Docket UE-991168 Electric System Reliability Rulemaking
WAC Chapter 480-100 Electric Companies - New Sections
1st Informal Draft - June 21, 2000

Reliability Rules

WAC 480-100-xx1  Implementation Plan

(1)  Within six months of the adoption of this section, an electric utility 
must file with the commission an implementation plan that describes the ways in 
which the utility will implement the provisions of this section.  The plan must 
be developed in consultation with the commission.  The utility may file 
revisions to the plan as necessary.
(2)  This section may be implemented in stages and in various manners so long 
as the substance of the section is met.
(3)  Implementation plans must include the following.
(a)  A timetable, with milestones and target dates, setting out a utility’s 
planned implementation of this section.  Full implementation must be 
accomplished in a reasonably timely manner.   
(b)  The manner in which a utility will monitor and report reliability, and 
fulfill other requirements of this section, prior to full implementation.   
(c)  The length of time that data gathered and statistics calculated under this 
section will be retained by a utility.  Data must be kept a minimum of five 
years to allow a reasonable assessment of trends.
(d)  Identification of levels of accuracy that will be achieved by a utility 
for the reliability data and statistics that are gathered and developed under 
this section.  Levels of accuracy must be sufficient to measure reasonably 
small variations in trends from year to year.  
(e)  Identification of a reporting period.  A reporting period must be period 
of one year, but  may be a calendar year, fiscal year, water year or any other 
annual period.
(f)  Identification of reporting measures and the ways in which those measures 
will be calculated and reported to the commission.  Reporting measures may be 
any reliability measure, but must include the number and duration of sustained 
interruptions experienced by customers.  Sustained interruptions are 
interruptions to electric service that last an extended period of time as 
defined in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. IEEE 
Trial-Use Guide for Electric Power Distribution Reliability Indices, Standard 
1366-1998, published April 16, 1999.  In establishing the ways in which 
measures will be calculated and reported to the commission, reliability 
variables must be addressed, including, for example, scheduled versus forced 
interruptions, cause codes, and quantifiable criteria for qualifying a major 
event.  Reporting must be done in a way that allows a meaningful analysis of 
trends. 
(g)  Identification of threshold criteria that will trigger which customer data 
is reported to the commission.  Threshold criteria are levels and conditions of 
reporting measures, such as a given number of sustained interruptions, that 
when reached, require their inclusion in reports to the commission.  Threshold 
criteria must be set in a manner that reveals the areas of greatest reliability 
concern to the utility and the commission.
(h)  The manner in which a utility will communicate reliability information to 
customers.

WAC 480-100-xx2  Annual Reliability Report 

(1)  An electric utility must provide an annual reliability report to the 
commission.  The report is due to the commission two months after the end of 
the reporting period, and must be in a form and format designed by the 
commission. 
(2)  The annual reliability report must include the information set forth in 
the implementation plan and this section as follows.
 (a)  Progress Report and Summary
(i)  A utility’s progress in implementing this section and its implementation 
plan;
(ii)  an overall assessment of the utility’s electric service reliability; and 
(iii)  a summary of data reported and assessments made in the report.
 (b)  System-wide Measures SAIFI (System Average Interruption Frequency Index), 
SAIDI (System Average Interruption Duration Index), and CAIDI (Customer Average 
Interruption Duration Index) must be calculated and reported in accordance with 
the definitions and formulae included in the Institute of Electrical and 
Electronics Engineers, Inc. IEEE Trial-Use Guide for Electric Power 
Distribution Reliability Indices, Standard 1366-1998, published April 16, 
1999.  Other reporting measures as set forth in the implementation plan must 
also be calculated and reported.
 (c)  Customer-level reports, which are measurements taken at the service meter 
or at the service transformer, must be reported system-wide through the 
following:
(i)  Chart(s) showing the number of sustained interruptions and the hours of 
interruption that occurred over time during the reporting period. 
(ii)  Chart(s) showing the number of sustained interruptions experienced by 
each customer, aggregated by number of interruptions.
  (iii)  Chart(s) showing the number of minutes of sustained interruption 
experienced by each customer, aggregated by minutes of interruption.    
(iv)  Other reporting measures as set forth in the implementation plan.  
 (d)  Locating Threshold Customers.  Threshold customers are customers who have 
experienced a threshold level of sustained interruptions, minutes of sustained 
interruption, or both, or any other reporting measure as set forth in the 
implementation plan.  
  (i)  Map(s) showing the location of each customer that experienced a 
threshold level of reporting measures during the reporting period.    
(ii)  Map(s) showing the location of any threshold customers in the current 
year that were threshold customers in previous years, up to five years if data 
are available.  
(e)  Threshold Customers Reported at Circuit Level 
(i)  Chart(s) showing threshold data for each circuit that served threshold 
customers.  
(ii)  Chart(s) showing threshold data for each year, for any threshold circuits 
in the current year that were threshold circuits in previous years, up to five 
years if data are available.  Threshold circuits are electric system 
distribution circuits that serve threshold customers.  
 (f)  Cause and Component Failure on Threshold Circuits 
Chart(s) showing for threshold circuits: 
(i)  the causes of interruptions experienced by threshold customers on the 
circuit, aggregated by cause code, and 
(ii)  the component(s) that failed, by type and number of failures on the 
circuit.  
(3)  With each chart, map, table or other presentation of data, a utility must 
provide an assessment of the data, including an explanation for why the data 
are as they are, a discussion of whether the data represent a reasonable level 
of reliability, a description of how the data compare to historic reliability 
levels, a discussion of any reliability concerns the data raise, and a 
description of  any steps or measures that the utility is taking to address 
reliability concerns.

WAC 480-100-xx3  Information Must Be Available to the Commission Upon Request 

Based upon information provided in the annual reliability report, or for other 
reasons—such as customer complaints—the commission may request more detailed or 
aggregated reliability information for further investigation.  Reliability 
information must be gathered and maintained by an electric utility in a manner 
that allows the commission to receive the following:
(a)  annual reporting measures for any customer, aggregate group of customers, 
or section of a system; and
(b)  information about components that failed for each interruption, including
(i)  historical system conditions under which components operated, and
(ii)  maintenance policies, practices and histories for failed components.
 
WAC 480-100-xx4  Providing Reliability Information to Customers

(1)  Customers may request reliability information at any time.
(2)  Upon request for reliability information from a customer, an electric 
utility must make available at a minimum the following.
(a)  Latest system-wide SAIFI, SAIDI and CAIDI, and up to five years of annual 
system-wide SAIFI, SAIDI and CAIDI, if available.
(b)  Latest total number and minutes of sustained interruptions experienced by 
the customer for the reporting year, and up to five years annual total
number and minutes of sustained interruptions experienced by the customer, if 
available. 
(3)  Information must be provided free-of-charge to the customer except that a 
fee may be charged if a prior request was made by the same customer within the 
previous 12 months.  Fees must be reasonable and may reflect no more than the 
cost of providing the information.
(4)  At least once a year, a utility must notify its customers about the 
availability of reliability information.  Within one month of provision of the 
annual reliability report to the commission, or at the soonest billing 
opportunity thereafter, a utility must notify all customers of the following:
 (a)  that it has provided its report to the commission, and
 (b)  that system-wide and customer-level information is available upon 
request.