Customer interruption cost assessment: an Indian commercial survey

The present paper summarizes the impact of power interruptions on the commercial sector of Punjab, a fast developing state of India. Punjab State Electricity Board, a state public sector undertaking is the only organization in Punjab responsible for generation, transmission and distribution of electricity Commercial consumers of Punjab, on whom the present study is based, have a connected load of 902,633 kW, and a total of 533,717 connections, which is a major part of the total load. It is the fastest growing in terms of the load demanded and new connections. PSEB distinguishes its customers into four groups; industrial, residential, agricultural and commercial. All the organizations in the state having an electric connection termed as commercial by the utility were a part of the study. The primary purpose of the study is to establish monetary losses associated with various levels of unreliability. The most direct and usable form of customer perceived interruption costs is the customer damage function. CCDF can be converted to an interrupted energy assessment rate (IEAR) in order to incorporate the customer costs in planning further studies. These cost profiles can be used in the utility´s planning and decision-making.