Pennsylvania PUC reliability report shows positive trends in electric service stability
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) recently released its 2015 Electric Service Reliability Report, evaluating electric distribution companies (EDCs) across the state based on various benchmarks.
“The Electricity Generation Customer Choice and Competition Act mandates the commission ensure the level of reliability that existed prior to the restructuring of the electric utility industry is maintained in the newly restructured markets,” the PUC report said. “In response to this mandate, the commission adopted reporting requirements designed to monitor continuing safety, adequacy, and reliability of generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity in the commonwealth.”
The commission employs four reliability performance metrics in its evaluations – system average interruption frequency index (SAIFI), customer average interruption duration index (CAIDI), system average interruption duration index (SAIDI), and momentary average interruption frequency index (MAIFI). Taken together, the indexes provide a picture of service reliability that takes into account the duration and frequency of all interruptions.
“The overall performance of the EDCs is trending in a positive direction, and we expect more improvement in 2016,” the PUC said. “In 2014, the EDCs reported quarterly CAIDI, SAIDI, and SAIFI metrics and failed to achieve benchmark 53 times total for the year; while in 2015 the total failure to achieve benchmark was 38 times total for the year. In 2014, EDCs failed to achieve standard 19 times total in the year; while in 2015 this was reduced to just one instance for the whole year.”
