Georgia Power reports high service reliability in 2023

More than $10 billion of investments into the grid over the past decade paid off for Georgia Power last year, as 2023 brought high marks for service reliability driven largely by use of smart, automated technology.

The frequency of service interrupts, charted by the System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI), was among the lowest in Georgia Power’s history, as customers saw an average of 15 percent fewer power outages compared to 2022. When power outages did appear, restoration times were also about 27 minutes quicker than in 2022, meaning its System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) score was also higher.

“At Georgia Power, we understand the importance of reliability for every customer and our teams share a commitment to work safely around the clock, and across the state, to deliver the power that our customers require,” Tami Barron, senior vice president of Distribution for Georgia Power, said. “As we continue to upgrade our state’s power grid, we’re making purposeful investments using a data-driven approach, and increasingly incorporating automated technology that helps our electric system better respond not only during storms, but every day.”

That automated technology is being deployed at haste, with more than 1,000 automated devices installed statewide last year alone. Once attached, crews can control the devices remotely, letting operators reroute power and segment power lines to isolate issues. This keeps fewer customers affected by outages and results in quicker restoration times for others. At this point, Georgia Power considers more than 60 percent of its distribution grid to be self-healing thanks to other smart devices able to respond to power outages automatically.

These smart technology installments were paired with upgrades or rebuilds of various transmission lines and substations, undergrounding hundreds of miles of power lines, as well as improving or installing thousands of power poles in recent years. Collectively, they wrought major upgrades to the state’s power infrastructure.