Authenticated PDF VersionEFFECTIVE DATE: September 10, 2006
1.1 Reliable electric service is an essential service to Delaware citizens of great importance to the Delaware Public Service Commission ("Commission"). This regulation, in support of 26 Del.C. §1002 and 26 Del.C. §1008, sets forth reliability standards, distribution planning requirements, distributed generation considerations, and reporting requirements needed to assure the continued reliability and quality of electric service being delivered to Delaware regulated public utility customers and applies to all Delaware Electric Distribution Companies ("EDCs").
“Availability” means the measure of time a generating unit, transmission line, or other facility is capable of providing service, whether or not it actually is in service.
“Beginning restoration” includes the essential or required analysis of an interruption, the dispatching of an individual or crew to an affected area, and their arrival at the work site to begin the restoration process (normally inclusive of dispatch and response times).
“Benchmark” means the standard service measure of SAIFI, CAIDI and Forced Outage Rate as set forth in these regulations.
“Capacity” means the rated continuous load-carrying ability, expressed in megawatts (“MW”) or megavolt-amperes (“MVA”) of generation, transmission, or other electrical equipment.
“Contingency” means the unexpected failure or outage of a system component, such as a generator, transmission line, circuit breaker, switch, or other electrical element. A contingency may also include multiple components, which are related by situations leading to simultaneous component outages.
“Corrective action” means the maintenance, repair, or replacement of an EDC’s utility system components and structures to allow them to function at an acceptable level of reliability.
“Corrective maintenance” means the unplanned maintenance work required to restore delivery facilities to a normal operating condition that allows them to function at an acceptable level of reliability.
“Customer Average Interruption Duration Index (‘CAIDI’)” represents the average time in minutes required to restore service to those customers that experienced sustained interruptions during the reporting period. CAIDI is defined as follows:
CAIDI = Sum of all Sustained Customer Interruption Durations per Reporting Period
Total Number of Sustained Customer Interruptions per Reporting Period
“Delivery Facilities” means the EDC’s physical plant used to provide electric energy to Delaware retail customers, normally inclusive of distribution and transmission facilities.
“Dispatch time” is the elapsed time between receipt of a customer call and the dispatch of a service resource to address the customer’s issue as tracked by the OMS.
"Distribution facilities" means electric facilities located in Delaware that are owned by a public utility that operates at voltages of 34,500 volts or below and that are used to deliver electricity to customers, up through and including the point of physical connection with electric facilities owned by the customer.
“Distribution feeder” or “feeder” means a three-phase set of conductors emanating from a substation circuit breaker serving customers in a defined local distribution area. This includes three-phase, two-phase and single-phase branches that are normally isolated at all endpoints.
“Electric Distribution Company” or “EDC” means a public utility owning and/or operating transmission and/or distribution facilities in this state.
“Electric distribution system” means that portion of an electric system, that delivers electric energy from transformation points on the transmission system to points of connection at the customers’ premises.
“Electric service” means the supply, transmission, and distribution of electric energy as provided by an electric distribution company.
“Interrupting device” means a device, capable of being reclosed, whose purpose includes interrupting fault currents, isolating faulted components, disconnecting loads and restoring service. These devices can be manual, automatic, or motor operated. Examples include transmission and distribution breakers, line reclosers, motor operated switches, fuses or other devices.
“Interruption” means the loss of electric service to one or more customers. It is the result of one or more component outages, depending on system configuration or other events. See “outage” and “major event.” The types of interruption include momentary event, sustained and scheduled.
“Interruption, duration” means the period (measured in minutes) from the initiation of an interruption of electric service to a customer until such service has been restored to that customer. An interruption may require step restoration tracking to provide reliable index calculations.
“Interruption, momentary event” means an interruption of electric service to one or more customers, of which the duration is less than or equal to 5 minutes. This definition includes all reclosing operations, which occur within five minutes of the first interruption. For example, if a recloser or breaker operates two, three, or four times and then holds within five minutes, the event shall be considered one momentary event interruption.
“Interruption, scheduled” means an interruption of electric service that results when one or more components are deliberately taken out of service at a selected time, usually for the purposes of preventative maintenance, repair or construction. Scheduled interruptions, where attempts have been made to notify customers in advance, shall not be included in the SAIFI, CAIDI, or Forced Outage Rate calculations.
“Interruption, sustained” means an interruption of electric service to one or more customers that is not classified as a momentary event interruption and which is longer than five minutes in duration.
