Measuring the Benefits of an Outage Management System

Business Case
Examples of benefits achieved through use of outage management systems were rare when the project was begun in 1997. Fortunately, Florida Power and Light (FPL) was willing to share its experiences. Key benefits of automated device analysis and inclusion of a mobile data terminal system were covered by Jim Tracey in his GITA paper “Real Time Trouble Call Management Interfaces.” During storm situations FPL demonstrated dramatic reductions in outage analysis and customer minutes interrupted. This was translated into annual cost savings of manpower, fewer phone centers, and fewer trouble offices needed. FPL’s example of applying technology successfully with proven results was an excellent guide for the project team.

Public Service Company’s planned benefits involve customer service, emergency dispatching, emergency response field work, clerical, and electric distribution engineering business areas. Benefits were classified into either reliability improvement, safety for customers/employees, value to customers, or reductions in operating costs. Using a net present value calculation, the break even period for the investment was calculated to be four years. Following is a subset of planned benefits:

Reduction in Response Time due to Automated Probable Device Prediction & Outage Order Management - Replacing the use of printed trouble calls will reduce outage response time even when trouble call volume is high (feeder lockouts or storms). Known device outages such as feeder lockouts will involve a simple confirmed out procedure. This functionality will result in a four percent reduction in response time.
Reduction in On Hold Time for Customers Reporting Outages - What is being done about an outage, estimated time of restoration, and detailed information from dispatchers is provided to the Customer Inquiry Representatives who pass the information to customers. This will avoid lost profits by helping the company meet a performance goal established by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.
Reduction in PUC Complaints by Improving the Accuracy and Quality of Outage History - Confirming the correct outage devices, use of pull down lists to provide consistency, automatic creation of the outage history by customer account, and having the data in easily accessible format improves accuracy and quality. This will allow improved response to customer inquiries on repeat outages and allow the company to proactively prevent these problems. This will avoid lost profits by helping the company meet a performance goal established by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission.
Improved Storm Management - Electronic distribution of relevant data will improve resource management decisions and communication to the general public on progress in dealing with events such as storms.
Consistent Facility Data Across Business Areas - Safety and efficiency will be supported when Emergency Response Crews, Dispatching, System Operation, Engineering, Reliability Assessment, New Construction, and Maintenance/Permanent Repair personnel are using the same (GIS) database. Coordination during switching will be easier, communication of repair needs will be more accurate, and evaluation of problem areas will be faster.