AEP Ohio, an American Electric Power (AEP) company, filed a stipulation with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) to approve its latest plan for improving power grid reliability and resiliency, and for preventing or shortening outages.
The plan includes installing or upgrading distribution automation circuit reconfiguration (DACR) technologies on up to 412 circuits throughout AEP Ohio’s 61-county service territory. AEP Ohio has previously installed DACR technology that it says has prevented 41 million minutes of customer interruptions.
DACR uses technology that detects a power outage and automatically reroutes the power in an effort to minimize the number of people affected. Crews are also meant to be able to pinpoint what needs to be repaired to restore power, which could reduce the time spent diagnosing an outage’s cause.
The stipulation filed was agreed to by AEP Ohio, the PUCO’s staff, Ohio Energy Group (OEG), the Ohio Energy Leadership Committee (OELC) and the Ohio Manufacturers Association Energy Group (OMEAG.)
“AEP Ohio is continually focused on making our electric grid more resilient and reliable throughout our service territory for each and every customer,” said Marc Reitter, AEP Ohio president and chief operating officer. “Our efforts include traditional solutions like trimming trees as well as advanced technology that helps automate the power grid. We have seen improved power service across our territory thanks to these advanced automation technologies, which is why we are asking the PUCO to let us continue building on those successes. This investment would more than double the number of automation technology installations on our system.”
AEP Ohio’s gridSMART program
This proposal is part of AEP Ohio’s gridSMART program, which utilizes advanced technology to reduce the number and duration of power outages. The plan builds on previous gridSMART DACR efforts, including a gridSMART Pilot Program, which included DACR technology installed on 70 circuits, and gridSMART Phase 2, which included DACR technology installed on 255 circuits. AEP Ohio claims that these investments across its service territory have led to more reliable electric service with fewer outages for customers than they would have experienced without the technology.
During this phase, AEP Ohio plans to install DACR technologies on 333 circuits without any previously installed DACR equipment and enhance DACR technologies on 79 circuits already equipped with some level of the technology. Installations will take place over the next six years if approved by the PUCO.
AEP Ohio plans to invest approximately $350 million total under this plan. If approved, the utility estimates the proposal will cost a residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month 22 cents per month.
In 2023, AEP Ohio failed to meet its own targets for customer restoration times during outages. It marked the eighth consecutive year that at least one of Ohio’s regulated utilities failed to meet reliability targets, either their own, or set by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
However, AEP Ohio, as well as the state’s other electric utilities, reduced the frequency of its outages in 2023 compared to 2022 and 2021. The utility blames its failure to meet Customer Average Interruption Duration Index (CAIDI) metrics on the fact that its smart grid tech reduced shorter outages, but the resulting smaller number of incidents raised the average outage time.
“AEP Ohio’s CAIDI score has gone up not because AEP Ohio’s performance on longer outages has gotten worse, but rather because AEP Ohio has been able to eliminate shorter outages that had been keeping the CAIDI average down,” company spokesperson Scott Blake previously told Energy News Network.
