Distribution Reliability Fundamentals

April 1, 2025 | Online :: Central Time

0425-distribution-reliability

“Mike was great—easy to listen to.” – NETL

“Mike is highly knowledgeable about electric utilities and did a great job talking about reliability.  Really appreciated his slides and knowledge.“ – Michigan Public Service Commission

The Distribution Reliability Fundamentals course offers a foundational understanding of the electric utility system, covering the essential components of generation, transmission, and distribution, and setting the stage for a deeper dive into reliability and resiliency. Attendees will learn about the distribution system’s critical parts, where responsibility shifts from the utility to the customer, and the common causes of outages, equipping them to identify and address vulnerabilities. Additionally, the course covers utility response to outages and key performance metrics, including IEEE standards, which provide a framework for assessing and improving reliability.

This program will also examine broader industry trends, analyzing national, regional, and state-level performance to gain insights into current challenges and how they affect customer satisfaction. It emphasizes not only the importance of reliability but also strategies for building resiliency, which are essential as utility infrastructure faces increased demand and environmental pressures. Professionals will leave with actionable strategies for improving outage response, understanding customer impacts, and asking critical questions when reliability is at stake, ensuring they are well-prepared to support both utility operations and customer needs.

Learning Outcomes  

• Review the basic components and functions of the utility systems, including generation, transmission, and distribution
• Identify key components of the distribution system and define the demarcation line between utility and customer responsibilities
• Analyze common causes of power outages and the processes utilities use to respond and measure performance
• Differentiate between reliability and resiliency, including the methodologies for measuring each
• Examine national trends in utility performance and understand the variation across different regions
• Identify strategies for improving utility response and performance, including recent updates to performance standards like IEEE 1366 and 1782
• Assess the impact of power outages on customers, including critical infrastructure, and explore tools like the ICE Calculator for impact estimation

Tuesday, April 1, 2025 : Central Time

 

Utility & Distribution Grid Fundamentals

• Set a baseline of the generation, transmission, and distribution systems
  • High level of generation reliability
  • High level of transmission reliability
• Components of the distribution system
• Where is the demarcation line between utility and customer responsibility?

Anatomy of An Outage

• What causes an outage?
• How does the utility respond?
• How does the utility measure performance?
  • IEEE 1366 and 1782

Distribution Reliability vs. Resiliency

• Formal definitions
• How to measure resiliency

National Trends in Distribution Reliability

• Negative trends across categories
• National, regional, and state performance

Improving Performance

• Addressing the cause of outages
• Improving how a utility responds
• New measures of performance
  • 2022 updates to IEEE 1366 and 1782

Impacts to Customers

• Impacts to operations
• Critical infrastructure
• ICE Calculator

Questions to Ask If You’re the Customer

• Your lights are out
  • Report outages with good information
• You have persistent outages
• Power quality
• Locating a new facility for high reliability

Mike Herzog, Resilient Electric Analytics, LLC

Mike Herzog, PE has almost 20 years of experience in the electric utility industry working from the utility and consultant perspective. He received his bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and MBA from Creighton University. He is professionally licensed. His experience has touched on many areas from system planning and design, operations support, and supporting customer experience.

We will be using Microsoft Teams to facilitate your participation in the upcoming event. You do not need to have an existing Teams account in order to participate in the broadcast – the course will play in your browser and you will have the option of using a microphone to speak with the room and ask questions, or type any questions in via the chat window and our on-site representative will relay your question to the instructor.

• Microsoft recommends downloading and installing the Teams app if possible. You may also use the Edge browser or Chrome.
• You will receive a separate email with a unique link to a personalized landing page which will include links to join all sessions of this event.
• If you are using a microphone, please ensure that it is muted until such time as you need to ask a question.
• The remote meeting connection will be open approximately 30 minutes before the start of the course. We encourage you to connect as early as possible in case you experience any unforeseen problems.

Please Note: This event is being conducted entirely online. All attendees will connect and attend from their computer, one connection per purchase. For details please see our FAQ

If you are unable to attend at the scheduled date and time, we make recordings available to all attendees for 7 days after the event

REGISTER NOW FOR THIS EVENT:

Distribution Reliability Fundamentals

April 1, 2025 | Online

Your registration may be transferred to a member of your organization up to 24 hours in advance of the event. Cancellations must be received on or before March 01, 2025 in order to be refunded and will be subject to a US $195.00 processing fee per registrant. No refunds will be made after this date. Cancellations received after this date will create a credit of the tuition (less processing fee) good toward any other EUCI event. This credit will be good for six months from the cancellation date. In the event of non-attendance, all registration fees will be forfeited. In case of conference cancellation, EUCIs liability is limited to refund of the event registration fee only. For more information regarding administrative policies, such as complaints and refunds, please contact our offices at 303-770-8800

Credits

EUCI is accredited by the International Accreditors for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) and offers IACET CEUs for its learning events that comply with the ANSI/IACET Continuing Education and Training Standard. IACET is recognized internationally as a standard development organization and accrediting body that promotes quality of continuing education and training.

EUCI is authorized by IACET to offer 0.7 CEUs for this event

Requirements for Successful Completion of Program

Participants must log in and be in attendance for the entirety of the course to be eligible for continuing education credit.

Instructional Methods

PowerPoint presentations, group discussions, and active participation.

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Upon successful completion of this event, program participants interested in receiving CPE credits will receive a certificate of completion.

Course CPE Credits: 8.0
There is no prerequisite for this Course.
Program field of study: Specialized Knowledge
Program Level: Basic
Delivery Method: Group Internet Based
Advanced Preparation: None

EUCI is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its web site: www.nasbaregistry.org

 

Who Should Attend

• Operations and Maintenance Managers responsible for system performance and outage response
• Distribution Engineers and Technicians involved in the planning, maintenance, and troubleshooting of distribution systems
• Reliability and Resiliency Analysts focused on measuring and improving system reliability and resiliency
• Grid Operators responsible for real-time system management and outage coordination
• Utility Planners and Forecasters tasked with long-term planning and performance forecasting
• Energy Policy and Regulatory Affairs Professionals involved in compliance with national standards and performance reporting