Spring is when many peo­ple and busi­ness­es in the South­east U.S. begin prepar­ing for hur­ri­cane sea­son, which offi­cial­ly starts June 1. For util­i­ty com­pa­nies, this is the time of year when you begin prepar­ing for the worst yet hop­ing for the best, review­ing spe­cif­ic mate­ri­als for stock lev­els, dis­cussing sup­ply strate­gies with your ven­dors, and con­tin­u­ing to work with oper­a­tions to deter­mine future needs. This year we also have to con­tend with COVID-19 and its long-reach­ing and var­ied effects on the sup­ply chain.