Outage management system
Encyclopedia
An Outage Management System (OMS) is a computer system used by operators of electric distribution systems to assist in restoration of power.
(GIS) is usually the source of this network model. By combining the locations of outage calls from customers, a rules engine is used to predict the locations of outages. For instance, since the distribution system is primarily tree-like or radial in design, all calls in particular area downstream of a fuse could be inferred to be caused by a single fuse or circuit breaker upstream of the calls.
The outage calls are usually taken by call takers in a call center utilizing a customer information system (CIS). Another common way for outage calls to enter into the CIS (and thus the OMS) is by integration with an Interactive Voice Response
(IVR) system. The CIS is also the source for all the customer records which are linked to the network model. Customers are typically linked to the transformer
serving their residence or business. It is important that every customer be linked to a device in the model so that accurate statistics are derived on each outage. Customers not linked to a device in the model are referred to as fuzzies.
More advanced Automatic Meter Reading
(AMR) systems can provide outage detection capability and thus serve as virtual calls indicating customers who are without power. However, unique characteristics of AMR systems such as the additional system loading and the potential for false positives requires that additional rules and filter logic must be added to the OMS to support this integration..
Outage Management Systems are also commonly integrated with SCADA
systems which can automatically report the operation of monitored circuit breakers.
Another system that is commonly integrated with an outage management system is a mobile data system. This integration provides the ability for outage predictions to automatically be sent to crews in the field and for the crews to be able to update the OMS with information such as estimated restoration times without requiring radio communication with the control center.
It is important that the outage management system electrical model be kept up to current so that it can accurately make outage predictions and also accurately keep track of which customers are out and which are restored. By using this model and by tracking which switches, breakers and fuses are open and which are closed, network tracing functions can be used to identify every customer who is out, when they were first out and when they were restored. Tracking this information is the key to accurately reporting outage statistics.
An OMS also support the improvement of distribution reliability by providing historical data that can be mined to find common causes, failures and damages. By understanding the most common modes of failure, improvement programs can be prioritized with those that provide the largest improvement on reliability for the lowest cost (most bang for buck).
While deploying an OMS improves the accuracy of the measured reliability indices, it often results an apparent degradation of reliability due to improvements over manual methods that almost always under estimate the frequency of outages, the size of outage and the duration of outages. To compare reliability in years before an OMS deployment to the years after requires adjustments to made to the pre-deployment years measurements to be meaningful.
Major Functions of an OMS
Major functions usually found in an OMS include:- Prediction of location of fuse or breaker that opened upon failure.
- Prioritizing restoration efforts and managing resources based upon criteria such as locations of emergency facilities, size of outages, and duration of outages.
- Providing information on extent of outages and number of customers impacted to management, media and regulators.
- Calculation of estimation of restoration times.
- Management of crews assisting in restoration.
- Calculation of crews required for restoration.
OMS Principles and Integration Requirements
At the core of a modern outage management system is a detailed network model of the distribution system. The utilities Geographic Information SystemGeographic Information System
A geographic information system, geographical information science, or geospatial information studies is a system designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage, and present all types of geographically referenced data...
(GIS) is usually the source of this network model. By combining the locations of outage calls from customers, a rules engine is used to predict the locations of outages. For instance, since the distribution system is primarily tree-like or radial in design, all calls in particular area downstream of a fuse could be inferred to be caused by a single fuse or circuit breaker upstream of the calls.
The outage calls are usually taken by call takers in a call center utilizing a customer information system (CIS). Another common way for outage calls to enter into the CIS (and thus the OMS) is by integration with an Interactive Voice Response
Interactive voice response
Interactive voice response is a technology that allows a computer to interact with humans through the use of voice and DTMF keypad inputs....
(IVR) system. The CIS is also the source for all the customer records which are linked to the network model. Customers are typically linked to the transformer
Transformer
A transformer is a device that transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another through inductively coupled conductors—the transformer's coils. A varying current in the first or primary winding creates a varying magnetic flux in the transformer's core and thus a varying magnetic field...
serving their residence or business. It is important that every customer be linked to a device in the model so that accurate statistics are derived on each outage. Customers not linked to a device in the model are referred to as fuzzies.
