Seaport District - 425 Summer St, Boston, MA 02210
BuildingEnergy Boston is a conference designed by and for practitioners in the fields of high-performance building and design, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. It brings more than 1,000 industry leaders and emerging professionals together to learn from and share ideas with each other. Sessions are curated by a volunteer NESEA-Member content committee to ensure that conference sessions are genuinely useful to attendees. The conference will feature product demonstrations, networking events, and accredited sessions that offer best practices and lessons learned, case studies and proven data, technical "how-to"s, emerging technologies, and innovative policies and programs.
| | Federal Funding: Five-Bill FY26 Spending Deal Ends Partial Shutdown, Sets New Deadline to Resolve DHS Funding Bill… | | Administration Actions: DOE Cancels and Revises Billions in Loans; Energy Secretary Issues Emergency Orders; Offshore Wind Sees Court Victories… | | Congressional Actions: Senate Committee Holds Permitting Reform Hearing; Bipartisan Group of Senator Discuss FEMA Reforms… | | |
OSHA-10
February 24 - 25, 2026
8:00 am - 2:30 pm
Littleton, MA
Industry Day - Hosted by Shamrock
February 26, 2026
8:00 am - 2:00 pm
Littleton, MA
Hoisting 1B-1D
March 3, 2026
8:00 am - 12:00 pm
Littleton, MA
Hoisting 2A-2C
March 4, 2026
8:00 am - 12:00 pm
Littleton, MA
General Manager/Leadership Roundtable
March 9, 2026
8:30 am - 1:00 pm
Littleton, MA
Tactical Tuesday Webinar
March 10, 2026
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Virtual
Metering I Program
March 10-12, 2026
8:00 am - 2:00 pm
Littleton, MA
Substation I Program
March 17-19, 2026
March 31- April 2, 2026
April 14-16, 2026
April 28-30, 2026
8:00 am - 2:00 pm
Littleton, MA
(URD) Underground Residential Distribution Program
March 24-26, 2026
8:00 am - 2:00 pm
Littleton, MA
General Foreman Roundtable
March 26, 2026
8:30 am - 1:00 pm
Littleton, MA
(PUMP) Public Utility Management Program
April 14-16, 2026
September 9, 2026 (Virtual)
September 2, 2026 (Virtual)
October 27-29, 2026
8:30 am - 4:00 pm
Littleton, MA
| | |
2026 Apprentice Lineworker Program
Year I:
Group A: Mar. 31 – Apr. 3; Jul. 21 – Jul 24; Sept. 29 – Oct 2
Year II:
Group A: Apr. 21 – 24 (Plymouth, NH); Aug. 4 – 7; Oct. 20 – 23
Group B: Feb. 17 – 20; Apr. 28 – May 1 (Plymouth, NH); Aug. 11 – 14; Oct. 27 – 30
Year III:
Group A: Mar. 3 – 6; May 5 – 8; Sept. 1 – 4 (Pascoag, RI); Nov. 3 – 6
Group B: Mar. 10 – 13; May 19 – 22; Sept. 15 – 18 (Pascoag, RI); Nov. 17 – 20
Year IV: Mar. 17 – 20; Jun. 2 – 5; Sep. 22 – 25; Dec. 1 – 3
Apprentice Lineworker Skills Assessment Rodeo
June 17 – 18, 2026
Apprentice Lineworker Program Graduation
(Class of 2026)
December 3, 2026
Learn More
| |
2026 RodE&O Conference*
May 11 - 14, 2026
Loon Mountain Resort
Lincoln, NH
APPA's National Conference*
June 26 - July 1, 2026
Boston, MA
2026 Annual Conference*
August 16 - 19, 2026
Margaritaville Resort
Hyannis, MA
2027 Annual Conference*
August 29 - September 1, 2027
Newport Harbor Island Resort
Newport, RI
| |
*Registration not yet available.
See All Events
| | All New Seasonal "Bucket Brief"
Brought to you by NEPPA's Safety Committee | | Keeping Lineworker Crews in the Safety Mindset
with Key Reminders and Resources | | | |
The Bucket Brief: Winter 2026 -
Starting the Year Focused, Prepared, and Safe
A new year brings fresh opportunities and new risks. Quarter 1 often brings harsh winter conditions, post-holiday distractions, and demanding workloads. This is the time to reset expectations, refocus on fundamentals, and recommit to doing the job safely every time. The habits we reinforce now will carry us through the year.
Read the Latest Edition
| | | | | |
