Distribution reliability: what is it?

Distribution reliability is a topic that has received attention because distribution reliability performance directly affects customers. In this age of fierce competition, everyone wants to have their company in the top quartile of utilities in terms of distribution reliability performance. The key to reaching the top quartile is understanding distribution reliability; answering the following questions will aid in that endeavor. What is distribution reliability? How is it defined? What factors affect it? Why are consumer hours important? Why are investor-owned utilities using other measures, and what are the measures? How does reliability impact cost decisions? Practical ways to improve reliability. This article answers the outlined questions to help REAs and municipals understand the approach that investor-owned utilities are taking to reliability. It may also help them formulate new distribution planning and operations techniques based on distribution reliability. There are three main reasons to calculate and track distribution reliability. They are: system design to minimize the effect on the system for the failure of any given component; modification of environmental parameters to minimize their effect on the distribution system; and assessment of the impact of distribution reliability on cost to the utility and the customers