More advanced Automatic Meter Reading
Automatic meter reading
Automatic meter reading, or AMR, is the technology of automatically collecting consumption, diagnostic, and status data from water meter or energy metering devices and transferring that data to a central database for billing, troubleshooting, and analyzing.This technology mainly saves utility...
(AMR) systems can provide outage detection capability and thus serve as virtual calls indicating customers who are without power. However, unique characteristics of AMR systems such as the additional system loading and the potential for false positives requires that additional rules and filter logic must be added to the OMS to support this integration..
Outage Management Systems are also commonly integrated with SCADA
SCADA
SCADA generally refers to industrial control systems : computer systems that monitor and control industrial, infrastructure, or facility-based processes, as described below:...
systems which can automatically report the operation of monitored circuit breakers.
Another system that is commonly integrated with an outage management system is a mobile data system. This integration provides the ability for outage predictions to automatically be sent to crews in the field and for the crews to be able to update the OMS with information such as estimated restoration times without requiring radio communication with the control center.
It is important that the outage management system electrical model be kept up to current so that it can accurately make outage predictions and also accurately keep track of which customers are out and which are restored. By using this model and by tracking which switches, breakers and fuses are open and which are closed, network tracing functions can be used to identify every customer who is out, when they were first out and when they were restored. Tracking this information is the key to accurately reporting outage statistics.
OMS Benefits
OMS Benefits include:- Reduced outage durations due to faster restoration based upon outage location predictions.
- Reduced outage duration averages due to prioritizing
- Improved customer satisfaction due to increase awareness of outage restoration progress and providing estimated restoration times.
- Improved media relations by providing accurate outage and restoration information.
- Fewer complaints to regulators due to ability to prioritize restoration of emergency facilities and other critical customers.
- Reduced outage frequency due to use of outage statistics for making targeted reliability improvements.
OMS Based Distribution Reliability Improvements
An OMS supports distribution system planning activities related to improving reliability by providing important outage statistics. In this role, an OMS provides the data needed for the calculation of measurements of the system reliability. Reliability is commonly measured by performance indices defined by the IEEE P1366-2003 standard. The most frequently used performance indices are: SAIDI, CAIDI, SAIFI and MAIFI.An OMS also support the improvement of distribution reliability by providing historical data that can be mined to find common causes, failures and damages. By understanding the most common modes of failure, improvement programs can be prioritized with those that provide the largest improvement on reliability for the lowest cost (most bang for buck).
While deploying an OMS improves the accuracy of the measured reliability indices, it often results an apparent degradation of reliability due to improvements over manual methods that almost always under estimate the frequency of outages, the size of outage and the duration of outages. To compare reliability in years before an OMS deployment to the years after requires adjustments to made to the pre-deployment years measurements to be meaningful.
