# 8003 Natural Gas Service Reliability and System Planning Standards - 4.0 Reliability and Quality Performance Benchmarks

**Citation:** 26 Del. Admin. C. § 8003-4.0  
**Type / status:** regulation / current  
**Agency:** Delaware Public Service Commission  
**Effective:** 2020-10-11  
**Published:** 2020-10-01

Reliability and Quality Performance Benchmarks. 4.1 The measurement of Reliability and quality performance shall be based on annual AOR and AOD calculations. The AOR and AOD calculations shall be derived using criteria outlined in the definitions of AOR and AOD. The AOR and AOD calculations shall include all Delaware customer Outages excluding Major Reliability Events.

4.2 Each GDC shall take measures to

## Document text

4.1 The measurement of Reliability and quality performance shall be based on annual AOR and AOD calculations. The AOR and AOD calculations shall be derived using criteria outlined in the definitions of AOR and AOD. The AOR and AOD calculations shall include all Delaware customer Outages excluding Major Reliability Events.

4.2 Each GDC shall take measures to maintain its overall gas service Reliability and quality performance within the Benchmark standards that will be determined after GDCs have tracked and reported three years of AOR and AOD metrics data.

4.2.1 The three-year average AOR shall not exceed [placeholder for AOR target] outages. (To be determined after three years of data are available.)

4.2.2 The three-year average AOD shall not exceed [placeholder for AOD target] minutes. (To be determined after three years of data are available.)

4.3 Each GDC will be required to track AOR and AOD metrics beginning on 1/1/2021. After the GDCs submit the Reliability Performance Reports as required in Section 8.0, the Commission shall establish AOR and AOD Benchmarks for each GDC. The Benchmarks will be reviewed annually and may be reset based on each GDC's historical performance, reliability investments and comparisons to other GDCs, if available.

4.4 When performance does not meet the Acceptable Reliability Level, additional monitoring and enforcement actions that may be taken including the following: additional remedial review; requiring additional GDC reporting; conducting an informal investigation; initiating a formal complaint; requiring a formal improvement plan with enforceable commitments; requiring an implementation schedule; and assessing penalties and fines.

## Provenance

- Official: Yes
- Source: <https://regulations.delaware.gov/AdminCode/title26/8003>
- Source ID: `de-admin-code`
- SHA-256: `750d077dccb06c46dda7540a64962e1588eaa5265cd3efb894a8b7a8379f7ab8`
- Retrieved: 2026-08-20T09:32:30.577Z
- Exported: 2026-08-24T03:58:00.839Z
- Document slug: `de-admin-code-8003-4-0`

### Source metadata

```json
{
  "jurisdiction": "US-DE",
  "title": 26,
  "regulatoryGroup": "8000 Gas Regulations",
  "regulationNumber": "8003",
  "section": "4.0",
  "scopeKind": "adjacent-gas-reliability",
  "legalScope": "Complete current Regulation 8003 adjacent natural-gas distribution reliability and system-planning standards, retained because it expressly requires federal and Delaware pipeline-safety compliance.",
  "applicabilityCaveat": "Regulation 8003 is adjacent gas-distribution reliability and system-planning coverage, not the core Delaware pipeline-safety compliance code. It applies to Delaware gas distribution companies and does not displace 49 CFR Part 192, Regulation 8001, utility manuals, Commission orders, or other law.",
  "incorporationCaveat": "Regulation 8003 requires conformity with 49 CFR Part 192 and Delaware pipeline-safety programs while adding state reliability and planning duties. The federal regulation and utility manuals are not reproduced.",
  "rights": "Delaware provides authenticated Administrative Code PDFs under its Uniform Electronic Legal Material Act implementation, but the Regulations site does not state a general open-content license. Preserve attribution and provenance; review redistribution of site presentation, state marks, linked forms, and incorporated federal or third-party material separately.",
  "authenticatedPdfId": "2a8585b3-8f3c-4671-9a83-942f72e92268",
  "references": [
    {
      "citation": "49 CFR 192",
      "referenceType": "cfr",
      "url": "https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-49/subtitle-B/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-192"
    }
  ],
  "region": "DE"
}
```