New Jersey Administrative Code › Title 14 - PUBLIC UTILITIES › Chapter 5 - ELECTRIC SERVICE › Subchapter 1 - SCOPE AND APPLICABILITY › Section 14:5-1.2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 14, July 15, 2024
For the purposes of this chapter, the following words and
				  terms shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
				  otherwise. Additional definitions that apply to this chapter can be found at
				  N.J.A.C.
				  14:3-1.1.
"Agricultural crop" means a plant that is grown in
				  significant quantities to be harvested as food, livestock fodder, or for
				  another economic purpose. This term includes, but is not limited to, landscape
				  nursery stock and Christmas tree plantation stock.
"AMI" means advanced metering infrastructure, which is an
				  integrated system of smart meters, communications networks, and data management
				  systems that enables two-way communication between utilities and customers'
				  meters.
"Annual System Performance Report" or "Annual Report" means
				  an annual report containing the information requested in
				  N.J.A.C.
				  14:5-8.8. This report is to be submitted to
				  the Board by May 31 of each year.
"ANSI" means the American National Standards Institute. ANSI
				  codes and documents may be obtained at
www.ansi.org
.
"Arboriculture" means the cultivation of trees, shrubs, and
				  other woody plants.
"Assisted living facility" means an assisted living residence
				  or comprehensive personal care home licensed pursuant to
				  N.J.S.A.
				  26:2H-1 et seq.
"Benchmark" means the previous five-year average of CAIDI and
				  SAIFI or a value determined by the Board.
"Board" means the New Jersey Board of Public
				  Utilities.
"Border zone" means the space from the edge of the
				  transmission line wire zone to the outer boundary of the right of way.
"Contractor" means a person or entity, other than the Board,
				  with which a utility contracts to perform work, furnish information, or provide
				  material. This term includes all subcontractors engaged by a contractor to
				  perform any of the obligations required by a contract.
"Corrective action" means the maintenance, repair, or
				  replacement of EDC or utility system components and structures to allow them to
				  function with the proper degree of reliability.
"Customer Average Interruption Duration Index (CAIDI)"
				  represents the average time in minutes required to restore service to those
				  customers that experienced sustained interruptions during the reporting period.
				  CAIDI is defined as follows:
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"Danger tree" is any tree on or off the right of way that
				  could contact electric supply lines if it were to fall.
"Distribution circuit" means a three phase set of conductors
				  emanating from a substation circuit breaker serving customers in a defined
				  local distribution area. This includes three phase, two phase and single phase
				  branches.
"Distribution line" means a primary electric voltage line,
				  wire, or cable operating at greater than 600 volts, including supporting
				  structures and appurtenant facilities that would not be considered a
				  transmission line.
"Electric distribution company" or "EDC" means a company that
				  has an electric distribution system and meets the definition of a public
				  utility at
				  N.J.S.A.
				  48:2-13.
"Electric distribution system" means that portion of an
				  electric system which delivers electric energy from transformation points on
				  the transmission system to points of connection at the customers'
				  premises.
"Electric overhead transmission corridor" refers to the
				  expanse of land over which electric transmission lines are located. The
				  corridor may be comprised of multiple electric utility rights-of-way and/or
				  circuits. The EDC may own the land in fee, have a leasehold interest, own an
				  easement, or have certain franchise, prescription, or license rights to
				  construct and maintain the lines with respect to such land.
"Electric utility arborist" means a person engaged in the
				  profession of electric utility vegetation management who, through appropriate
				  certifications, experience, education, and related training, possesses the
				  competence to provide for or supervise, an EDCs integrated vegetation
				  management program. The person, at a minimum, must be certified as a Utility
				  Specialist by the International Society of Arboriculture and also as a Certifed
				  Arborist by the International Society of Arboriculture.
"Energized conductor" means an electric circuit or piece of
				  equipment through which electricity is flowing or usually flows. This term
				  includes both distribution and transmission circuits and equipment.
"Full-time equivalent" (FTE) means a unit that indicates the
				  workload of an employed person in a way that makes workloads comparable across
				  various contexts. An FTE of 1.0 is equivalent to a full-time worker, while an
				  FTE of 0.5 signals half of a full workload.
"Grass" means a type of plant with jointed stems, slender
				  flat leaves, and spike-like flowers.
"Hazard tree" is a structurally unsound tree on or off the
				  right of way that could strike electric supply lines when it fails. Structural
				  unsoundness distinguishes a hazard tree from a danger tree, such that while all
				  hazard trees are danger trees, not all danger trees are hazard trees.
