BALANCING, MEASURING, AND IMPROVING COST AND RELIABILITY PERFORMANCE FOR ELECTRIC DISTRIBUTION UTILITIES

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1 EUCI Presents a Course on: BALANCING, MEASURING, AND IMPROVING COST AND RELIABILITY PERFORMANCE FOR ELECTRIC DISTRIBUTION UTILITIES Westin Westminster Denver, CO EUCI is authorized by IACET to offer 1.0 CEUs for this program.

2 OVERVIEW This course will focus on cost and reliability performance benchmarking techniques and present the technology options available to power distributors in addressing identified improvement areas. Methods on how to put the cost and reliability puzzle pieces into one comprehensive measure will be explored. We ll discuss how to find the proper costversus-reliability balance, measure cost and reliability performance using the most accurate methods available, examine the comprehensive productivity trajectory of your utility, and uncover improvement strategies. We ll also reveal how new automation programs and technologies like automated smart switching, volt/var, MDM, and other programs can best address possible productivity improvements, as well as how to develop cost-benefit evaluations based on statistical benchmarking and consumer outage costs results. LEARNING OUTCOMES Explore techniques to bring cost and reliability performance and productivity into a comprehensive picture Create a cost-benefit analysis for possible investment options Create a cost-benefit evaluation at the project level Examine the economic losses to end-use customers when outages occur Discuss performance evaluation techniques for cost and reliability Integrate performance benchmarking into improvement initiatives Examine a case study of smart grid investment and impact on costs and reliability WHO SHOULD ATTEND Distribution planners and engineers Smart grid planners Reliability managers Regulatory personnel Utility stakeholders Rate and financial managers IACET EUCI has been approved as an Authorized Provider by the International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET), 1760 Old Meadow Road, Suite 500, McLean, VA In obtaining this approval, EUCI has demonstrated that it complies with the ANSI/IACET Standards, which are widely recognized as standards of good practice internationally. As a result of their Authorized Provider membership status, EUCI is authorized to offer IACET CEUs for its programs that qualify under the ANSI/IACET Standards. EUCI is authorized by IACET to offer 1.0 CEUs for this program. Requirements for Successful Completion of Program Participants must sign in/out each day and be in attendance for the entirety of the course to be eligible for continuing education credit. Instructional Methods Case studies, PowerPoint presentations, and group discussion will be used in this course. 2

3 PROGRAM AGENDA MONDAY, AUGUST 15, :00 8:30 a.m. Registration and Continental Breakfast 8:30 9:30 a.m. Defining Key Benchmark Statistics Defining cost and reliability measures is the first step in evaluating these levels at each utility. In this session, standard reliability indices (SAIDI, SAIFI, CAIDI, and MAIFI) will be defined, as well as industry standards of major event days and sustained outage times. Cost categories will include major and detailed operation and maintenance (O&M) expenses and costs associated with capital expenditures. 9:30 10:30 a.m. Research on How External Factors Influence Benchmark Statistics and Techniques to Make Accurate Data Comparisons Attainable reliability and cost levels are deeply influenced by the uncontrollable circumstances of a power distributor s service territory. Recent research on these external factors and the magnitudes by which they can influence benchmark data will be revealed. Techniques that normalize for these factors (e.g. vegetation levels, customer density) are imperative to properly and fairly evaluating the performance of the power distribution utility. Peer group and econometric benchmarking approaches will be discussed as possible ways to make more accurate apples to apples data comparisons. 10:30 10:45 a.m. Morning Break 10:45 11:45 a.m. The Rest of the Story: The Impact of Outages on End-Use Consumers Distribution O&M and capital expenditures are not the only costs associated with delivery of electricity. Outages can inflict profound economic damage to consumers. These damages are not uniform across utilities. Certain feeders will incur proportionately higher damages relative to other feeders based on the customer classes and appliance saturations served by each feeder. Likewise, all outages are not the same. Consumer costs are accrued in a non-linear fashion based on the frequency, duration, and depth of outages. 11:45 a.m. 1:00 p.m. Group Luncheon 1:00 2:00 p.m. Comprehensive Productivity Trends and their Importance in Strategic Decision-Making Measuring a utility s cost and reliability performance levels is important, but just as important is fully understanding the direction this performance is headed. A comprehensive view of productivity will be introduced in this session, incorporating both cost and reliability trend performance. Past strategic decisions and investment choices are already impacting the productivity of your company. In the end, productivity is the key performance metric that utilities should be monitoring. 2:00 3:00 p.m. Performance Benchmarking and Productivity Analysis Applied to Regulation Recent precedents on how benchmarking and productivity analysis is being used in the regulatory arena will be discussed from the construction of performance-based regulation (PBR) and incentive regulation plans to the evaluation of revenue requirement amounts in traditional cost of service (COS) rate cases. The methods being used and how can they be used more effectively to communicate performance and productivity to stakeholders will be discussed. 3:00 4:00 p.m. The Rate and Reliability Balance: Cost-Benefit Evaluation at the Project Level After calculating the end-use consumer costs of outages, utilities will have an estimate of the marginal benefits of reducing outages specific to each feeder. Marginal costs of projects should not exceed the marginal benefits derived from the projects. Cost-benefit analysis can be undertaken to determine a go, no go decision on contemplated project choices. For example, research on the reliability impacts of undergrounding power lines will be presented and how to properly evaluate the costs and benefits of underground lines at the feeder level will be presented. 3