“Major Event” means an event consistent with the I.E.E.E.1366, Guide For Electric Power Distribution Reliability Indices standard as approved and as may change over time. For purposes of this regulation, changes shall be considered to be in effect beginning January 1 of the first calendar year after the changed standard is adopted by the I.E.E.E. Major event interruptions shall be excluded from the EDC’s SAIFI, CAIDI and Forced Outage Rate calculations for comparison to reliability benchmarks. Interruption data for major events shall be collected, and reported according to the reporting requirements set forth in this regulation.
“Outage” means the state of a component when it is not available to perform its intended function due to some event directly associated with that component. An outage may or may not cause an interruption of electric service to customers, depending on system configuration.
“Outage management system (‘OMS’)” means a software operating system that provides database information to effectively manage service interruptions and minimize customer outage times.
“PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (‘PJM’)” means the independent system operator that is responsible for mid-Atlantic region wholesale energy markets and the interstate transmission of energy, or it’s successor organization.
“Power quality” means the characteristics of electric power received by the customer, with the exception of sustained interruptions and momentary event interruptions. Characteristics of electric power that detract from its quality include waveform irregularities and voltage variations – either prolonged or transient. Power quality problems shall include, but are not limited to, disturbances such as high or low voltage, voltage spikes or transients, flicker and voltage sags, surges and short-time overvoltages, as well as harmonics and noise.
“Preventive maintenance” means the planned maintenance, usually performed to preclude forced or unplanned outages, and which allows delivery facilities to continue functioning at an acceptable level of reliability.
“Related projects” are individual projects whose completion is required, contingent, or dependent on each other for overall completion of the specified scope of work.
“Reliability” means the degree of performance of the elements of the bulk electric system that results in electricity being delivered to customers within accepted standards and in the amount desired. Reliability may be measured by the frequency, duration, and magnitude of adverse effects on the electric supply. Electric system reliability can be addressed by considering two basic and functional aspects of the electric system – Adequacy and Security. (See ERC definition - NERC’s Reliability Assessment 2001-2010, dated October 16, 2001.)
Adequacy - The ability of the electric system to supply the aggregate electrical demand and energy requirements of customers at all times, taking into account scheduled and reasonably expected unscheduled outages of system elements.
Security - The ability of the electric system to withstand sudden disturbances such as electric short circuits or unanticipated loss of system elements. (See NERC definition - NERC’s Reliability Assessment 2001–2010, dated October 16, 2001.)
“Repair time” is the elapsed time from the arrival of the service resource at the identified problem site to the correction of the customer’s original concern as tracked by the OMS.
“Response time” is the elapsed time from dispatch of service resource to the arrival of the service resource at the identified problem site as tracked by the OMS.
“Step restoration” means the restoration of service to blocks of customers in an area until the entire area or circuit is restored.
“Sum of all Sustained Customer Interruption Durations” means the summation of the restoration time (in minutes) for each event times the number of interrupted customers for each step restoration of each interruption event during the reporting period.
“Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition ('SCADA')” is an electronic communication and control system that provides electrical system operating information and mechanisms to remotely control energy flows and equipment.
“System Average Interruption Duration Index ('SAIDI')” represents the average duration of sustained interruptions per customer. SAIDI is defined as:
SAIDI = Sum of all Sustained Customer Interruption Durations per Reporting Period
Total Number of Customers Served per Reporting Period
“System Average Interruption Frequency Index (‘SAIFI’)” represents the average frequency of sustained interruptions per customer during the reporting period. SAIFI is defined as:
SAIFI = Total Number of Sustained Customer Interruptions per Reporting Period
Total Number of Customers Served per Reporting Period
“Total Number of Customers Served” means the number of customers provided with electric service by the distribution facility for which a reliability index is being calculated on the last day of the time period for which the reliability index is being calculated. This number should exclude all street lighting (dusk-to-dawn lighting, municipal street lighting, traffic lights) and sales to other electric utilities.
“Total Number of Sustained Customer Interruptions” means the sum of the number of interrupted customers for each interruption event during the reporting period. Customers who experienced multiple interruptions during the reporting period are counted for each interruption event the customer experienced during the reporting period.
“Transmission facilities” means electric facilities located in Delaware and owned by a public utility that operates at voltages above 34,500 volts and that are used to transmit and deliver electricity to customers (including any customers taking electric service under interruptible rate schedules as of December 31, 1998) up through and including the point of physical connection with electric facilities owned by the customer.
