65-407 C.M.R. ch. 320, § 2 - DEFINITIONS

The following words and terms, when used in this Chapter, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

A. "Annual Report" means the final cumulative quarterly report each Investor-Owned T&D Utility is required to file under this Chapter on an annual basis to report metrics information.

B. "Applicable Codes, Standards and Requirements" means any codes standards or requirements identified by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Independent System Operator - New England (ISO-NE), National Electric Safety Code (NESC), North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), Northern Maine Independent System Administrator (NMISA) or Northeast Power Coordinating Council, Inc. (NPCC). The version that applies to a device will be the version in effect at the time the device is initially put into service.

C. "Call" means a telephone Call received on the utility's customer service line as specified on customer bills. Call time begins when a Customer opts to speak to a live person and ends when the Call is answered by a live person.

D. "Case Management System" or "CMS" means the Commission's online electronic filing system.

E. "Commission" means the Public Utilities Commission of the State of Maine.

F. "Consumer-Owned T&D Utility" means any transmission and distribution utility wholly owned by its consumers, including, but not limited to:

1. The transmission and distribution portion of a rural electrification cooperative organized under chapter 37 of Title 35-A;

2. The transmission and distribution portion of an electrification cooperative organized on a cooperative plan under the laws of the State;

3. A municipal or quasi-municipal transmission and distribution utility;

4. The transmission and distribution portion of a municipal or quasi-municipal entity providing generation and other services; and

5. A transmission and distribution utility wholly owned by a municipality.

G. "Customer" means a person or entity that receives service from a T&D Utility.

H. "Customer Average Interruption Duration Index" or "CAIDI" is the average time required to restore service to the average customer per Sustained Interruption. It is measured in minutes or hours of interruption.

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I. "Flicker" means noticeable illuminations changes from lighting equipment caused by fluctuations in power demands.

J. "Harmonics" means, a sinusoidal component of the 60 Hertz fundamental wave having a frequency that is an integral multiple of the fundamental frequency.

K. "IEEE 2.5 Beta Method" is used for identifying outlying service performance, usually caused by major storms, when calculating service quality metrics. The IEEE 2.5 Beta Method identifies "major event days," which is a day in which daily SAIDI exceeds a threshold value Tmed. These "major event days" are then removed from the calculation of a particular service quality metric.

L. "Investor-Owned T&D Utility" means a transmission and distribution utility that is not a Consumer-Owned T&D Utility.

M. "IVR" means Interactive Voice Response telephone answering system.

N. "Major Event Days" means a day in which the daily system SAIDI exceeds a threshold value that is determined by using the IEEE 2.5 beta method.

O. "Major Outage Event" means a disruption of utility service to more than 500 customers or 1% of a utility's customers, whichever is greater, for a period of longer than 30 minutes.

P. "Meter" means a device that measures the amount of energy consumption or real and reactive demand by a Customer from a T&D Utility.

Q. "Momentary Interruption" means the brief loss of power delivery to one or more Customers caused by the opening and closing operation of an interrupting device. A Momentary Interruption does not exceed 5 minutes.

R. "New Service Build (simple service only)" means a field service that involves running a section of overhead secondary line, connecting to a designated point on the customer's premises, inspecting the electrical service, installing and activating a meter, and, if necessary, installing a transformer. It does not involve pole installation or other pole work. The calculation of target days (business days) for this metric begins when the Investor-Owned T&D Utility's planner orders the project to be released to the Investor-Owned T&D Utility's line department for completion.

S. "Nominal System Voltage" means the voltage by which a portion of the system is designed, and to which certain operating characteristics of the system are related. Each Nominal System Voltage pertains to a portion of the system bounded by transformers or utilization equipment.

T. "Sustained Interruption" means any service interruption that lasts longer than 5 minutes.

U. "System Average Interruption Duration Index or "SAIDI" is the average time that customers are interrupted. It is measured in minutes or hours of interruption.

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V. "System Average Interruption Frequency Index" or "SAIFI" is the average frequency of Sustained Interruptions per customer over a predefined area.

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W. "Service Voltage" means the voltage at the point where the electrical system of the T&D Utility and electrical system of the Customer are connected.

X. "Temporary to Permanent Service (no line appointment needed)" means a field service that involves converting a temporary electrical service, typically used for construction, into a permanent service. This type of field service involves running a section of overhead secondary line to the customer's permanent service point and moving the meter from the temporary service point to the permanent service point. The calculation of target days (business days) for this metric begins when the Investor-Owned T&D Utility's planner orders the project to be released to the Investor-Owned T&D Utility's line department for completion.

Y. "Terms and Conditions" are the provisions filed by the public utility with the Commission which show the basis on which various utility services will be provided to Customers, or which in any manner affect the rates charged for any service. 35-A M.R.S.A. § 304 requires that public utility schedules which were formerly designated as "rules" shall be designated as "terms and conditions".

Z. "Transmission and Distribution Utility" or "T&D Utility" means a person, its lessees, trustees, receivers or trustees appointed by a court, owning, controlling, operating, or managing electric transmission and/or distribution plant for compensation within the State.

Notes

65-407 C.M.R. ch. 320, § 2