1. Blue Sky Days Vegetation Management Distribution Field Switching
2016 Transmission & Distribution Benchmarking
Community Insights Conference
Blue Sky Days Vegetation Management Distribution Field Switching
August 22-25, 2016
Park City, UT

2. A Process Model for Managing the T&D Business
The Sustain System block below is the area covered by this presentation.
Indicates separate D, S, T components
Add New
Customers
Respond to Emergencies
Expand System
Operate System
Sustain System
Project/Portfolio Management
Develop and Approve Asset Plans
Develop System Strategy

3. BLUE SKY DAY TROUBLE CALL RESPONSE
2016 Transmission & Distribution Benchmarking
Community Insights Conference
BLUE SKY DAY TROUBLE CALL RESPONSE
August 22-25, 2016
Park City, UT

4. DISTRIBUTION Line service Restoration Spending
18% of distribution O&M spending is on Service Restoration. 10% of FTEs are responsible for first response.
Service Restoration O&M Spending per Asset
Trouble Operations FTEs per 100k Customers
Question DF55
Staffing Details pg 53, SO15

5. PERCENT OF TOTAL TIME SPENT ON ACTIVITIES BY TROUBLE RESPONDER
On average companies use trouble responders for the same activities during both day and night shifts. A key difference is switching from Service Installs & Upgrades to Street Light Orders and other activities.
DAY SHIFT
NIGHT SHIFT
DR pg 81, DR194
DR pg 82, DR194

6. BLUE SKY DAY TROUBLE CALL RESPONSE - DEDICATED TROUBLE RESPONDERS
89% of companies have dedicated trouble responders. 25% have 24-hour coverage with the average being 17 hour coverage.
Square Miles Covered By A Trouble Responder
Blue Sky Day Trouble Call Response - Hours Of Coverage Provided By A Trouble Responder
Mean
327
Quartile 1
131
Quartile 2:
341
Quartile 3:
470
Mean 17
Quartile 1 9
Quartile 2:
Quartile 3: 24
DR pg 79, DR192
DR pg 80, DR193

7. PERCENT OF CALLS COMPLETELY RESTORED
On average about 80% of calls are restored with first response. About 75% of companies have only 1 worker respond to the initial trouble call.
DAY SHIFT
NIGHT SHIFT
Mean
80%
Quartile 1
85%
Quartile 2:
83%
Quartile 3:
75%
Mean
77%
Quartile 1
85%
Quartile 2:
80%
Quartile 3:
74%
DR pg 85, DR200
DR pg 87, DR205

8. BLUE SKY DAY TROUBLE CALL RESPONSE – AVERAGE TIME INTERVALS
Minutes to First Restoration
29% of the time it takes to restore is spent getting the crew on site
Mean
148
Quartile 1
113
Quartile 2:
133
Quartile 3:
154
DR pg 89, DR210

9. AVERAGE TIME FROM FIRST CUSTOMER CONTACT TO Arrival on site
Minutes to Arrival
Some organizations activly manage the relationship between mintues to arrive and trouble response coverage
Mean
100
Quartile 1 84
Quartile 2:
Quartile 3:
119
Square Miles Covered By A Trouble Responder
DR pg 88 DR210

10. Regulator Required Tracking Of Public Safety Incidents On Distribution System
Only 32% of respondents are required to track and report on public safety incidents for their distribution system 16 17 18 21 22 23 25 26 27 28 30 31 38 40 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 54 55 56 57
Yes ♦
32% No
68% ID
Response 25
Incidents that include serious injury or fatality involving employees and/or members of the public 23
wires down, dig ins, public contact 40
We voluntarily report large scale outage to our PUC. BES events are reportable to NERC, ERCOT and DOE per regulations. 26
In storms, track response to bona fide FD and PD emergencies. Report all high rise building outages. Report outages >5k customers. 21
Public contacts and fatalities 16
Manhole Fire and Manhole Smoking Events 47
Required to report outages to the Commission that result in 1000 customer hours off. Additionally, we report to the Commission any accidents that cause damage to our infrastructure exceeding $5,000 18
All incidents involving injury or death, property damage greater than $50,000 or newsworthy events. 55
Public contacts and high level emergencies immediately. All outage/trouble data recorded 49
wires down, safety forces on site.
T&D D Page 102, 103 Question DP310, 311

