S&C Electric Company: Moving Beyond Average Reliability Metrics

Join us for S&C’s 2-part webinar series.

Reliability matters to all stakeholders. While the most used metrics for reliability have changed relatively little since the 1970s, technology and customers’ use of electricity is evolving, placing ever-growing importance on electricity distribution reliability. There is often a disconnect between the average systemwide performance metrics such as SAIFI SAIDI and MAIFI and the performance experienced by individual customers.

This presentation lays out S&C’s conclusions that a broader suite of reliability metrics should be used, placing more weight on customer-centric metrics, some of which will be familiar, and some that deserve more attention. Looking to the future, as we transition toward an energy system with integration of much greater volumes of distributed generation and the electrification of transportation, distribution system stability metrics will likely become useful.

Speakers

Ash Gupta | Senior Consultant Consulting & Analytical Services Asia Pacific | S&C Electric Company

Ash has more than 9 years of power industry experience and is responsible for performing analytical studies and providing consulting support to network service providers and project developers in the areas of grid modernisation network performance planning network protection and generator interconnection. He has extensive experience in modelling HV and LV networks and analysing network loading reliability operating parameters fault levels and other technical characteristics. He has performed many types of power system feasibility studies and business case development for reliability improvement and bushfire mitigation. Ash holds a Master of Philosophy – Electrical from The University of Melbourne and a Bachelor of Engineering – Electrical from RMIT University.

Chris Watts | Director-Regulatory Affairs | S&C Electric Company

Chris Watts is responsible for S&C’s Regulatory Team tracking and analys¬ing trends in electricity policy. He has 22 years of energy regulation and policy experience. He joined S&C from Ofgem the British energy regulator where he worked on a range of network and energy regulatory arrangements including the development of Ofgem’s Interruption In¬centive Scheme and its Revenue = Innovation + Incentive + Outputs (RIIO) price-control framework. As part of the RIIO team Chris developed and imple¬mented Ofgem’s approach to cost assessment and led work on the development on a range of outputs and incentives. Chris earned a Ph.D. in Economics at Southampton University focusing on energy network regulation. 

Grant McEachran | Regulatory Affairs Director | S&C Electric Company

Grant McEachran has 23 years’ experience in the energy industry, most of which has been as a senior economist for energy regulator Ofgem in Great Britain. During his time in Ofgem, Grant led a range of policy areas including charging policy, developing smarter market arrangements and in developing and implementing several of the key components of the current network revenue setting process – Revenue = Innovation + Incentive + Outputs (RIIO). Grant also previously worked as an Economist for the Commerce Commission in New Zealand with a primary focus on setting price paths for the Electricity Distribution Businesses.