Electric Power Outage Map Links, External
A map with the service coverage and links to these outage maps provides a summary.| AR, Fayetteville, Texarkana | SWEPCO (American Electric Power American Electric Power American Electric Power is a major investor-owner electric utility in various parts of the United States. AEP ranks among the nation's largest generators of electricity, owning nearly 38,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S... ) http://www.swepco.com/news/outages/ |
| AR, nw | Empire District Electric Company Empire District Electric Company The Empire District Electric Company is an investor-owned, regulated utility providing electricity to approximately 215,000 customers in southwestern Missouri, three counties in northeastern Oklahoma, and very small adjacent areas of Kansas and Arkansas. Joplin, Missouri is the largest city in... https://www.empiredistrict.com/Outages/Default.aspx |
| AR | Entergy Entergy Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. It is headquartered in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana.-History:... http://www.entergy.com/storm_center/outages.aspx |
| CA, PG&E | Pacific Gas and Electric Company Pacific Gas and Electric Company The Pacific Gas and Electric Company , commonly known as PG&E, is the utility that provides natural gas and electricity to most of the northern two-thirds of California, from Bakersfield almost to the Oregon border... http://apps.pge.com/outageblock/outageblock_map_j.html |
| CA, southern | Southern California Edison Southern California Edison Southern California Edison , the largest subsidiary of Edison International , is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California, USA. It provides 14 million people with electricity... http://www.sce.com/AOC_Outagemap/OutageMap.html |
| CA, San Diego | San Diego Gas & Electric San Diego Gas & Electric San Diego Gas & Electric is the utility that provides natural gas and electricity to San Diego County and southern Orange County in southwestern California, United States... http://outages.sdge.com/publicOutageWeb/servlet/OutageMap |
| CO | Black Hills Energy http://www.blackhillsenergy.com/eoc/mainoutage.do |
| CT | Connecticut Light and Power http://www.cl-p.com/stormcenter/outagemap.aspx |
| CT | United Illuminating http://www.uinet.com/uinet/connect/UINet/Top+Navigator/Customer+Care/Home-Residential/Storm+Center/Outage+Map/ |
| D.C. | Pepco PEPCO PEPCO may refer to:* Portland Electric Power Company* Potomac Electric Power Company* Pakistan Electric Power Company... http://www.pepco.com/home/emergency/maps/stormcenter/ |
| DE | Delmarva Power http://www.delmarva.com/home/emergency/maps/stormcenter/ |
| DE | http://dec.maps.sienatech.com |
| FL, Jacksonville | http://outagemap.clayelectric.com/ |
| FL | Progress Energy http://www.progress-energy.com/shared/outages/fla/index.html |
| GA, central | http://outage.flintemc.com:8283/ |
| GA, Forsyth, Fulton, Dawson, Lumpkin, Cherokee, Hall, & Gwinnett Counties | http://sawneearcgis.sawnee.com/outagemaps/Map.aspx |
| IA | Alliant Energy Alliant Energy Alliant Energy Corporation is a public utility holding company that incorporated in Madison, Wisconsin in 1981. It consists of two subsidiaries:... http://www.alliantenergy.com/UtilityServices/StormOutageCenter/ElectricalOutageSummary/index.htm |
| IL | Ameren Ameren Ameren Corporation was created December 31, 1997 by the merger of Missouri's Union Electric Company and the neighboring Central Illinois Public Service Company . It is now a holding company for several power companies and energy companies. The company is based in St... http://www.ameren.com/Outage/ADC_IllinoisOutageInformation.asp |
| IN, Indianapolis | http://www.iplpower.com/ipl/index?page=IPLGeneral&Menu=04080000&DocID=0203917431b9011a564c24930071c8 |
| IN, south central | http://sciremc.maps.sienatech.com/ |
| IN | Duke Energy Duke Energy Duke Energy , headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is an energy company with assets in the United States, Canada and Latin America.-Overview:... http://www.duke-energy.com/externaldata/midwestoutages/maps/PSImap.htm |
