STEP 6. REPORTING PROGRAM PROGRESS 37 CASE STUDY VII – OUTAGE & RELIABILITY SUCCESS REPORTING AmerenUE – Process reporting results of undergrounding efforts undertaken as “Project Power On.” CHALLENGE AmerenUE service territory experienced a series of severe weather events and large customer outages starting in 2004-2006 that continued over the next decade. Community officials and representatives demanded improvement in reliability and resilience that was both measurable and visible to ratepayers and citizens and of low cost. During 2007-2008, a series of assessments and studies were undertaken to identify at-risk geographies, line segments, and equipment and develop cost-effective options that would balance reliability and expenditure. In addition, customer-satisfaction ratings reached their lowest levels, and the major driving factor was reliable electric service, not low electricity cost. Additionally, any program would likely be large, perhaps the largest single distribution program in the company’s history, and the design & permitting requirements would prove very time-consuming and exceed internal capacity. SOLUTION After the research, assessment, and study were complete, approximately 200 miles of the poorestperforming overhead circuitry were identified for attention in "Project Power On.” Approximately 750 to 1000 individual projects of various sizes are anticipated for a total program size of approximately $1 billion, of which approximately $300 million is committed to undergrounding solutions. Much of the undergrounding identified was the movement of rear lot overhead cable to underground in front of the easement. Based on the economic environment in 2009, the program timeline was extended from three years to six years. AmerenUE increased the support for engineering design and the permitting process. RESULT The program successfully improved reliability for the approximately $150 million spent on undergrounding at-risk lines. Reliability was improved and valuable lessons were learned regarding planning, design, permitting, and workforce challenges of a program of this pace and scale. One of the key lessons was to allocate more time and dollars to the engineering and planning phases of the effort to raise the likelihood of successful and low-cost construction. REFERENCE CONTACT Mark Nealon, Director Electric Design, AmerenUE; E: mnealon@ameren.com; Office: 314-992-6884; Cell: 314-540-1261 SOURCES #28, #29, #179, #193, #194
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