A Quantitative Assessment of Utility Reporting Practices for Reporting Electric Power Distribution Events

Metrics for reliability, such as the frequency and duration of power interruptions, have been reported by electric utilities for many years. This study examines current utility practices for collecting and reporting electricity reliability information and discusses challenges that arise in assessing reliability because of differences among these practices. The study is based on reliability information for year 2006 reported by 123 utilities in 37 states representing over 60% of total U.S. electricity sales. We quantify the effects that inconsistencies among current utility reporting practices have on comparisons of System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) and System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI) reported by utilities. We recommend immediate adoption of IEEE Std. 1366-2003 as a consistent method for measuring and reporting reliability statistics.