REGULATORY CHANGE FOR UTILITY VEGETATION MANAGEMENT IN THE US

Transcription

1 REGULATORY CHANGE FOR UTILITY VEGETATION MANAGEMENT IN THE US WILL PORTER DIRECTOR OF CONSULTING

2 RULES AND REGULATIONS CHANGE TO MEET SOCIETAL NEEDS State regulators commissions Customer Needs Electric Reliability Public Safety Municipals and Cooperatives Federal Oversight and Standardization Multi state concerns High system variability

3 NEW CUSTOMER SERVICE RULES IN New York, Indiana and Illinois Address increasing customer and community concerns with utility vegetation management (UVM) Define specifications for customer communication and notification Provide customers with some alternatives Define vegetation management activities and references industry standards

4 NEW YORK 2011 New York: Case 10 E Requires utility to supply specific UVM information to the customer, including start and completion date and provisions for cleanup and ROW restoration and replanting plans Long range plans for high density population areas must be submitted to commission UVM brochures and website information must be commission approved Direct line of communication to UVM department Identification, protection and advancement of desirable vegetation

5 INDIANA 2012 Indiana Code revised in 2012 Defines compatible vegetation as less than 12ft at maturity Defines public safety situation to include tree wire contacts and hazardous trees that could fall on the conductor Requires property owner permission to enter property where there is no easement Routine UVM limited to 25% of canopy per tree

6 ILLINOIS 2011 Customer may appeal the planned vegetation management activities with the commission Utilities must notify mayors and county boards and supply them circuit maps Cities are responsible for the cost of UVM required by their local codes that exceeds utility s industry approved standard practice

7 STATES EXPAND UVM RELIABILITY RULES Over 75% of state utility commissions require reliability reports that utilize standard reliability metrics (IEEE 1366) Some PUCs and utilities change the definitions Remediation of worst performing circuits are required by several states including Texas and Ohio At least 10 states either require a specific UVM cycle length or require the cycle length must be declared and deviations reported

8 TEXAS Extensive annual UVM plan and report to the commission Remediation of vegetation caused worst performing feeder list according to SAIDI and SAIFI Tree risk management program (Part 9 ANSI A 300) Annual financial and reliability reporting

9 CONNECTICUT 2013 ENHANCED TREE TRIMMING (ETT) "Utility protection zone eight feet from any outermost electrical conductor or communication line, ground to the sky The utility can remove trees in the utility protection zone after notifying abutting property owners Home owners must be notified of pruning/removal and redress is possible through the tree warden of each community Minimum storm restoration requirements

10 MARYLAND 2013 The commission ruled that inadequate tree trimming practices resulted in excessive expenses in hurricane restoration efforts reduced cost recovery Adhere to cyclical management schedule Annual public education requirement Notification requirement UVM program reporting to PUC

11 MARYLAND 2011 ARBORICULTURAL RULE An employer shall have a workplace hazard assessment conducted for all work activities (1) A written certification that identifies the workplace evaluated (2) The name of the person certifying that the evaluation has been performed (3) The date or dates of the hazard assessment (4) A document that is identified as a certification of hazard assessment.

12 CALIFORNIA ADDRESSES FIRES AND PUBLIC SAFETY 2012 Right to disconnect customers who refuse UVM For communication and electric supply circuits energized at 750 V or less, conductor strain and abrasion from vegetation must be addressed Under CA UVM regulations, outages decreased from 45 per 1,000 miles of line in 1995 to less than 20 per 1,000 miles in 2012

13 MUNICIPALS AND COOPERATIVES ARE SELF REGULATED Most state utility commissions have little or no jurisdiction over Coops and public utilities Indiana: Municipal and cooperative utilities must report outages lasting two (2) hours or more and affecting 1,500 or more customers South Carolina and Iowa Coops must comply with commission rules Some states such as Texas have requested coop compliance to commission UVM rules but the coops opted to be exempted

14 FEDERAL OVERSIGHT OF DISTRIBUTION UVM What is the future of the federal involvement with ensuring a safe, reliable and affordable electric grid? Resiliency, Reliability, Security, Renewable Energy, Efficiency, Digitization and Environmental Stewardship will likely be the areas of future federal policy making and this could impact UVM.

15 US EXECUTIVE REPORT ON GRID RESILIENCY 2013 Federal regulatory awareness of UVM Between 2004 and 2012 seven of the ten costliest storms in US history occurred Identify the greatest risks to the system and determine the cost and impact to mitigation Vegetation management is a part of grid resilience as defined by the report Standardization of state rules

16 CONCLUSION: REGULATORY PATHWAYS OF THE FUTURE Environmental preservation has been the foundation of US environmental policy for 100 years New age of statistical analysis and understanding climate ecology and natural disaster management Changes in US environmental and forestry policy State and federal UVM laws drafted over the next five years likely to focus on grid resiliency from major events such as ice storms, hurricanes, derechos, fires, etc.

17 QUESTIONS? A Review of US UVM Standards, Laws and Regulations is on the CN Utility Consulting website and will be updated in the near future Recommended reading: Before and After the Storm: A compilation of recent studies, programs, and policies related to storm hardening and resiliency, Edison Electric Institute, 2013