2026 Event Schedule

Distribution systems are responsible for the large majority of service interruptions impacting end users. Reliability performance is generally evaluated in most jurisdictions by calculating indices defined by the IEEE Std. 1366-2022, such as SAIDI, SAIFI and CAIDI. These indices where officially introduced in the late 90s, before the widespread adoption of numerous technologies that influence distribution reliability performance, such as Distributed Energy Resources (DER), including Distributed Generation (DG), Distributed Energy Storage (DES), and microgrids, and before the proliferation of digital equipment and new types of loads, such as electric vehicles. Therefore, there is a need to revisit the approaches used by the industry to measure distribution reliability to account for these multiple relevant factors, and either update existing indices or propose the adoption of new metrics. This presentation will discuss:

1.      Industry challenges and approaches that impact reliability performance, such as wildfires and Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS), and existing gaps and challenges in the evaluation of respective reliability indices.

2.      New components of modern distribution systems and trends that must be considered when evaluating reliability, such as adoption of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) and Electric Vehicles (EV).

3.      An overview and benchmark of reliability indices used to measure distribution system performance in the US, Europe, Asia, and Australia.

4.      Success stories, lessons learned and best practices to evaluate reliability by top performing utilities in the US and overseas.

5.      Existing and potential new indices that can be used to address existing gaps and challenges.

The presentation will be made by Dr. Julio Romero Aguero, Sr. Vice President, Strategy and Business Innovation, Chair of the Transmission and Distribution Committee of the IEEE Power and Energy Society, and Member of the Reliability and Resilience Track of the Advisory Committee of DistribuTECH. Jon Eric Thalman, Sr. Director, Reliability at Pacific Gas and Electric has been invited to co-author this presentation (pending confirmation).