An Outage Management System (OMS) is a software application designed to improve the electricity restoration process during emer- gencies. An OMS integrates data that often exists in separate systems or components: (1) a Customer Information System (CIS), (2) SCADA, (3) an Interactive Voice Response system (IVR / trouble call system), and a Geographic Information System (GIS) or net- work map. The core of a modern OMS is a detailed network model of the distribution sys- tem. By combining the locations of outage calls from customers, a rules engine is used to predict the locations of outages. For in- stance, since the distribution system is pri- marily tree-like or radial in design, all calls in a particular area downstream of a fuse could be inferred to be caused by a single fuse or circuit breaker upstream of the calls.
Gartner, Inc., an information technology re- search and advisory company, offers the fol- lowing description of the advantages of using an OMS:
OMSs provide timely, accurate customer and distribution network-specific outage information to help utilities be more respon- sive to unplanned network outages. OMSs track, group and display outages; track crew assignments to the outages; and monitor the state of the restoration activities to safely and efficiently manage emer- gency-related work. In addition, they pro- vide relevant information to stakeholders (such as utility personnel, consumers, me- dia and regulators) on the state of the resto- ration process. OMSs tightly integrate with call centers to receive trouble calls and pro- vide customer-specific network status, in- cluding the estimated restoration time. Based on a network connectivity model and trouble call patterns, OMSs identify the likely location of the faults, eliminating the costly and time-consuming "bird dogging" to find the outage. OMSs also integrate with SCADA systems for real-time network status to analyze the downstream impact of SCADA-reported switching actions. OMSs are also commonly used for historical out- age reporting and automated calculation of reliability indexes, such as the system aver- age interruption duration index (SAIDI) and system average interruption frequency in- dex (SAIFI), based on time-stamped net- work switching operations, as well as cus- tomer-related interruption indexes such as the customer average interruption duration index (CAIDI).
All four transmission and distribution investor- owned utilities use “leading edge” software. Duke Kentucky purchased its first OMS in 1998; Kentucky Power implemented its sys- tem in 2002, KU in 2003, and LG&E in 2004. All four evaluated the performance of their OMSs positively during the 2009 ice storm. Kentucky Power’s OMS did “a good job in helping dispatchers track the life cycle of out- ages from the prediction of outage location,
through the assignment of crews, to the res- toration of the outage.” Duke Kentucky said that its OMS was “very effective” and was “a critical part of our service restoration efforts.” LG&E and KU said that their OMS,
“performed extremely well in this event de- spite the magnitude of the storm,” which was particulary severe in the KU service area in western Kentucky.
The two transmission cooperatives, EKPC and BREC, do not use a commercially avail- able OMS because OMSs are primarily de- signed for distribution systems. EKPC said that, “simple spreadsheets developed at the time proved adequate to keep track of trans- mission lines and distribution substations that were out of service.” However, the two trans- mission cooperatives have SCADA systems that provide real-time data on the status of substations and the grid which allow them to identify and locate outage problems immedi- ately when they happen.
Half of the electric distribution cooperatives use an OMS. Two of the three distribution cooperative members of BREC and seven of EKPC’s sixteen distribution cooperatives use an OMS. Bluegrass Energy, Clark Energy, Jackson Energy, and Owen Electric use Mil- soft DisSPatch; Jackson Purchase Energy, Kenergy, and South Kentucky RECC use Trimble UtilityCenter, Nolin RECC uses Na- tional Information Solutions Cooperative (“NISC”) iVue Visual Utility OMS, and Salt River Electric uses software developed in house in conjunction with Partner Map view- ing software. Meade County RECC, Big Sandy RECC, Cumberland Valley Energy, Farmers RECC, Fleming-Mason Energy, Grayson RECC, Inter-County Energy, Licking Valley RECC, Shelby Energy, and Taylor County RECC did not use OMS during the ice storm. Farmers RECC has budgeted for an OMS system to be installed in 2010.
The software used by the electric distribution cooperatives is developed and priced for the “niche market” of small utilities, as distinct from the software used by the large investor-
owned utilities.
The Commission asked electric utilities to evaluate the performance of their OMSs dur- ing the ice storm. The reports on the perform- ance of OMSs should not be used to com- pare software packages, since not all of the products were used in areas with extreme outages. The information should be used by current OMS users to test and evaluate their systems, and by prospective users to pose intelligent questions to vendors.
