Fremont Department of Utilities has received national recognition for achieving exceptional electric reliability in 2017. The recognition comes from the American Public Power Association (www.PublicPower.org), a trade group that represents more than 2,000 not-for-profit, community-owned electric utilities.
The Association helps members track outage and restoration data through its subscription-based eReliability Tracker service and then compares the data to national statistics tracked by the U.S. Energy Information Administration for all types of electric utilities.
Fremont has earned recognition for its outstandingly low System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI). SAIDI is defined as the average interruption duration (in minutes) for customers served by the utility system during a specific time period. SAIDI is calculated by dividing the sum of all customer interruption durations within the specified time frame by the average number of customers served during that period. For example, a utility with 100 customer minutes of outages and 100 customers would have a SAIDI of 1.
Fremont’s SAIDI is 10 minutes. The national average is 129 minutes. These numbers do not include major outages or scheduled events. Here is the best part; Fremont’s SAIDI, including major events and scheduled outages is 104 minutes, which is still well below the national average that doesn’t include major events.
“We are proud to receive this recognition. It is a testament to the hard work of all our staff to ensure that the lights stay on for all our customers” said Mike Royuk, Electric Distribution Superintendent. Royuk speaks highly of and gives credit to all of the staff involved; which not only includes the Linemen - who are on the forefront of all outages, but it also includes the tree crew, the metering and service staff, and the electrical engineering staff.
This is the first time Fremont has earned this type of recognition. Royuk also credits the implementation of consistent preventative maintenance on both above and below ground distribution systems in our community.
“This recognition helps demonstrate public power’s commitment to reliable electric service,”
said the Association’s Senior Vice President of Engineering Services, Michael Hyland.
Public power has a strong track record of reliability, said Hyland. Nationwide, the average public power customer has their lights out for less than half the time, compared to other types of utilities.