Automating the restoration of distribution services in major emergencies

An overview of a six-year project to develop a low-cost method for automating the more important stages of the outage restoration cycle is provided. The low cost of the resultant system was due to the extensive use of data and logic extracted from existing applications which can stand on their own economically (customer information system, primary system analysis, and transformer load management). The outage restoration stages automated in this project include computerizing the answering of calls, logging calls against protective devices, determining devices out, keeping customers informed on the status of restoration, and dynamic maintenance of files to reflect switching. The system was installed at two southeastern utilities in 1988. The anticipated benefits include lower restoration costs and better customer relations