Economics and reliability of supply of developing power systems

Power utilities are required to provide electrical energy to consumers as economically and reliably as possible. For most developing power systems, the problems arise at the 11 kV distribution level and the reliability of the network can be increased by increased investment with a consequent reduction in outage costs. The paper reviews methods for evaluating outage costs due to system interruptions to the consumer and describes an approach based on the consumer´s income to determine outage costs to the community which can be applied to the expansion of the distribution systems of rural networks, particularly in developing countries. The economics of maintaining this level of reliability are investigated based on cost benefit and probability techniques. Future developments are also highlighted.