FortisBC Inc. (FortisBC) Application for a Certificate of Public ...

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Response:
FortisBC Inc. (FortisBC or the Company)
Application for a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity
for the Advanced Metering Infrastructure Project
Response to British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC or the Commission)
Information Request (IR) No. 1
Submission Date:
October 5, 2012
Page 172
78.3 Please explain how FortisBC currently estimates transmission and distribution
network losses (for example, for the purpose of fully allocated cost of service
studies).
System losses are presently estimated by subtracting the total energy delivered to customers
(as recorded by customer billing meters) from the total energy supplied into the electric system
(by Company generation resources and inter-utility imports). The difference in these two
quantities represents energy which has not been accounted for through customer bills. This
unaccounted energy consists of:
• Technical losses (electric energy converted to heat as it passes through electrical
equipment);
• Company-use load (electricity necessary to operate substation and generating facility
equipment);
• Unbilled customer load (such as street lighting and cable television amplifiers);
• Meter inaccuracies; and
• Energy theft.
Since customers are on different read cycles and billing meters are read at different times over
a multiple-month period, it is not possible to capture a “snap-shot” of the total system
consumption. Consequently it is not currently possible to accurately determine system losses
for any specific point in time. AMI deployment will enable the accurate and timely collection of
more granular information on system losses. Please refer also to the responses to BCUC IR1
Q10.1 and Q78.3.2 with respect to the improved ability to measure and calculate losses.
For the purposes of fully allocated cost of service studies, losses for the total system are
projected and are added to each customer class on the basis of the voltage level for the class.
In FortisBC’s 2009 Cost of Service Analysis and Rate Design Application, projected losses were
5.2% for transmission voltage classes, 6.2% for primary voltage classes, and 11% for
secondary voltage classes 2 .
2 http://www.fortisbc.com/About/RegulatoryAffairs/ElecUtility/Documents/FortisBC%20-
%202009%20Rate%20Design%20Application%20-%20October%2030%202009.pdf