| IN | http://www.indianamichiganpower.com/news/outages/default.asp |
| IO | http://www.alliantenergy.com/docs/groups/public/documents/pub/p013332.hcsp |
| KS, Kansas City | http://www.kcpl.com/kcmaps/frameset_menus.htm |
| KS, se | https://www.empiredistrict.com/Outages/Default.aspx |
| KS | http://www.westarenergy.com/wcm.nsf/content/outages |
| KY | http://www.duke-energy.com/externaldata/midwestoutages/maps/CGEmap.htm |
| KY | http://www.eon-us.com/storm/default.asp |
| KY | http://www.kentuckypower.com/news/outages/default.asp |
| LA, Shreveport | http://www.swepco.com/news/outages/ |
| LA | http://www.cleco.com/site413.php |
| LA | Entergy Entergy Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. It is headquartered in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana.-History:... http://www.entergy.com/storm_center/outages.aspx |
| MA, west | http://www.wmeco.com/community/stormcenter/outagemap.aspx?sec=fh |
| MA | http://www1.nationalgridus.com/masselectric/stormcenter/ |
| MD, Baltimore | http://www.bge.com/customerservice/stormsoutages/currentoutages/Pages/default.aspx |
| MD, Montgomery & Prince George's County | http://potomacelectricpowerco.net/home/emergency/maps/zip/default.aspx |
| MD, south | http://outage.smeco.coop/ |
| MD, south | Pepco PEPCO PEPCO may refer to:* Portland Electric Power Company* Potomac Electric Power Company* Pakistan Electric Power Company... http://www.pepco.com/home/emergency/maps/zip/ |
| MD | http://www.conectiv.com/stormcenter/outagemap.html |
| MD | http://www.delmarva.com/home/emergency/maps/outage/ |
| ME, central | http://www3.cmpco.com/Outage/ |
| MI, SE, Detroit | DTE Energy DTE Energy DTE Energy Co. is a Detroit, Michigan-based utility incorporated in 1995 involved in the development and management of energy-related businesses and services nationwide.... http://dteenergy.com/map/outage.html |
| MI, SW | http://www.indianamichiganpower.com/news/outages/default.asp |
| MI, western | http://www.gtlakes.com/countiesmap.aspx |
| MI, Upper Peninsula | Upper Peninsula Power Company Upper peninsula Power Company Upper Peninsula Power Company , a subsidiary of Integrys Energy Group, is a utility company serving most of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. UPPCO provides electric power to consumers.... http://www.uppco.com/outagesummary/view/outagegrid.aspx |
| MN, Wright & Hennepin Counties | http://wh-oms.whe.org/ |
| MN | http://outage.mvec.net/ |
| MO, Kansas City | http://www.kcpl.com/kcmaps/frameset_menus.htm |
| MO, sw | https://www.empiredistrict.com/Outages/Default.aspx |
| MO | Ameren Ameren Ameren Corporation was created December 31, 1997 by the merger of Missouri's Union Electric Company and the neighboring Central Illinois Public Service Company . It is now a holding company for several power companies and energy companies. The company is based in St... http://www.ameren.com/Outage/ADC_MissouriOutageInformation.asp |
| MS | Entergy Entergy Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. It is headquartered in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana.-History:... http://www.entergy.com/storm_center/outages.aspx |
| NC, Charlotte | Duke Energy Duke Energy Duke Energy , headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, is an energy company with assets in the United States, Canada and Latin America.-Overview:... http://www.duke-energy.com/outages/map/ |
| NC, nw | http://bremco.maps.sienatech.com/ |
| NC | http://www.dom.com/storm-center/dominion-electric-outage-map.jsp, http://outagemap.dom.com/DomComFlexOutageViewer/index.html |
| NC | http://www.progress-energy.com/shared/outages/car/index.html |
| NH, Belknap, Coos, Carroll, Cheshire, Grafton, Hillsborough, Merrimack, Rockingham, Strafford, Sullivan County | http://www.nhec.com/oms.php |
| NH | https://www1.nationalgridus.com/granitestate/stormcenter/ |
| NJ, Atlantic City | http://www.atlanticcityelectric.com/home/emergency/maps/stormcenter/ |
