2013 Maryland Code
PUBLIC UTILITIES
§ 7-213 - Service quality and reliability.

§7-213.

(a) (1) In this section the following words have the meanings indicated.

(2) “System-average interruption duration index” or “SAIDI” means the sum of the customer interruption hours divided by the total number of customers served.

(3) “System-average interruption frequency index” or “SAIFI” means the sum of the number of customer interruptions divided by the total number of customers served.

(b) It is the goal of the State that each electric company provide its customers with high levels of service quality and reliability in a cost-effective manner, as measured by objective and verifiable standards, and that each electric company be held accountable if it fails to deliver reliable service according to those standards.

(c) This section does not apply to small rural electric cooperatives or municipal electric companies.

(d) On or before July 1, 2012, the Commission shall adopt regulations that implement service quality and reliability standards relating to the delivery of electricity to retail customers by electric companies through their distribution systems, using:

(1) SAIFI;

(2) SAIDI; and

(3) any other performance measurement that the Commission determines to be reasonable.

(e) (1) The regulations adopted under subsection (d) of this section shall:

(i) include service quality and reliability standards, including standards relating to:

1. service interruption;

2. downed wire response;

3. customer communications;

4. vegetation management;

5. periodic equipment inspections;

6. annual reliability reporting; and

7. any other standards established by the Commission;

(ii) account for major outages caused by events outside the control of an electric company; and

(iii) for an electric company that fails to meet the applicable service quality and reliability standards, require the company to file a corrective action plan that details specific actions the company will take to meet the standards.

(2) The regulations adopted under subsection (d) of this section may include a separate reliability standard for each electric company in order to account for system reliability differentiating factors, including:

(i) system design;

(ii) existing infrastructure;

(iii) customer density; and

(iv) geography.

(3) In adopting the regulations required under subsection (d) of this section, the Commission shall:

(i) consider applicable standards of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers;

(ii) ensure that the service quality and reliability standards are cost-effective; and

(iii) with respect to standards relating to vegetation management, consider:

1. limitations on an electric company’s right to access private property; and

2. customer acceptance of vegetation management initiatives.

(f) (1) On or before September 1, 2013, and September 1 of each year thereafter, the Commission shall determine whether each electric company has met the service quality and reliability standards adopted by the Commission for that electric company under subsection (d) of this section.

(2) (i) This paragraph does not apply to electric cooperatives.

(ii) The Commission shall take appropriate corrective action against an electric company that fails to meet any or all of the applicable service quality and reliability standards, including the imposition of appropriate civil penalties for noncompliance as provided in § 13-201 of this article.

(iii) An electric company may not recover the cost of any civil penalty paid under this section from ratepayers.

(g) (1) On or before April 1 of each year, each electric company shall submit to the Commission an annual performance report that summarizes the actual electric service reliability results for the preceding year.

(2) The annual performance report shall include:

(i) the electric company’s average 3-year performance results;

(ii) actual year-end performance measure results;

(iii) an assessment of the results and effectiveness of the reliability objectives, planned actions and projects, programs, and load studies in achieving an acceptable reliability level; and

(iv) annual information that the Commission determines necessary to assess the electric company’s efforts to maintain reliable electric service to all customers in the electric company’s service territory, including:

1. current year expenditures, labor resource hours, and progress measures for each capital and maintenance program designed to support the maintenance of reliable electric service;

2. the number of outages by outage type;

3. the number of outages by outage cause;

4. the total number of customers that experienced an outage;

5. the total customer minutes of outage time; and

6. to the extent practicable, a breakdown, by the number of days each customer was without electric service, of the number of customers that experienced an outage.

(3) At the request of an electric company, the Commission shall hold a hearing to discuss the annual performance report of the electric company.

(h) This section may not be construed to limit the Commission’s authority to adopt and enforce engineering and safety standards for electric companies.