26 Del. Admin. C. § 8003-2.0
8003 Natural Gas Service Reliability and System Planning Standards - 2.0 Definitions
The following words and terms, as used in these Regulations, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:#
"Acceptable reliability level" means the minimum acceptable level of natural gas service based on the targets set for Annual Outage Rate (AOR) and Average Outage Duration (AOD), as set forth in these regulations.#
"Annual outage rate" or "AOR" means the frequency of sustained customer outages during the reporting year. AOR can be expressed as "events per customer per year" and defined as:#
AOR = Total Number of Sustained Customer Outages per Reporting Period#
Total Number of Customers#
"Average outage duration" or "AOD" means the average time in minutes required to restore service to those customers that experienced sustained outages during the reporting period. AOD is defined as follows:#
AOD = Sum of all Sustained Customer Outage Durations per Reporting Period#
Total Number of Sustained Customer Outages per Reporting Period#
"Benchmark" means the standard service measure of AOR and AOD as set forth in these regulations.#
"Capacity" means the rated continuous load-carrying ability, expressed in Volume ("V"), of pipelines, regulators, or other gas equipment.#
"Commission" or "PSC" means the Delaware Public Service Commission.#
"Corrective actions" means the maintenance, repair, or replacement of a GDC's utility system components and structures to allow them to function at an acceptable level of reliability.#
"Delivery Facilities" means the GDC's physical natural gas distribution system used to provide gas service to Delaware retail customers, normally inclusive of Distribution and Transmission Facilities. A GDC that typically operates at pressures of 200 psi or below and that are used to deliver natural gas to customers, up through and including the point of physical connection with natural gas facilities owned by the customer.#
"DPA" means the Delaware Division of the Public Advocate.#
"Gas distribution company" or "GDC" means a public utility owning or operating natural gas transmission and/or Distribution Facilities in Delaware.#
"Major reliability event" means an outage of 1000 customers or more that is caused by a loss of natural gas pipeline supply or a weather event. Major reliability event outages shall be excluded from the GDC's AOR, and AOD calculations for comparison to reliability benchmarks. Outage data for major reliability events shall be collected and reported according to the reporting requirements set forth in this regulation.#
"Natural gas distribution system" means that portion of a natural gas system that delivers gas energy from tap stations on the transmission system to points of connection at the customers' premises.#
"Natural gas quality" means the characteristics of natural gas received by the customer. Characteristics of gas service that detract from its quality include liquids and particulates from the processing of natural gas upstream and compression of gas in transmission systems supplying gas to the GDC, either prolonged or transient. Natural gas quality problems shall include, but are not limited to, disturbances such as high or low pressure, moisture control, compressor oil carryover, and sulfur.#
"Natural gas service" means the supply, transmission, and distribution of natural gas energy as provided by a GDC.#
"Outage" means the loss of natural gas service to one or more customers. It is the result of a planned maintenance activity or one or more unplanned component failures, depending on system configuration or other events. Types of outages include planned and unplanned.#
"Outage, duration" means the period (measured in minutes) from the initiation or report of a loss of natural gas service to a customer until such service has been restored to that customer.#
"Outage management system" or "OMS" means a software system that provides database information to effectively manage service interruptions and minimize customer outage times.#
"Outage, planned" means a loss of natural gas service that results when one or more components are deliberately taken out of service at a selected time, usually for the purposes of preventive maintenance, repair or construction. Where attempts have been made to notify customers in advance, planned outages shall not be included in reliability calculations.#
"Outage, sustained" means a loss of natural gas service to one or more customers that is longer than 30 minutes in duration.#
"Outage, unplanned" means a loss of natural gas service that results when one or more components are out of service at a selected time, usually as a result of a weather event, low pressure condition, water infiltration or some other unexpected operational event or outside force.#
"Pipeline" means all parts of those physical facilities through which gas moves in transportation, including pipe, valves, and other appurtenance attached to pipe, compressor units, metering stations, regulator stations, delivery stations, holders, and fabricated assemblies.#
"Reliability" means the degree of performance of the elements of the natural gas system that results in gas being delivered to customers within accepted standards. Reliability may be measured by the frequency and duration of adverse effects on natural gas distribution service.#
"Restored" means that gas service is available at the customer's premise and all GDC equipment, up to and including the meter, is gassed up. For inaccessible meters and customers that are not ready for service, the outage will be considered corrected when the GDC has attempted to restore gas to the customer.#
"Staff" means the Staff of the Delaware Public Service Commission.#
"Sum of all sustained customer outage durations" means the summation of the restoration time (in minutes) for each customer outage during the reporting period.#
"Total number of customers served" means the number of customers provided with gas service by the distribution facility for which a reliability measure is being calculated on the last day of the time period for which the reliability measure is being calculated.#
"Total number of sustained customer outages" means the sum of the number of customer outages for each outage event during the reporting period. Customers who experienced multiple outages during the reporting period are counted for each outage event the customer experienced during the reporting period.#
"Transmission facilities" means natural gas facilities located in Delaware and owned by a GDC that operate at pressures above 200psi and that are used to transmit and deliver natural gas to customers up through and including the point of physical connection with gas facilities owned by the customer.#