The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved a revised reliability standard, CIP-014-4, developed by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation to strengthen physical security requirements for critical bulk-power transmission substations and control centers. The standard applies to facilities whose loss or damage could trigger cascading failures across the grid, and the revision tightens the timelines utilities must follow when conducting risk assessments of those facilities.
The order also clarifies which facilities fall under the standard’s scope and increases the rigor required for third-party verification of risk and vulnerability evaluations. FERC simultaneously approved retirement of the prior standard, CIP-014-3, with utilities given a multi-year runway to reach compliance with the new requirements.
Why it matters
Physical attacks on substations — from gunfire to intrusion — have repeatedly knocked out power to thousands of customers in recent years; a tighter, more consistently enforced risk-assessment standard is meant to close gaps in which facilities utilities have historically been required to protect.
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