Measuring the Benefits of an Outage Management System

It is well known in the utilities industry that customers are becoming more knowledgeable, increasing their dependence upon electricity, and increasing their expectations for service levels. Most utilities also have a growing customer base while market pressures are demanding reductions in operating costs. Finally, risks of not providing high quality emergency response services include litigation, financial penalties from regulators, and ultimately loss of customers. Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo) addresses these challenges by focusing on customer needs while improving processes. A process improvement methodology prescribed by Wayne Brunetti in his book Achieving Total Quality, 1993, Quality Resources, was used. It involves documenting a given process, gathering data about what is happening within the process, identifying problems in the process, applying proposed solutions in an organized, logical way, and measuring the results to guide implementation of changes that improve the process.

The method is an iterative, continuous approach.
When process improvement begins, there exist high benefit yet easy to implement alternatives. These “low hanging fruit” are used first. As the cycle is repeated to achieve continual gains, additional improvements can be more challenging. Beyond changing how work is performed is the option of applying technology to a process. PSCo reached this stage in improving its electric distribution outage response process in 1997. Data from customer needs analysis, performance goals established with the Colorado Public Utilities Commission, and experience of executive management with this technology resulted in a directive to obtain an outage management system. This paper will explore the approach PSCo used in selecting an OMS, challenges encountered along the way, and the results to date after getting the system into production.