Current through March 20, 2024
Authority: IC
8-1-1-3;
IC
8-1-2-4
Affected: IC
8-1-2-12;
IC
8-1-2-113;
IC 8-1-13
Sec. 23.
(a) For
purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) "Business days" means all days other
than:
(A) Saturday;
(B) Sunday; or
(C) a legal holiday observed by the state of
Indiana.
(2) "Customer"
means a metered electrical service point for which an active bill account is
established at a specific location.
(3) "Customer average interruption duration
index (CAIDI)" is calculated by dividing the summation of sustained service
interruption durations for a specified period of time by the total number of
customers interrupted. This index indicates the average time required to
restore a sustained service interruption.
(4) "Customer of record" means any:
(A) person;
(B) firm;
(C) corporation;
(D) municipality; or
(E) other government agency; which has
agreed, orally or otherwise, to pay for electric service received from a
utility.
(5)
"Interruption" means the loss of electrical service to one (1) or more
customers connected to the distribution portion of the system.
(6) "Investor-owned utility" means any
utility that is financed by the sale of securities and whose business
operations are overseen by a board representing their shareholders.
(7) "Nonbusiness days" means:
(A) Saturday;
(B) Sunday; or
(C) a legal holiday observed by the state of
Indiana.
(8) "Planned
service interruption" means a service interruption initiated by the utility to
perform scheduled activities, such as, but not limited to:
(A) maintenance;
(B) infrastructure improvements;
and
(C) new construction due to
customer growth.
Customers of record are typically notified in advance of such
events.
(9)
"REMC" means an electric utility formed under IC 8-1-13.
(10) "Sustained service interruption" means a
service interruption that is greater than or equal to five (5) minutes unless
defined as five (5) minutes or less by the individual utility.
(11) "System average interruption duration
index (SAIDI)" is calculated by dividing the summation of sustained service
interruption durations for a specified period of time by the total number of
customers served. This index indicates the total duration of a sustained
service interruption for the average customer during a specified period of
time.
(12) "System average
interruption frequency index (SAIFI)" is calculated by dividing the summation
of customers that experienced sustained service interruptions over a specified
period of time by the total number of customers served. This index indicates
how many sustained service interruptions a customer experiences over a
specified period of time.
(b) The requirements for the reporting of
sustained service interruptions are as follows:
(1) A utility shall report any interruption
in service that is not planned that meets the following criteria:
(A) For investor-owned utilities,
interruptions of service lasting two (2) hours or more and affecting two
percent (2%) or five thousand (5,000) customers, whichever is fewer.
(B) For REMCs, interruptions of service
lasting two (2) hours or more and affecting one thousand five hundred (1,500)
or more customers.
An initial report shall be made to the commission by the next
regularly scheduled interval as provided in subdivision (2) and updates shall
be made to the commission at each regularly scheduled interval until electrical
service has been restored to the level below that of the threshold described in
clause (A). The report indicating that all electrical service has been restored
to the level below that of the threshold described in clause (A) shall be noted
as the "final report" for each interruption period.
(2) The regularly scheduled intervals for
reporting times shall be as follows:
(A) On
business days: 6:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., 4:00 p.m., and 9:00
p.m., Eastern Standard Time (EST) (Indianapolis time).
(B) On nonbusiness days: 6:00 a.m., 2:00
p.m., and 9:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) (Indianapolis time).
(3) Service interruption reports
that occur during business days shall be submitted to the commission and the
office of the utility consumer counselor via commission prescribed format. The
preferred method of reporting is via electronic mail; however, telephone or
other types of reports may be made if coordinated in advance with commission
staff.
(4) In the case of an
extreme emergency, a different schedule for status reporting may be agreed to
by the commission and the utility until the emergency has ended.
(5) The commission shall notify the utility
if a written report or further information is required after the final report
is submitted.
(6) This subsection
shall not apply to a curtailment or an interruption of service to customers
receiving service under interruptible rate classifications when the curtailment
or interruption of service occurs pursuant to the affected retail customer's
service agreement.
(c)
Whenever service is intentionally interrupted for any purpose, the utility
shall, except in emergencies, make reasonable attempts to minimize the
inconvenience to affected customers of record. The utility shall make
reasonable attempts to notify in advance customers of record whose service is
expected to be interrupted for more than one (1) hour for scheduled maintenance
or facilities upgrades, consistent with safety and security considerations.
This rule does not apply to customer interruptions pursuant to an interruptible
tariff or agreement approved by the commission.
(d) Utilities shall first attempt to restore
service that affects public health and safety. Each utility shall have written
procedures for designated employees to follow in emergencies. The procedures
shall contain at least the following:
(1)
Notification procedures for emergency response personnel.
(2) General location or locations of:
(A) equipment;
(B) tools; and
(C) materials; normally needed to restore
service.
(3) Procedures
for notifying:
(A) fire;
(B) police;
(C) medical; and
(D) other public; officials
(e) Each investor-owned
utility shall file a reliability indices report with the commission's
electricity division on or before March 1 of each year. The first report filed
under this section shall include data from the previous three (3) calendar
years. Subsequent reports filed under this section shall include data only from
the previous calendar year. The report shall contain the following information:
(1) The reliability indices SAIDI, CAIDI, and
SAIFI, with and without major events, for the utility's system and for each
district or region into which its system may be divided. The utility shall
report these data and analyses on a form prescribed by the
commission.
(2) The definition of
major event used by the utility for reporting purposes.
(3) For the reported indices, the number of
customers used for the calculations and the utility's definition of customer.
If a REMC maintains sufficient electronic records to comply with this
subsection, the cooperative utility shall file a reliability indices report
under this subsection.
(f) The commission may require that data be
reported by the utilities in order to determine whether a utility is providing
service consistent with thisrule. The utilityshall maintain historical CAIDI,
SAIDI, SAIFI, and supporting data needed tocalculate those indexes for a
minimum of seven (7) years