4 PROGRAM AGENDA MONDAY, AUGUST 15, 2011 (CONTINUED) 4:00 4:15 p.m. Afternoon Break 4:15 5:15 p.m. The Rate and Reliability Balance: Cost-Benefit Evaluation at the Technology Level The installation of technology options impacts cost and reliability. Developing a cost-benefit analysis that factors in these expected impacts can provide a road map to technology plans that are in the best interest of ratepayers. TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, :00 8:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast 8:30 9:30 a.m. Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses and Uncovering Automation Best Practices Utilities will learn how to identify the various technologies and programs that best serve your objectives by looking at the results of existing programs at other utilities. What automation and technologies can address productivity? What programs can best address wholesale power supply cost stabilization? Comparisons can be made to peers regarding performance evaluations and their current technology situation and operating practices from which best practices can be identified to maintain areas of strength and improve weaknesses. 9:30 a.m. 12:00 p.m. Review of Automation Technology Programs that Can Best Address Improving Productivity and Reliability A review of possible productivity improvement options will be offered, including: Distribution automation smart feeder switching Remote fault indicator diagnostics Proactive voltage monitoring Substation modernization program Advanced metering infrastructure (and how to get more out of it) Meter data management (MDM) Mobile workforce management (MWM) and how to get the most out of an existing system GIS for many purposes beyond core mapping Integrating an outage management system with AMI and an integrated voice response system 12:00 p.m. Course Adjourns 4

5 INSTRUCTORS Steve Fenrick, Leader Benchmarking and Economic Studies, Power System Engineering Inc. Mr. Fenrick has over a decade of experience in helping electric utilities benchmark and evaluate cost and reliability performance. He leads PSE s benchmarking practice area for both management improvement efforts and regulatory support. Mr. Fenrick has led dozens of benchmarking studies involving hundreds of electric utilities. He regularly works with top utility management in evaluating cost and reliability performance and identifying strategies to improve performance. For the past two years, he has assisted the Ontario Energy Board in benchmarking the 77 electric utilities operating in the province. In 2010, he assisted an electric utility in developing a method to quantify consumer outage costs and apply findings to project-level costbenefit evaluations. He has authored numerous reports submitted in regulatory filings in regards to benchmarking, incentive regulation, and revenue decoupling. Rick Schmidt, Vice President Communications Infrastructure, Economics and Market Research, Power System Engineering Inc. Rick has more than 25 years of professional experience and leads the System Design and Communications Department at Power System Engineering. Rick and his staff provide automation and communication consulting and engineering services to utilities, including technology work plans, strategic communications plans, procurement, design and project management of SCADA, DA, substation automation and design, AMI, demand response, GIS, MWM, AVL, OMS, IVR, and a variety of communication areas, including land mobile radio, fiber and microwave backbones, mobile data, and more. 5

6 PROCEEDINGS The proceedings of the course will be published, and one copy will be distributed to each registrant at the course. EVENT LOCATION A room block has been reserved at the Westin Westminster, Westminster Blvd., Westminster, CO 80020, for the nights of August 14-17, Room rates are $169, plus applicable tax. Call for reservations and mention the EUCI course to get the group rate. Make your reservations prior to July 25, There are a limited number of rooms available at the group rate. Please make your reservations early. REGISTRATION INFORMATION REMEMBER, EVERY FOURTH REGISTRANT IS FREE For instant registration, call or fax the registration form to Register Three, Send Fourth Free! Any organization wishing to send multiple attendees to this course may send one FREE for every three delegates registered. Please note that all registrations must be made at the same time to qualify. All cancellations received on or before July 15, 2011 will be subject to a US $195 processing fee. Written cancellations received after this date will create a credit of the tuition (less processing fee) good toward any other EUCI event or publication. This credit will be good for six months. In case of event cancellation, Electric Utility Consultants liability is limited to refund of the event registration fee only. For more information regarding administrative policies such as complaints and refunds, please contact our offices at EUCI reserves the right to alter this program without prior notice. MAIL DIRECTLY TO: Electric Utility Consultants, Inc. (EUCI) 5555 Preserve Drive Greenwood Village, CO FAX TO: PHONE: ONLINE: PLEASE REGISTER THE FOLLOWING Balancing, Measuring, and Improving Cost and Reliability Performance for Electric Distribution Utilities, : US $1395 Early Bird on or Before August 5, 2011: US $1195 ENERGIZE WEEKLY EUCI s Energize Weekly newsletter compiles and reports on the latest news and trends in the energy industry. Newsletter recipients also receive a different, complimentary conference presentation every week on a relevant industry topic. The presentations are selected from a massive library of more than 1,000 current presentations that EUCI has gathered during its 24 years organizing conferences. Sign me up for Energize Weekly How did you hear about this event? (direct , colleague, speaker(s), etc.) Name Job Title Name Preferred for Badge Company Telephone Address City State Zip Check here if you have any dietary or accessibility needs. We will contact you for more details. PAYMENT METHOD Please charge my credit card: Visa MC AMEX Discover Security Code Visa and MC cards have a 3 digit code on the signature panel on the back of the card, following the account number. American Express cards have a 4 digit code on the front of the card, above the card number. Name on Card Signature Account Number Exp. Date Card Holder Phone Number Billing Address Billing Zip Code OR enclosed is a check for $ to cover registrations. W1186 6