"Hospital" means hospital licensed pursuant to
				  N.J.S.A.
				  26:2H-1 et seq.
"IEEE" means a professional association for the advancement
				  of technology, which was originally named the Institute of Electrical and
				  Electronic Engineers. The IEEE is located at 445 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, NJ
				  08854. Further information can be obtained on the IEEE website at
http://www.ieee.org
.
"Inactive transmission line corridor" means that unused
				  segment of the right of way that does not have transmission towers or
				  transmission lines overhead.
"Integrated vegetation management" or "IVM" means a system of
				  managing plant communities whereby vegetation managers set objectives, identify
				  compatible and incompatible vegetation, consider action thresholds, and
				  evaluate, select, and implement the most appropriate vegetation control
				  method(s) to achieve those objectives, based on the methods' environmental
				  impact and anticipated effectiveness, along with site characteristics,
				  security, economics, current land use, and other factors.
"Interrupting device" means a device capable of being
				  reclosed whose purpose includes interrupting fault currents, isolating faulted
				  components, disconnecting loads and restoring service. These devices can be
				  manual, automatic, or motor operated. Examples include transmission and
				  distribution breakers, line reclosers, motor operated switches, fuses or other
				  devices.
"Interruption" means the loss of electric service to one or
				  more customers. It is the result of one or more component outages, depending on
				  system configuration as well as other events. See "outage" and "major event."
				  The types of interruption include momentary event, sustained and
				  scheduled.
"Interruption, duration" means the period (measured in
				  minutes, hours, or days) from the initiation of an interruption of electric
				  service to a customer until such service has been restored to that customer. An
				  interruption may require step-restoration tracking to provide reliable index
				  calculations.
"Interruption, extended" means an interruption of electric
				  service to one or more customers for a period of at least 24 hours.
"Interruption, momentary event" means an interruption of
				  electric service to one or more customers of duration limited to the period
				  required to restore service by an interrupting device. Such switching
				  operations by interrupting devices must be completed in a specified time not to
				  exceed five minutes. This definition includes all reclosing operations which
				  occur within five minutes of the first interruption. For example, if a recloser
				  or breaker operates two, three, or four times and then holds within five
				  minutes, the event shall be considered one momentary event interruption.
"Interruption, scheduled" means an interruption of electric
				  power service that results when one or more components are deliberately taken
				  out of service at a selected time, usually for the purposes of preventative
				  maintenance, repair, construction, the preservation of the system or supply
				  interruptions due to the scheduled unavailability of transmission import
				  capability.
1. This interruption
				derives from transmission and distribution applications and does not apply to
				generation interruptions.
2. The
				key test to determine if the loss of electric service should be classified as a
				scheduled interruption is as follows: If it is possible to defer the
				interruption when such deferment is desirable, the interruption is a scheduled
				interruption. Deferring an interruption may be desirable, for example, to
				prevent overload of facilities or interruption of service to customers.
				Scheduled interruptions shall not be included in the CAIDI and SAIFI
				calculations.
"Interruption, sustained" means an interruption of electric
				  service to one or more customers that is not classified as a momentary event
				  interruption and which is longer than five minutes in duration.
"Interruption, unscheduled" means any interruption of
				  electric service that is not an "interruption, scheduled."
"Lock out zone" refers to the portion of the EDC's
				  distribution circuit, which begins at the substation or switching station and
				  continues to the first protective device.
"Major event" means any of the following:
1. A sustained interruption of electric
				service resulting from conditions beyond the control of the EDC, which may
				include, but is not limited to, thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes, heat
				waves, or snow and ice storms, which affect at least 10 percent of the
				customers in an operating area within a 48-hour period. Exceeding this time
				period shall be justified in the Major Event Report. Due to an EDC's
				documentable need to allocate field resources to restore service to affected
				areas when one operating area experiences a major event, the major event shall
				be deemed to extend to those other operating areas of that EDC, which are
				providing assistance to the affected areas. The duration of the major event
				shall be limited to the conditions initiating the event and conclude when the
				final customer outage is restored from the initiating event. The Board retains
				authority to examine the characterization of a major event;
2. An unscheduled interruption of electric
				service resulting from an action:
i. Taken by
				an EDC under the direction of an Independent System Operator;
ii. Taken by the EDC to prevent an
				uncontrolled or cascading interruption of electric service; or
iii. Taken by the EDC to maintain the
				adequacy and security of the electric system, including emergency load control,
				emergency switching and energy conservation procedures, which affects one or
				more customers;