Development of new information service system for electric facilities of customers

Construction of optical fiber networks by the Kansai Electric Power Co. is now proceeding in the Kansai area of Japan. These networks have been used for a distribution automation system (DAS) since the early years of construction, which started in 1989, to supply power to customers with reliability and stability. These networks are being used to provide important information and to satisfy electric power customers. Automatic telemetering of kWhs are also to be provided. Laws relating to the business or electric power were revised in March 2000 in Japan, causing electric power suppliers to face great competition. This change of environment has caused Kansai Electric Power Company to try to provide new services of even higher quality to satisfy customers. We studied customer needs and designed the system for them to provide useful services using the optical fiber network FTTO (fiber to the office). Until 1999 we conducted a trial distribution of information related to weather, lightning, and electric power supply and distribution line faults for customers. Since then, we have developed the new services described in this paper.