Measuring storm-restoration performance （Abstract from EEI Report)

Measuring storm-restoration performance
测量飓风恢复绩效
One of the challenges in attempting to compare past and present utility storm-restoration performance is that no two storms are the same.Ice storms can cause vastly different types of damage—depending on whether they hit whenleaves are still on trees, the thickness of the ice, how high the accompanying winds are andwhether the ice damages transmission lines as well as distribution lines.Similarly no two hurricanes are the same. One hurricane might wreak havoc on a utilitysystem with its high winds, while another creates considerable damage from flooding, andanother does both. Because of these differences, it is unrealistic to compare storms and utilityresponses to them without considering the wide variety of factors that can impact a utility’sstorm-restoration activities.The other major challenge of evaluating whether utility responses are getting better or worseis obtaining good data on utility storm-restoration activities. The industry does not have astandardized method for evaluating post-storm restoration effectiveness. Hence, there is noconsistent method of collecting data on utility storm-restoration activities.Most data regarding storm damage is collected and maintained by individual utilities, and isused primarily for tracking costs and preparing “major storm reports” for state public utilitycommissions. Once again, there is no formal or informal standard for preparing these reports,either at the regional or national level.To address this lack of comparable data, EEI designed a special survey to collectinformation on utility storm-restoration activities over at least a 10-year period of time.

Storm Restoration Survey Results
1) In recent years, survey respondents have improved the rate at which they are ableto restore power to customers following a major storm event.
3) The number of restoration workers deployed after major storms has decreasedfairly dramatically in recent years as the number of customers restored per workerhas risen.
4) Based on equipment damage, recent storms do not appear to have been any moreor less severe.
4) Based on equipment damage, recent storms do not appear to have been any moreor less severe.
Summary
These storm reports help clarify the tremendous impact of major storms on utility systems,and illustrate the huge effort utilities undertake to restore their systems as quickly as possible.The summaries indicate favorable performance trends when the companies’ most recent stormrestoration efforts are compared with previous significant storms.The North Carolina Utilities Commission reached similar conclusions regarding the DukePower and Progress Energy storm-restoration efforts. In its final report on the 2002 Ice Storm,the commission found no discernable increase in outage duration. The report illustrated howmuch more quickly Duke and Progress Energy customers were restored in 2002 than in theaftermath of a 1996 Ice Storm.The North Carolina Commission concluded that the companies’ restoration efforts were“diligent, effective and well managed as a whole.”10 The Maryland Public Service Commissionis currently evaluating BG&E’s storm report as well as those of the other Maryland utilities thataffected by Hurricane Isabel.

Taken from EEI (Edison Electric Institute) 2004 report 'Utility Storm RestorationResponse'