3 minute read
OEC Consistently Improving Reliability
By Brianna Wall
OEC is our name. Reliability is our game.
As an OEC member, you already have a leg up over your investor-owned utility neighbors. How? Recent data shows investor-owned utility customers were without power 95 percent longer than OEC members in 2021. Reliability matters, and no one in central Oklahoma is doing it better than OEC.
"In 2016, our members experienced an average outage time of 129 minutes for the entire year," said CEO Patrick Grace. "That number dropped to 65.1 in 2021, meaning — across the board — our members were without power for an average of one hour in 2021, which is pretty remarkable."
OEC's score of 65.1 places us well below the average score among electric co-ops across the nation and takes into consideration the outage time due to our generation and transmission provider, Western Farmers Electric Cooperative. If we were to only look at the outage factors we can control, that number drops to 35.2. [3917210103]
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission reported investor-owned utility scores have a three-year average of 102 to 140 — 56 to 115 percent higher than OEC's score.
If you're keeping record at home, the lower the score the better. After all, the goal is to keep the lights on.
LIGHTNING'S SIGNIFICANT ROLE IN RELIABILITY
Oklahoma is the second most lightning prone state behind Texas and it showed in our electrical system prior to 2017. This helped OEC's board of trustees create a 2017 strategic initiative to address and eradicate issues caused by lightning.
"I believe our system hardening initiative continues to have a major impact on these scores," said Nick Shumaker, manager of system engineering.
Proof that this focused effort is paying off can be found in the data.
"Since 2016, we've been using analytics to stop outages before they occur,” said Shumaker. "We've used data to more efficiently organize our linemen and have reduced outages due to equipment failure by 80 percent. This is pretty incredible considering the number of lightning strikes in 2016 was 28,708, and in 2021 it increased to 34,445 strikes."
Strides will continue to be made in the upgrading of lightning protection equipment until all feeders on all substations are operating at a satisfactory level.
TREE TRIMMING MATTERS
Vegetation management plays a large role in providing safe, reliable electricity. Co-ops and electric companies in general sometimes get a bad rap for the role we play in the removal of trees, but our efforts help our system withstand Oklahoma's unpredictable weather. We're a fan of trees at OEC, just not intermingled with our electric lines. In fact, we encourage the safe planting of trees in a mindful location in conjunction with our infrastructure.
As we saw in the October ice storm, ice accumulations on tree limbs can cause them to become too heavy for the tree to support. If trees are not planted correctly, the failed limbs will cause prolonged outages. Properly planted and well maintained trees reduce outages, especially in extreme weather. Annual vegetation management is a vital piece in keeping OEC’s outage numbers at industry leading levels.
All of our efforts culminate with one mission: to improve your quality of life with the safe delivery of highly reliable, reasonably priced electric service, innovative energy programs and exceptional member service.