3.0 Electric Service Reliability and Quality
4.0 Reliability and Quality Performance Benchmarks
4.2.1 The three-year average SAIFI shall not exceed 1.0 interruption.
4.2.2 The three-year average SAIDI shall not exceed 100 minutes.
5.0 Reliability and Quality Performance Objectives
6.0 Distribution Planning and Studies Report
6.1 Long Range Distribution Plan
6.1.1 As the entity responsible for the planning of its system, each EDC shall submit a Long Range Distribution Plan (“LRDP”) to identify existing and potential future distribution system performance issues, and recommended solutions, for a minimum of ten (10) years to be refreshed every five (5) years. This plan is intended to serve as the strategic direction for an EDC’s anticipated major initiatives. The LRDP shall be submitted, subject to subsection 6.3, by June 15th every fifth year. The first LRDP shall be submitted by June 15, 2022, for the effective period of 2023-2032.
6.1.2.3.3 Current cost estimates, which may be at a budgetary level.
6.2 Infrastructure, Safety and Reliability Plan
6.2.1 The EDC shall submit a proposed rolling 3-year Infrastructure, Safety, and Reliability Plan (“ISR”) identifying proposed capital spending necessary to maintain the reliability and quality of its distribution services. Subject to subsection 6.3, the proposed ISR shall be submitted no later than March 31, 2020 or 90 days following the effective date of this regulation, whichever is later, and no later than March 31st every year thereafter. The initial report shall address 2020-2022, and subsequent reports will address the year in which it is submitted and two subsequent years. The proposed ISR shall be structured under the following major spending categories:
6.2.1.1.1 New business - Customer Requirements
6.2.1.1.2 Facility relocations
6.2.1.1.3 Required Statutory and Regulatory Requirements
6.2.1.1.4 Reliability – emergency failures
6.2.1.2.1 System Capacity/Load
6.2.1.4 Inspection and Maintenance (“I&M”) program
6.3 Review and Acknowledgement
6.3.6 Any party may challenge the EDC’s attempt to recover the amounts spent.
7.1.2 The RPR shall include the EDC’s delivery facilities’ year-end performance measures as follows:
7.1.2.1 SAIDI, SAIFI, and CAIDI measures:
7.1.3.1 Current and previous five (5) year summary level OMS data to include:
7.1.3.1.1 Number of outages by outage type;
7.1.3.1.2 Number of outages by outage cause;
7.1.3.1.3 Total number of customers at year end;
7.1.3.1.4 Total number of customers that experienced an outage; and
7.1.3.1.5 Total customer minutes of outage time.
7.2 Infrastructure, Safety, and Reliability Plan Annual Report
7.2.1 By March 31st of each year, starting March 31, 2021, each EDC shall submit an ISR annual report for the previous year to include:
7.2.1.5 Comparison of any other projects or programs.
8.3.1 The date and time when the EDC's major event control center opened and closed;
8.3.3 The date and time when 75%, 95% and 100% of customers affected by a major event were restored;
9.0 Guidelines, Standards and Programs
9.1.1 Distribution System Planning Criteria;
9.1.2 Inspection and Maintenance Program;
9.1.3 Vegetation Management Program;
9.1.4 Standard for Interconnecting Distributed Resources with Electric Power Systems;
9.1.5 Power Quality Program and Policies;
9.1.6 Priority Feeder Program; and
10.0 Penalties and Other Remedies
10.1 EDCs operating in Delaware and subject to Commission regulation who violate any of the requirements of this regulation are subject to penalties and other remedial actions in accordance with 26 Del.C. §§205(a), 217, and 1019. No penalty shall be assessed except after a public hearing at which the EDC, Staff, the DPA, or any other affected person may present evidence. The Commission shall be responsible for assessing any penalty under this section, consistent with Delaware law.
10.3 Penalty assessments are payable as provided by Delaware statute.
11.0 Reporting Specifications and Implementation
11.2 Subject to and without waiving the requirements of 29 Del.C. Ch. 100 (the “Freedom of Information Act” or “FOIA”), EDCs may request information required under this regulation to be classified as confidential, proprietary and/or privileged material. The requesting party must attest that such information is not subject to inspection by the public or other parties without execution of an appropriate proprietary agreement. Each party requesting such treatment of information is also obligated to file one (1) additional electronic and paper copy of the information, excluding the confidential or proprietary information. The Commission, in accordance with the FOIA and 26 DE Admin. Code 1001, will treat such information as "confidential, not for public release" upon receipt of a properly filed request. The Commission, designated Presiding Officer, or Hearing Examiner shall resolve any dispute over the confidential treatment of information in accordance with the FOIA and 26 DE Admin. Code 1001.
