Determining the optimum level of reliability

De-regulation has brought with it many concerns with system reliability. On the one hand, customers expect better reliability and on the other they expect lower rates. The purpose of this paper is to present the factors which affect reliability and the requirements of customers for more (or even less) of it. The paper addresses such items as the effect of system design, voltage level, rates, climate, PQ requirements, distributed generations pros and cons, risk, cost and a variety of other topics