| NJ, JCP&L Zone: North West and South East, except AC | https://www.firstenergycorp.com/outages/outages.do?state_code=NJ |
| NJ, PSE&G Zone: Central west to North East | http://www.pseg.com/home/customer_service/outage_info/outagemap.jsp |
| NY, Long Island | http://www.lipower.org/stormcenter/outages/outagemap.html |
| NY, NY | http://www.coned.com/sm/outageinfo.asp# |
| NY, Syracuse | https://www1.nationalgridus.com/niagaramohawk/storm/storm.aspx |
| OH, (AEP) | http://www.aepohio.com/News/outages/default.asp |
| OH, Cincinnati | http://www.duke-energy.com/externaldata/midwestoutages/maps/CGEmap.htm |
| OH, Columbus | http://www.southcentralpower.com/ow/ow_map.aspx |
| OH, Cleveland, Akron, Toledo | https://www.firstenergycorp.com/outages/outages.do?state_code=OH |
| OK, ne | https://www.empiredistrict.com/Outages/Default.aspx |
| OK | http://www.oge.com/systemwatch/ |
| PA, east | http://www.pplelectric.com/Outage+Center |
| PA | http://www.choptankelectric.coop/outages/index.html |
| PA | http://www.firstenergycorp.com/outages/outages.do?state_code=PA |
| RI | http://www1.nationalgridus.com/narragansett/stormcenter/ |
| SC | http://www.duke-energy.com/outages/map/default.htm |
| SC | http://www.sceg.com/en/storm-center/ |
| SC | http://lec.maps.sienatech.com/ |
| TN, Knoxville | http://www.kgis.org/website/kub_outage/mainpage.htm |
| TN, Memphis | http://www.mlgw.com/SubView.php?key=misc_outagemap&x=2 |
| TN, Nashville | http://www.nespower.com/OutageMap/ |
| TX, southeast | Entergy Entergy Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. It is headquartered in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana.-History:... http://www.entergy.com/storm_center/outages.aspx |
| TX, Texarkana, Longview | http://www.swepco.com/news/outages/default.asp |
| TX | http://www.aeptexas.com/News/outages/default.asp |
| VA, NNEC | http://www.nnec.coop/outages |
| VA, north | http://www.novec.com/map/outage_map.cfc?method=GetCounty&county=all |
| VA, Shenandoah | http://www.svec.coop/outages/ |
| VA | http://www.appalachianpower.com/news/outages/default.asp |
| VA | http://www.conectiv.com/stormcenter/outagemap.html |
| VA | http://www.dom.com/storm-center/dominion-electric-outage-map.jsp, http://outagemap.dom.com/DomComFlexOutageViewer/index.html |
| VA | http://www.myrec.coop/outage-center/outage-map.cfm |
| VT | http://www.vtoutages.org |
| WA, Puget Sound | http://www.pse.com/safetyReliability/pseservicealert/Pages/LatestUpdates.aspx# |
| WA, Seattle | http://seattle.gov/light/sysstat/ |
| WV | http://www.appalachianpower.com/news/outages/default.asp |
| WV | http://www.southcentralpower.us/OW/ow_map.aspx |
| Country | Province, City/Area!!Electric outage map link | |
|---|---|---|
| Australia | Central, Northern and Southern Queensland | http://www.ergon.com.au/network_info/unplanned_outages.asp |
| Australia | |Victoria | http://www.powercor.com.au/Power_Outages |
| Australia | South Australia | http://www.etsautilities.com.au/current_interruptions.jsp?xcid=852 |
| Australia | Western Australia | http://www.wpcorp.com.au/mainContent/yourPowerSupply/powerInterruptions/publicInterruptionInformation.html |
| Canada | |British Columbia | http://www.bchydro.com/outages/orsMain.jsp |
| Canada | |Newfoundland | http://www.newfoundlandpower.com/Outages/ViewPowerOutages/Details.aspx |
| Canada | |Ontario | http://www.hydroone.com/stormcenter/ |
| UK | |Central England | http://www.eon-uk.com/distribution/livenetworkmap.aspx |
External links
- http://electricenergyonline.com/article.asp?m=5&mag=18&article=135
- http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/reprints/oracle/147336.html
- http://uaelp.pennnet.com/display_article/247211/34/ARTCL/none/none/outage-management-systems-key-to-quick-response/
- http://energycentral.fileburst.com/EnergyBizOnline/2005-6-nov-dec/Automation.pdf
- http://www.letsys.com/img/oms_implementation_requirements_whitepaper.pdf
- http://www.ieee.org/portal/cms_docs_pes/pes/subpages/meetings-folder/T_D_2005_2006/wedndesday/pn24/05TD0487-B.pdf