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Over the past year, utility managers across the nation have dealt with sky-high wholesale power costs, spiking natural gas prices and the safeguarding of infrastructure from terrorism. Now the economy is slumping, bringing more unemployment, less consumer confidence and other financial woes. With fewer people traveling, Florida has taken a hard punch. And no place is tied more closely to tourism than Orlando, the theme-park capital of the world. It is a town where one in four paychecks comes from the tourism industry. For the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC—The Reliable One), the changing economic landscape and increased emphasis on security have created new predicaments. But even as OUC tackles these new challenges, the city-owned utility is more focused than ever on its fundamental goal: providing the most reliable service possible. This is more than just a credo at OUC. It is a driving force behind everything the utility does. Established in 1923, OUC provides electric and water services to more than 168,000 customers in Orlando, St. Cloud and parts of unincorporated Orange and Osceola counties. For as long as anyone can remember, the utility’s cornerstones have been reliability, low rates and friendly customer service. But it was three unfortunate weather events — the Christmas freeze of 1989, the Storm of the Century in 1993 and Hurricane Erin in 1995 — that helped create what has become one of the strongest reputations of any electric utility in Florida. OUC responded quickly during these three events, and in their wake, became known in Central Florida as the utility that kept the power on, even when others couldn’t. If the lights did go out, OUC wasted no time getting them back on. Making A Bold Move OUC’s commitment to building a robust distribution system began paying real dividends. Customers were enjoying fewer outages. The Public Service Commission’s database, comparing the outage times of the state’s utilities, proved it. OUC’s record was unmatched. Then, in late 1997, OUC decided to lay claim to being Florida’s most reliable electric utility. It was a bold move that paid off almost immediately. The utility’s motto — The Reliable One — is certainly unambiguous. It has also become a source of intense pride for OUC’s nearly 1,000 employees. What’s more, market research shows that the Central Florida community is now keenly familiar with the utility’s brand name and readily associates the concept of reliability with OUC. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then OUC should be blushing. Last summer, OUC was approached by attorneys for Florida Power Corporation requesting reams of statistics on OUC’s electric system performance. In response to Florida Power’s public records request, OUC proposed that an independent third party examine the system records of both utilities. The offer was politely refused, and Florida Power representatives ultimately copied 2,359 pages of OUC records. An Orlando Sentinel editorial suggested that the investor-owned utility might learn a substantial amount by poring over OUC’s records. “Florida Power would do well to follow OUC’s lead on the service issue,” the editorial stated. Secrets to Success At OUC, the push for reliability starts at the top. General Manager and CEO Bob Haven constantly keeps tabs on the performance of the utility’s electric distribution system. In fact, he receives detailed reports on the system three times a day. Each report includes the number of power interruptions over the past eight-hour period, what time they occurred, their duration, their location and a host of other data. “Our sensitivity to system reliability goes all the way up to the CEO,” says Ken Ksionek, vice president of OUC’s Energy Delivery Business Unit. “That really sets the tone for all of us. When he cares, everybody cares.” Of course dozens of operational factors contribute to the reliability of OUC’s electric system. Chief among those factors is the system’s physical design. Most OUC circuits have static lines above the top conductor to protect the energized lines from lightning and tree limbs. While offering a significant level of protection, static lines do not prevent all trees and vegetation from wreaking havoc. That’s where OUC’s aggressive tree-trimming program plays an important role. The utility trims trees along its circuits on a four-year cycle, using tree-growth regulators and removing small, potentially troublesome “junk” trees. Historically in Orlando, trees and other vegetation have been the largest factor contributing to total system outage time. To mitigate this problem, OUC has doubled its funding of vegetation management programs over the past decade. In recognition of OUC’s success in managing vegetation while maintaining a beautiful tree canopy, the National Arbor Day Foundation has named OUC a Tree Line USA utility. More than 45 percent of OUC’s distribution lines are buried underground, which is the best way to prevent storm and vegetation outages. For added protection, the utility runs the underground circuits through PVC conduit. While this is more expensive than burying cables directly in the ground, it greatly reduces the time it takes to replace damaged underground cables. In addition, most of the utility’s power lines are oversized to provide the capacity to handle higher-than-anticipated demand without overloading. Improved Scheduling, Dedicated Employees OUC has radically changed the way it responds to outages in recent years. The utility now deploys multiple layers of response staff to expedite power restoration. Especially during the summer, when thunderstorms are common, OUC schedules a contingent of personnel whose shifts extend into the evening hours and who can be immediately redirected from performing routine work to resolve trouble calls. The utility also schedules trouble crews around the clock. This 24-hour coverage eliminates the delays associated with calling in personnel after an outage occurs. In addition, if a backlog of trouble calls should occur during workday hours, OUC construction crews provide assistance. “This spirit of cooperation further enhances our reliability,” Ksionek says. As a result, OUC has kept the average Orlando power outage below 45 minutes (SAIDI) over the past several months, even through the busy storm season. In Central Florida, afternoon thunderstorms set off by the clash of opposing sea breezes are as predictable as the summer day is long. But predicting the precise arrival of a storm isn’t easy. Fortunately, OUC dispatchers use Doppler radar to track approaching storms. If a severe storm is imminent, dispatchers will hold crews past their normal shift. And in the case of late afternoon or early evening storms, additional crews, service dispatchers and support staff are often called in, well before a storm arrives. Such proactive measures require additional manpower and result in overtime costs, but it’s