Accurate evaluation of cost for power reliability issues for electric utility customers

This paper provides a process to quantify the costs associated with interruptions of service to customers of electric utilities. A basic assumption is that in a majority of cases, the most cost effective solution to a given power quality issue involves investment of time and money on both sides of the electric meter. The information included in this paper is intended to guide the engineer from the utility and the engineer from the customer of the utility as they collaborate to justify funds for the solution they have designed. The paper shows that gross errors may be made by utilizing general costs for power outages. It does present reasonable methods to develop realistic costs of power outages to customers in an effort to justify capital investments for improving reliability for the utility customer in their specific situation.