11. Regulatory Requirements
35% of respondents are required to track and report on response time to public safety incidents on their distribution system 16 18 21 22 23 25 26 27 28 30 31 38 40 47 48 49 50 51 52 55
Required to Track response Times
Yes ♦
35% No
65%
Requirements for Reporting
Not required
Average response times
25%
Percent of public safety incident reports responded to within a specific time target
19%
Other
13% ID
Response 22
30 minute response time for a Police/Fire 1 (PF1), indicating immediate threat to life - no penalty as this is not a regulation 16
Respond within 4 hours, 90% of the time, to public safety calls with first responders standing by, at all times (including major events) 51 27
15 minutes response time; a review with other agencies are held every quarter to review and determine best practices and response commitments amongst local governing agencies. 18
Expected response within 60 minutes. No penalty
T&D D Page 104, 105, 109 Question DP315, 320, 335

12. Vegetation Management
2016 Transmission & Distribution Benchmarking
Community Insights Conference
Vegetation Management
August 22-25, 2016
Park City, UT

13. Unit Price & Fixed Costs together account for 56%
Contract Terms
Terms Of Vegetation Management Contracts
Unit Price & Fixed Costs together account for 56%
Time & Materials 45%
Percent of companies
22% use T&M exclusively
16% use T&M and Unit Price
39% use T&M and Fixed Cost
D page 74 – Questions DP200

14. A look at costs
There doesn’t appear to be a relationship between contract terms and cost
Spending per OH Structure Mile Trimmed
Spending per Tree Mile Managed
Mean
$7,174
Quartile 1
$3,201
Quartile 2:
$4,591
Quartile 3:
$7,820
Mean
$4,336
Quartile 1
$2,908
Quartile 2:
$3,555
Quartile 3:
$5,550
DF page 29 – Questions DF60, SA35
DF page 31 – Questions DF60, SA35

15. What types of activities are funded
Spending Allocations
62% is spent on preventative trimming
Tree removal (inc. hazard trees) 16.8%
Trouble response (excluding storm restoration) 8.1%
Herbicides and growth inhibitors 6.1%
Storm restoration 5.5%
Other 7.4%
Mean
$7,174
Quartile 1
$3,201
Quartile 2:
$4,591
Quartile 3:
$7,820
D page 64 – Questions DP165

16. 10% of outages are caused by trees (3rd highest)
Tree Related Outages
Customer Interruptions [the numerator of SAIFI] By Cause
10% of outages are caused by trees (3rd highest)
Distribution Equipment Failure 21.7%
Major Events (2.5 beta method) 20.5%
DR page 36 – Questions DR45

17. Vegetation Management Impact on SAIDI
10% of all minutes
26 minutes caused by trees
SAIDI % Of Minutes By Cause
SAIDI Allocated By Cause
DR page 20 – Questions DR30
DR page 22 – Questions DR30

18. Communicating To Customers
Method Of Communication
Most companies only utilize one or two methods and typically only two weeks prior to the work
D Page 76 –Questions DP205

19. Vegetation management Related Complaints
# Of Complaints Per 100,000 Customers
73% of respondents track / record vegetation management complaints (19/26)
13 of those 19 reported numbers of complaints
11 of those 13 don’t categorize complaints by type
Mean 72
Quartile 1 41
Quartile 2: 61
Quartile 3: 84
D page 78 – Questions DP211

20. Distribution Field Switching
2016 Transmission & Distribution Benchmarking
Community Insights Conference
Distribution Field Switching
August 22-25, 2016
Park City, UT

21. Switching– Scope of 2016 Survey
Today’s presentation covers highlights for the section located in the Distribution Practices (DP1)
Field Switching (DP1)
Roles and Dedicated./ No Dedicated Personnel
Hours of coverage
Roles of Dispatch in ensuring productivity during periods of non-switching

