Iowa Administrative Code › Agency 199 - Utilities Division › Utilities and Transportation Divisions › Chapter 20 - Service Supplied by Rate-regulated Electric Utilities › Rule 199-20.18 - Service Reliability Requirements for Electric Utilities

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 3, July 24, 2024
(1)
Applicability.
This rule is applicable to investor-owned
				electric utilities and electric cooperative corporations and associations
				operating within the state of Iowa subject to Iowa Code chapter 476 and to the
				construction, operation, and maintenance of electric transmission lines by
				electric utilities as defined in subrule 20.18(4) to the extent provided in
				Iowa Code chapter 478.
(2)
Purpose and scope.
Reliable electric service is of high
				importance to the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of Iowa. The
				purpose of this rule is to establish requirements for assessing the reliability
				of the transmission and distribution systems and facilities that are under the
				board's jurisdiction. This rule establishes reporting requirements to provide
				consumers, the board, and electric utilities with methodology for monitoring
				reliability and ensuring quality of electric service within an electric
				utility's operating area. This rule provides definitions and requirements for
				maintenance of interruption data, retention of records, and report
				filing.
(3)
General
				obligations.
a. Each electric
				utility shall make reasonable efforts to avoid and prevent interruptions of
				service. However, when interruptions occur, service shall be reestablished
				within the shortest time practicable, consistent with safety.
b. The electric utility's electrical
				transmission and distribution facilities shall be designed, constructed,
				maintained, and electrically reinforced and supplemented as required to
				reliably perform the power delivery burden placed upon them in the storm and
				traffic hazard environment in which they are located.
c. Each electric utility shall carry on an
				effective preventive maintenance program and shall be capable of emergency
				repair work on a scale which its storm and traffic damage record indicates as
				appropriate to its scope of operations and to the physical condition of its
				transmission and distribution facilities.
d. In appraising the reliability of the
				electric utility's transmission and distribution system, the board will
				consider the condition of the physical property and the size, training,
				supervision, availability, equipment, and mobility of the maintenance forces,
				all as demonstrated in actual cases of storm and traffic damage to the
				facilities.
e. Each electric
				utility shall keep records of interruptions of service on its primary
				distribution system and shall make an analysis of the records for the purpose
				of determining steps to be taken to prevent recurrence of such
				interruptions.
f. Each electric
				utility shall make reasonable efforts to reduce the risk of future
				interruptions by taking into account the age, condition, design, and
				performance of transmission and distribution facilities and providing adequate
				investment in the maintenance, repair, replacement, and upgrade of facilities
				and equipment.
g. Any electric
				utility unable to comply with applicable provisions of this rule may file a
				waiver request pursuant to rule
				199-1.3 (17A,474,476).