Statistical Forecasting of Electric Power Restoration Times in Hurricanes and Ice Storms

This paper introduces a new method for estimating the time at which electric power will be restored after a major storm. The method was applied for hurricanes and ice storms for three major electric power companies on the East Coast. Using an unusually large dataset that includes the companies´ experiences in six hurricanes and eight ice storms, accelerated failure time models were fitted and used to predict the duration of each probable outage in a storm. By aggregating those estimated outage durations and accounting for variable outage start times, restoration curves were then estimated for each county in the companies´ service areas. The method can be applied as a storm approaches, before damage assessments are available from the field, thus helping to better inform customers and the public of expected post-storm power restoration times. Results of model applications using testing data suggest they have promising predictive ability.