22. Field Switching Roles– Who performs Switching Processes
During normal hours, all companies report use of trouble crews, with most all also using construction crews and substation electricians. 3 use solely trouble crews; 7 of 24 use dedicated operators.
14 of 24 companies use contractors to support switching
Off hours staffing shows less use of dedicated operators and contractors
Total Respondents= 24
Normal Hours
Off Hours
Trouble Crew
100%
Construction Crew
88%
67%
Substation Electrician
83%
Dedicated Operator
29%
17%
Contractors
58%
21%
Other 8% 4%
Normal Hours 16 17 21 22 23 25 26 27 28 30 31 38 40 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 54 55 56 57
Trouble Crew ♦
Construction Crew
Substation Electrician
Dedicated Operator
Contractors
Other
Distribution (DP) Page 92 and 93; Question Used: DP275

23. Use of Dedicated Switching resources--hours of Daily coverage
3 companies: Co 25, 38 and 16 report using 24 hours of switching support by dedicated resources
3 others, 27, 51 and 52 use 2 shifts of coverage with dedicated resources
Distribution (DP) Page 96; Question Used: DP290

24. Prioritization of work for Roles for non-Dedicated Resources
Non-dedicated personnel do a variety of work when not switching---maintenance, patrols, inspections (DP295)
For most companies, Dispatch sets the priorities, with switching taking place after trouble ID
Response
As Assigned by Supervisor and DOC 22
By the Supervisor and OCC 40
Dispatch assigns work as applicable 30
Distribution Dispatcher assigns 90% of work from DSO. The remaining 10% consists of Inspections & misc work are assigned by Field Supervisor. 16
Dispatch sets priority or their direct line supervisors 55
By DCC, Outages and safety issues top priority 23
By operators for trouble and service orders (higher priority), other assignments (lower priority) by service center management 63
The work is prioritized by field management (except Trouble, which is prioritized by DCC personnel when conflicting with assigned planned switching activities
Based on established priorities 31
Trouble restoration is first priority then switching. Most of the time the crew doing the work is the same crew that switching the circuit. 28
Trouble work first, then planned/scheduled maintenance work 26
By need date. Outages and emergencies take top priority. 21
1. Emergencies 2. Outages 3. Revenue 4. Construction 5. Maintenance 6. Inspections 20
Trouble and switching before patrols and inspections. 27
Prioritization is based on emergency response, scheduled customer appointments (power kills, etc.) and system generated request. 47
Switching is for projects or maintenance is scheduled in advance and performed by troubleman unless unavailable due to emergent need, in that case the crew performs their own switching if practical 49
Outage, regulatory required and new business, other
Distribution (DP) Page 97 and 98; Question Used: DP295 and DP300

25. role of Dispatch in ensuring employees in primary switching occupations are productively deployed when they are not performing switching
7 of 15 use Dispatch to assign jobs to workers when not in switching or trouble ID
Response 25
Switching personnel respond to trouble calls, address customer outages and handle job jar assignments given by Field Supervisors. 22
We dispatch connect and disconnect work along with non outage work from OMS. Also, the Supervisors assign inspections, patrols and PM work. 31
Dispatchers will always keep meter work on the crew and if for some reason we did not have any to give the crew we would contact the crews foreman to notify them they need to provide the
crew work. 28
None 23
Dispatching non-outage tickets or supporting other outage tickets 40
Work is assigned to crews based on priority levels. Maintenance work is done when no switching, reactive or trouble work is needed. 26
There is a backlog of company and customer generated work, which dispatch prioritizes and dispatches. 30
N/A. We do not have dedicated switching personel. 16
Assigns priority of jobs 52
Dispatch assigns other, non emergency work. 51 27
Dispatch will deploy Troublemen to patrol circuits when not directly performing under the direction of the systems office. 47
Troublemen are assigned to geographically and respond to switching needs accordingly 55
Monitor and prioritize emergency work and dispatch to field computer. 63
DCC takes care of assigning emergency trouble/outage calls only. Other work is assigned by field management.
Distribution (DP) Page 97 and 98; Question Used: DP295 and DP300

26. Thank you for your Input and Participation!
Your Presenters
Ken Buckstaff
Debi Cook
Gene Dimitrov
Rob Earle
Dave Canon Dave Carter Dave Weiler
About 1QC
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