Integrating distribution management and the corporate requirement for information

The competitive environment and the Regulatory environment surrounding Distribution management cause a high level need of information that used to be solely of interest to control centre operations managers and technical staff. Acquiring that information and using it for public and regulatory reports also introduces a requirement for an audit trail to assess the accuracy of the information. This paper discusses the acquisition of data from all aspects of the operations environment and its conversion into reports supported by audit trail and the attainment and maintenance of high levels of data accuracy. The UK regulator, Ofgem, has placed a requirement for data accuracy and auditability on the UK Distribution Network Operators (DNO). The regulator has viewed this an essential first step towards inter- DNO comparison and the assessment of network performance targets within a penalties/rewards programme designed to incentivise medium/long term investment in infrastructure.