Three electric cooperatives which used OMS - Jackson Purchase Energy, Kenergy, and Nolin RECC - are in the western portion of the state that was the most severely impacted by the 2009 ice storm. This large outage situation was an extreme test of the software, as well as the staff entering and utilizing the information. All three cooperatives reported some problems. Jackson Purchase Energy purchased its software in 2003, Kenergy in 2006, and Nolin RECC in 2005, so there was adequate time to install, convert or develop a network model, train personnel, test, and use the OMS.
Jackson Purchase Energy (using Trimble software) reported that its OMS did not per- form adequately. “Due to the extensive dam- age on our system, we cut a lot of new open points into lines to allow for back-feeding and faster restoration of small line sections. Our OMS did not provide an efficient method to add open points or backfeed sections of line. Therefore, we were not able to utilize this software effectively during this event and were not able to keep accurate records of customer outages.”
Kenergy (using Trimble software) reported that its OMS performed as expected. Prob- lems Kenergy previously identified with the Trimble Build 83 did reoccur during this storm. However, Kenergy is in the process of installing a new Trimble Build for the GIS and the OMS. The new system should help elimi- nate problems that occur on a regular basis when a large outage situation is encountered. Despite some problems, Kenergy recognized
the value of using its OMS in the restoration process: “The OMS Build 83 that Kenergy is currently using provided superior results over using ‘paper outages’ as in the past. With the OMS, all circuits were easily tracked and crew assignments were readily available with just a quick glance from the System Control- lers. The process of predicting outages and restoring outages is far superior to any other method that has been used in the past. With the OMS, the largest number of customers affected by an outage can be readily de- tected. This allows crews to be assigned where the most customers are without power. The record keeping process is more easily accomplished than when ‘paper outage tick- ets’ were used. This allows the System Con- troller to be much more effective in keeping the restoration process on track and flowing as efficiently as possible.”
Nolin (using NICS software) reported that its OMS server had to be restarted two times during the first 72 hours of the 2009 Ice Storm. It is Nolin’s opinion that the database connection between the OMS server and the CIS server did not handle the volume of out- ages as it should have. Steps have been im- plemented by software vendors to ensure that the connection will not be overwhelmed in the future: however, live testing has not occurred. Four rural electric utilities in the north-central and northeastern part of Kentucky had signifi- cant outages due to ice. Salt River RECC said that their in-house OMS was invaluable during restoration efforts. Blue Grass Energy, Clark Energy, and Owen RECC purchased and implemented Milsoft software after the 2003 ice storm. All three utilities had very positive reports on the performance of their software:
Blue Grass Energy: The system per- formed exceptionally. It was valuable in showing the extent of the situation. It al- lowed us to deploy additional resources in a safe and effective manner.
Clark Energy: As information is entered into the OTRS by dispatchers or the IVR (integrated voice response) computer via direct phone contact the software high- lights special needs members and critical infrastructure while making predictions of what areas are affected and whether they are a part of a big outage or an individual. This allows dispatchers to concentrate on the placement of manpower and equip- ment to restore service in an orderly man- ner rather than sort through piles of paper tickets that must be grouped and identi- fied. Outages are tracked and restoration time recorded in real time rather than after the fact. In terms of decreasing service restoration time and increasing crew safety by being able to track the crews by outage location, this could be the single most important software tool in our arse- nal.
Owen Electric: Our OMS system is a criti- cal system allowing for efficient and cen- tralized information collection and during this outage it performed exceptionally well. We work very closely with our ven- dor to ensure that any problems identified with the software are quickly resolved when they do occur.
Based on the information gathered from utilities, the Commission recommends that every jurisdictional electric utility ac- quire an OMS. These systems provide util- ity management with an immediate overall display of the location of outages, as op- posed to the traditional, time-consuming method of using paper maps to locate out- ages. This, in turn, allows quicker and more efficient deployment of restoration crews and resources. OMS does the work that used to require many utility personnel to accomplish, thus freeing those person- nel to assist in the restoration and repair of the distribution systems.
For utilities with an OMS systems, the Commission recommends that the outage management system electrical model be kept current so that it can accurately make outage predictions and also accurately keep track of which customers are out and which are restored.