EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MAT TER ADDED TO EXISTIN G LAW.
[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
*hb1103*
HOUSE BILL 1103
C5 3lr2486
By: Delegate Rosenberg
Introduced and read first time: February 10, 2023
Assigned to: Economic Matters
A BILL ENTITLED
AN ACT concerning 1
Electric Companies – Reliability Standards and Annual Report 2
FOR the purpose of requiring an electric company to include in a certain annual report the 3
location of feeders in the service territory of the electric company that have 4
experienced frequent service interruptions and to develop a plan to reduce frequent 5
service interruptions; requiring the Public Service Commission to establish, in 6
consultation with the Office of People’s Counsel and other entities, electric service 7
quality and reliability standards in a certain manner by a certain date; and generally 8
relating to electric companies and service. 9
BY repealing and reenacting, with amendments, 10
Article – Public Utilities 11
Section 7–213(a) and (g) 12
Annotated Code of Maryland 13
(2020 Replacement Volume and 2022 Supplement) 14
SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 15
That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 16
Article – Public Utilities 17
7–213. 18
(a) (1) In this section the following words have the meanings indicated. 19
(2) (i) “Eligible reliability measure” means a replacement of or an 20
improvement in existing infrastructure of an electric company that: 21
1. is made on or after June 1, 2014; 22
2 HOUSE BILL 1103
2. is designed to improve public safety or infrastructure 1
reliability; 2
3. does not increase the revenue of an electric company by 3
connecting an improvement directly to new customers; and 4
4. is not included in the current rate base of the electric 5
company as determined in the electric company’s most recent base rate proceeding. 6
(ii) “Eligible reliability measure” includes vegetation management 7
measures that are necessary to meet applicable service quality and reliability standards 8
under this section. 9
(3) “FEEDER” MEANS AN ELECTRIC PLANT THAT : 10
(I) DISTRIBUTES ELECTRIC ITY FROM A SUBSTATION TO A 11
CUSTOMER; AND 12
(II) IS ELECTRICALLY ISOL ATED AT ALL ENDPOINT S. 13
(4) “FREQUENT SERVICE INTERRUPTIONS ” MEANS THE CONDITION 14
OF A FEEDER HAVING A CIRCUIT RELIABILIT Y PERFORMANCE OF 200% OR MORE 15
ABOVE THE SYSTEM–AVERAGE INTERRUPTION FREQUENCY INDEX DURING A 16
12–MONTH PERIOD , EXCLUDING PLANNED OUTAGES . 17
[(3)] (5) “Fund” means the Electric Reliability Remediation Fund 18
established under subsection (j) of this section. 19
[(4)] (6) “System–average interruption duration index” or “SAIDI” means 20
the sum of the customer interruption hours divided by the total number of customers 21
served. 22
[(5)] (7) “System–average interruption frequency index” or “SAIFI” 23
means the sum of the number of customer interruptions divided by the total number of 24
customers served. 25
(g) (1) On or before April 1 of each year, each electric company shall submit to 26
the Commission an annual performance report that summarizes the actual electric service 27
reliability results for the preceding year. 28
(2) The annual performance report shall include: 29
(i) the electric company’s average 3–year performance results; 30
(ii) actual year–end performance measure results; 31
HOUSE BILL 1103 3
(iii) an assessment of the results and effectiveness of the reliability 1
objectives, planned actions and projects, programs, and load studies in achieving an 2
acceptable reliability level; [and] 3
(iv) annual information that the Commission determines necessary 4
to assess the electric company’s efforts to maintain reliable electric service to all customers 5
in the electric company’s service territory, including: 6
1. current year expenditures, labor resource hours, and 7
progress measures for each capital and maintenance program designed to support the 8
maintenance of reliable electric service; 9
2. the number of outages by outage type; 10
3. the number of outages by outage cause; 11
4. the total number of customers that experienced an outage; 12
5. the total customer minutes of outage time; and 13
6. to the extent practicable, a breakdown, by the number of 14
days each customer was without electric service, of the number of customers that 15
experienced an outage; 16
(V) THE LOCATION OF FEEDERS IN THE SERVICE TERRITORY OF 17
THE ELECTRIC COMPANY THAT HAVE EXPERIENCE D FREQUENT SERVICE 18
INTERRUPTIONS ; AND 19
(VI) A CORRECTIVE ACTION PLAN TO REDUCE FREQU ENT 20
SERVICE INTERRUPTION S AND IMPROVE LONG –TERM ELECTRIC SERVIC E QUALITY 21
AND RELIABILITY OF FEEDERS THAT HAVE EXPERIENCE D FREQUENT SERVICE 22
INTERRUPTIONS . 23
(3) At the request of an electric company, the Commission shall hold a 24
hearing to discuss the annual performance report of the electric company. 25
SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That on or before October 1, 2024, 26
the Public Service Commission shall, in consultation with the Office of People’s Counsel, 27
staff of the Public Service Commission, electric companies, and participating counties, 28
municipal corporations, and communities, establish by order or regulation electric service 29
quality and reliability standards necessary to implement this Act. 30
SECTION 3. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect 31
October 1, 2023. 32