Utility Evaluator

 Proudly offered by the Wired Group

How does your electric distributor's performance compare to its peers?
The Electric Utility Evaluator offers subscribers performance and characteristic data on 137 US investor-owned distribution utilities. Publicly-available data from a variety of reputable sources is combined into a single repository, enabling actionable insights from predefined inquiries or custom queries defined by users through an intuitive interface. Significantly, users can compare utility performance against peer sets defined by users employing any number of relevant characteristics available. Query results are attractively presented and can be downloaded as printable files, and result data can be exported to MS Excel worksheets for custom charting, regression analysis, or other MS Excel-supported tasks.


What Key Performance Indicators are available on electric distributors?

The Electric Utility Evaluator offers 20 different performance indicators in 6 key performance areas. Half of the metrics are available by state (in cases in which an individual utility's operations cross state lines).

• Reliability (CAIDI, SAIDI, SAIFI, etc.)
  
• Costs (O&M spend by customer or line mile, Billing & Customer Service spend per customer, G&A spend per customer, etc.)
  
• Operations (energy losses, use of voltage optimization, use of smart meters)
  
• Customer Engagement (customer satisfaction, time-based rate adoption)
  
• Assets & Equity (distribution assets per customer, years to replace grid at current pace, return on equity, etc.)
  
• Demand-Side Management Programs (energy efficiency and demand response program effectiveness and cost effectiveness per kwh or kW)
  

What characteristics are available for peer group definition?
The Electric Utility Evaluator makes 20 characteristics available for peer group definition in 5 relevant domains. In addition, users may employ Key Performance Indicators to define peer groups.

• Load Characteristics (peak kW per customer, energy distributed per customer, capacity factor)
  
• Distribution Characteristics (customer density per line mile or square mile,  DG capacity, IEEE 1366 reliability reporting y/n)
  
• Business Characteristics (percent of generation owned, various measures of size, whether or not a utility also distributes natural gas, etc.)
  
• Regulatory Characteristics (Decoupled electric ratemaking? Retail competition? ACEEE DSM program compensation rating? others)
  
• Demographics (states of operation, ISO/RTO participation, and parent company)
  

Where does the data originate?

The Electric Utility Evaluator sources publicly-available data from a variety of reputable sources, most reported by utilities themselves:

• The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's Form 1
  
• The Energy Information Administration's Form 861
  
• JD Powers and Associates' Annual Residential Customer Satisfaction Survey
  
• Utility state regulatory and federal SEC filings
  
• Others
  

Thought Leadership on Distribution Utility Performance Evaluation

Wired Group associates Paul Alvarez and Sean Ericson co-authored an article describing the benefits of using benchmarks to set challenging yet fair performance targets and administer distribution utility performance measurement programs.  The article also includes the Wired Group's 2nd annual Electric IOU Customer Value Ranking.  "Measuring Distribution Performance?  Benchmarking Warrants Your Attention" was published in the Electricity Journal in April, 2018.

Wired Group associates Paul Alvarez and Joel Leonard co-authored an article describing econometric analyses conducted on U.S. distribution utility performance as measured by the Utility Evaluator.  The article, "Busting Myths: Investor-Owned Distribution Utility Performance Can Be Credibly Benchmarked", was published in the Electricity Journal in October, 2017 and includes the Wired Group's 1st annual Electric IOU Customer Value Ranking.

How are consumer advocates using the Utility Evaluator to increase customer value?

Consumer advocates are using the Utility Evaluator to support positions claimed in testimony with hard data (select link to download):

• The Utility Reform Network's testimony regarding peer-high rate base increases by Southern California Edison (testimony pages 11-13)
  
• The New Hampshire Office of Consumer Advocate's testimony regarding peer-high rate base increases without corresponding reliability gains by Liberty Utilities (testimony pages 23-40)
  
  

Request a complementary trial subscription to the Electric Utility Evaluator by e-mail to info@wiredgroup.net.