a price OUC is willing to pay to shrink customer outage time. OUC believes the results justify the added costs, even if customers don’t always notice the difference. Among the other reasons for OUC’s dependability: The utility uses concrete instead of wooden poles, it replaces aging equipment before failures occur, and it always uses high-quality materials. “Above all, our talented and dedicated employees should take the credit for making us The Reliable One,” Ksionek says. Safety Plays Crucial Role Restoring power quickly is important, but the first priority for OUC crews is safety. The utility’s ability to field single-man trouble crews without compromising safety is a testimony to the high level of proficiency of the employees involved. It takes someone at least eight years to move from an apprentice to journeyman line technician at OUC. This is twice the industry norm. At OUC, line technicians are required to successfully complete more than 185 classroom training courses and 150 field skill assessments. The utility’s emphasis on training and safety allows the line technicians, in most cases, to work with energized equipment without interrupting service. “We spend a lot of time developing a top-quality workforce,” says Brad Chase, OUC’s director of operations. “By the time people get here (to operations) they know how to do their job safely and correctly.” OUC recently celebrated a historic milestone, completing more than 1 million work hours without an injury serious enough to require time away from the job. Tools Of The Trade In its quest to remain the most reliable utility in the state, OUC began installing an outage management system (OMS) three years ago. Now fully operational, the system can receive customer outage reports by phone and quickly assemble and link all the information that service dispatchers and field crews need to restore power quickly. Using caller ID, the OMS system can identify inbound customer calls, search its database and inform customers if their outage has already been reported. As the status changes, messages can be amended to inform the customer that the job has been assigned to a crew and even include an estimated time for restoration. The customers get the information they need quickly, increasing their satisfaction and freeing the lines for other customers. With the click of a mouse, service dispatchers can direct the system to call all customers affected by an outage to verify that power has been restored. The system is crucial to effectively managing the widespread outages caused by large storms. Gone are the stacks of orders handwritten by phone operators and manually sorted into piles for dispatching. The next phase of the project will include an interface with the System Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) computers. Once that connection is operating, large circuit outages will automatically be reported into the OMS, making the information instantly available to service personnel and ultimately to customers. In a related matter, OUC trouble trucks are being equipped with special laptop computers to provide personnel with mobile data and in-vehicle mapping capability. The onboard system uploads new and updated information through a wireless connection. In 2003, OUC will begin providing mobile dispatching from the OMS system to the laptops in the trouble trucks. Tale Of Two Cities In May 1997, OUC began providing electric service to St. Cloud, a city of 19,000 residents just southeast of Orlando. Since then, the reliability of St. Cloud’s system has been improved dramatically, while rates have dropped. “We are especially proud of what we have been able to accomplish in St. Cloud,” Ksionek says. OUC’s relationship with St. Cloud actually began in 1996, when the pair formed a “power partnership” and OUC became the city’s all-requirements provider. At the time, the St. Cloud area was struggling to keep up with annual population growth of 8 percent to 9 percent. The burgeoning growth demanded new substations and transmission lines, adding to the already high cost of providing service to a largely rural customer base. As a result, St. Cloud customers were paying some of the highest electric rates in the state. And the system — with 90 percent of its lines overhead — was under pressure to improve reliability. With their partnership in place, OUC was able to help the city of St. Cloud offer residents immediate rate relief. But power outages were still averaging more than 140 minutes per year, per customer. Meanwhile, next door, OUC customers were enjoying an average of less than 50 minutes per year. The partnership was expanded to include an inter-local cooperation agreement calling for OUC to take over complete operation of St. Cloud’s electric system. Focusing On The Five Rs The new agreement was carefully structured to address five important criteria that St. Cloud had established: rates, reliability, return on investment, retention of employees and representation. Byron Knibbs was St. Cloud’s utility manager at the time the agreement was signed. He recalls that St. Cloud looked at several options before choosing OUC, but it was the underlying “trust factor” that sealed the deal. “St. Cloud and OUC have the same values,” said Knibbs, now director of OUC’s commercial lighting program, OUConvenient Lighting. “Regardless of the size of the muni, its purpose is to serve citizens.” Since May 1997, electric rates that were 14 percent to 45 percent higher than comparable OUC rates are now only 5.5 percent higher, and they will drop another 1.5 percent over the next three years. St. Cloud customers have also seen their average outage time drop to as low as 59 minutes since the agreement went into effect. In addition, OUC has returned a total of $19.5 million in system-use and revenue-based payments to the city of St. Cloud. Significant capital improvements have also been made, including the construction of a $10.5 million transmission line and millions of dollars worth of other system improvements. Word Is Spreading OUC’s reliability is drawing the attention of neighboring Central Florida municipalities. Several cities have approached OUC for advice on how to improve their own electric reliability. Others, such as the city of Winter Park, have even floated the idea of OUC taking control of their community’s electric system. In the case of Winter Park, the city is already pursuing the process of municipalizing its system and has a service proposal from OUC on the table. Whatever the future holds for OUC, the utility’s philosophy — reliability equals success — will remain the same. OUC’s unwavering commitment is clearly evident in the attitude and work ethic of employees. “Reliability is everything to us,” says Chase, the director of operations at OUC. “The Reliable One — it’s not just a phrase on our shirts and business cards.”
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Orlando: Where Reliability Is King
Complete OUC Article from Relay Magazine
