The Grand Haven Board of Light & Power presented the 2022 distribution system reliability indices during the Board of Directors meeting on March 16, 2023. The Distribution Reliability Report provides insight into many areas of utility operations, including outage tracking, restoration, and overall system reliability. In all areas, the Grand Haven Board of Light & Power is performing significantly better than both state and national averages.
“The BLP has, over the past seven years, invested a considerable amount of money in both our transmission and distribution systems including improving our vegetation management program. The annual reports let us know the return on these improvements for the benefit of our customers,” said Chairperson Mike Westbrook.
Robert Shelley, distribution & engineering manager, updated the Board on the status of the electrical system’s overall health and reliability. Shelley informed the Board of Directors that electric utilities use three common statistics in measuring distribution system reliability: SAIDI, SAIFI, and CAIDI.
System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI) represents the total length of time an average customer experiences a non-momentary power interruption during the year. For SAIDI, the BLP’s system average outage duration is 2.75 hours, which is well below the national average of 7.93 hours and also significantly less than the state average of 14.85 hours.
System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI) measures the frequency of interruptions. The BLP’s reported frequency of interruption index of 1.38 is lower than the national average of 1.44 and also lower than the state average of 1.65.
Customer Average Interruption Duration Index (CAIDI) represents the average restoration time to restore electrical service to the average customer. The BLP’s reported restoration time of 1.99 hours is much less than the national average of 5.52 hours and also significantly less than the state average of 9.01 hours.
Shelley informed the Board that it has taken careful planning and engineering to help us achieve these results, but it is also a direct reflection on the dedicated employees of the utility.
Shelley stated, “Our linemen routinely get feedback from our customers about how grateful they are to be a BLP customer and that they appreciate how quickly outages are restored. While we appreciate the hard work and quick response time of our linemen, we also are fortunate to have an in-house tree crew that works in conjunction with our outside contractors to maintain proper clearance on our electrical lines.”
Shelley also reported that BLP customers experienced no significant outages during February’s ice storm that blew through Michigan knocking trees and limbs down and cutting power to 700,000 homes and businesses in other service territories.
“Our customers rely on the life-essential service the BLP provides. We are fortunate to own our municipal electric system and these reliability numbers are proof,” said Vice Chairperson Gerry Witherell.
The Grand Haven Board of Light and Power serves approximately 15,000 customers in the City of Grand Haven, the City of Ferrysburg, Grand Haven, Spring Lake, and Robinson Townships.
