Planned outages and forced outages keeping customer informed; Responding to customer at complaints; Fault location; Dispatch of line repair crews; Implementing clearance procedures; Records and documentation.

After completion of this module and associated workbook, the participant should be able to understand the following concepts and apply them in day-to-day work activities.

• Specific operating conditions which are considered to be abnormal
• Established voltage tolerance at customers’ service entrances
• Voltage control equipment
• Causes of low voltage
• The effect of increased voltage drop with increase in customer demand over time
• Available changes in equipment installation to accommodate increase in load demand
• Causes of high voltage, and corrective actions available to the operator
• The capability of certain equipment to operate under overload conditions (say 50%)
• The effect of overloading on equipment life expectancy
• Transformer loading guide
• The effect of pre-load magnitude and ambient temperature on overload consequences
• The need to maintain updated records on the status of each substation transformer
• The need for operating guidelines specifying acceptable transformer overload practices
• Overloading step voltage regulators
• Equipment that cannot tolerate overload above continuous rated capacity, i.e. switchgear, cables, overhead conductors
• Operating conditions which result in the need to reduce customers’ load demand (load shedding)
• System control of generation/load demand balance
• The effect and consequences of falling frequency
• Controlled voltage reduction by adjustment of distribution substation transformer on-load tap changers
• The effect on load demand of voltage reduction
• Disconnecting “interruptible” customer loads
• Disconnecting primary feeders on a rotating basis, i.e. rolling black-outs
• Exclusions from load shedding schedules, i.e. critical feeders and secondary distribution networks
• Automatic load shedding by low frequency relays
• The need for load shedding as a result of loss of transmission or sub-transmission capacity
• The objectives of “load management” as distinct from load shedding
• Manipulating the customer’s load to reduce peaks and fill in the valleys on the daily load curve
• Customer incentives to facilitate load management
• Automatic timer switching of selected loads
• Remote switching of selected loads by the distribution operator
• Automatic remote switching

After completion of this module, the participants should be able to understand the following concepts and apply them in day-to-day work practice.

• Operating the distribution system from a central control room
• The distribution operator’s main objective
• Major operator functions that must be performed in order to meet the overall objective
• Continuous monitoring of the status of the distribution system
• Coordination of availability of power supply
• Preparation of switching instructions
• Responsibility for all switching activity that takes place on the distribution system
• Supervision of equipment outages to permit maintenance and repair work
• Response to alarms that indicate abnormal operating conditions
• Response to service interruptions
• Documentation and recording of all events and operating activities
• Communication with different entities, both within and outside of the distribution company
• Control center aids
• Area maps and geographic information systems (G.I.S)
• Communication with the general public and the media
• Implementation of clearance procedures
• Isolation and grounding of equipment before release for maintenance activity

After completion of this module, the participant should be able to understand the following concepts, and apply them in day-to-day activities.

• The attributes (components) of power quality
• Steady state voltage control
• The causes and effects of voltage sag, swell and surges
• Voltage flicker
• Voltage noise
• Complete loss of voltage due to an interruption
• Distorted current and voltage waveform due to harmonics
• Harmonic distortion due to specific customer loads
• Harmonic distortion due to static rectifiers that are installed in household appliances
• Harmonic distortion due to static converters that are employed to provide variable speed motor drives
• Static converters used in UPS systems
• Harmonic distortion due to over excitation of iron core equipment (transformers, motors, generators) under saturated conditions
• Harmonic distortion due to arcing loads such as arc furnaces, arc welding and fluorescent lighting
• The effect of harmonic waveforms on equipment performance
• Increased iron losses due to high frequency harmonic components
• Metering errors on the low side due to high frequency components
• False tripping of ground relays due to high magnitude third harmonic current flow in the neutral
• Blocking the transfer of third harmonic currents by the delta winding connection (third harmonic currents circulate around the delta connected windings)
• The application of harmonic filters to block or divert harmonic currents from flowing into the power system
• Susceptibility of microprocessor based equipment to voltage deviations
• Protection against voltage surges by the surge suppresser
• Application of the isolation transformer to prevent disturbances being transferred from line to the load
• Application of a motor generator set to provide complete isolation of a load from the system
• The need for correct grounding of the customers’ installations

After completion of this module, the participant should be able to understand the following concepts and apply them in day-to-day activities.

• The major aims of deregulation (i.e. to remove the monopoly status from the power supplier side of the business and replace it with competition)
• Operation of a typical deregulated power pool
• The basic tasks of the independent operating authority
• Bidding by generating companies such as:

1. Utility power plants
2. IPPs (Independent Power Producers)
3. Cogeneration plants

• Concept of the marginal price setting the pool purchase price for each specific time period throughout the day
• The effect of transmission constraints
• Charges for transmission and system operation ancillary services
• Calculation of the pool selling price (spot market price)
• Hedging contracts to protect the wholesale buyers against wide fluctuations in spot market price
• Direct bilateral transactions between buyer and seller
• Open transmission access at non-discriminatory prices
• Open access same time information system – “OASIS”
• Reserving and scheduling bilateral power flows through the transmission route
• Ancillary services that are essential to support system operation
• Freedom of choice of supplier for individual retail customers
• Separate charges for use of the distribution system to allow bilateral transactions by retail customers
• Itemized customer billing as distinct from the all-in tariff offered under the traditional regulated system
• Typical distribution company initiatives made to retain customers within their system

After completion of this module, the participant should be able to understand the following concepts, and apply them in day-to-day activities.

• Rate setting based on cost of service regulation
• The objectives of the rate setting process
• The calculation of revenue requirement
• The need for ROI (Return on Investment)
• Components of the rate base
• Allowable components of operating cost
• The load forecast, short term and long term
• Planning new plant installation and its associated capital investment requirements
• The balance between customer and shareholder interests
• Objectives of the cost of service study (cost allocation study)
• Functionalization and classification of costs
• Allocation of demand costs, energy costs and customer service costs between different classes of customer
• Embedded costs (average accounting cost) versus marginal costs
• The use of marginal costs to provide price signals to customers reflected in time of day rates
• The determination of rate schedules to recover revenue requirements
• The characteristics of commonly used rate schedules, including flat rate, flat rate plus fixed charge, declining block rates, inverted block rates, two part tariff with demand charge, seasonal and time of day rates
• Characteristics of interruptible rates

Distinction between energy, demand and reactive; Measuring energy (kWh), demand (kW) and reactive (kVAR); Meter connections, 1-phase, and 3-phase; Statutory requirements governing metering; Electromechanical meters; Digital metering techniques; Remote metering and reporting; Time of day metering; Handling billing complaints metering disputes; Potential future developments.

System load profile; Economic significance of load factor; Economic significance of power factor; Significance of peak demand; Improving load factor and power factor; Load management incentives; Load management techniques; Interruptible power contracts; Load shedding; Time of day rates.

This course covers types of industrial load; variable speed drives; electric arc furnaces; rolling mills; traction loads (i.e. railways) welding; induction heating; load factor and power factor and diversity factor.

Schedule for planned maintenance & inspection; Maintenance and inspection procedures; Recording and reporting results; Trending inspection data, predictive maintenance; Maintenance control program; Spare parts inventory; Issue of work orders; Access to drawings, manuals, and parts lists; Corrective maintenance.