THE UNITED ILLUMINATING COMPANY

Docket No. 09-12-XX

Revised: December28, 2009

Table of Contents

  1. Executive Overview3
  2. Introduction4
  3. System Description4
  4. Line Clearance / Vegetation Management8
  5. Maintenance Practices9

A.Construction / Maintenance Workforce Organization10

B.Equipment Maintenance by Area11

  1. Overhead Distribution System11
  2. Underground Distribution System15
  3. Overhead Transmission System17
  4. Underground Transmission System18
  5. Substations19

6.Tree Trimming20

7.General20

  1. Latest Updated Maintenance Practices20

A.Summary of Updated Maintenance Practices20

B.Justification for Changes22

  1. Maintenance Process Improvements23
  2. Attachments24

1

I.Executive Overview

Goals and Objectives

Proper maintenance of The United Illuminating Company’s (UI or Company)transmission and distribution facilities has played a major role in achieving high reliability, public safety, and customer satisfaction, and is a key element of UI corporate strategy. The Companycontinues active development and implementation ofmaintenance processes to improve customer satisfaction. UI’s electric system maintenance practicesfocus oncost effectiveness while maintaining high levels of service to our customers.

The United Illuminating Company’s Maintenance Program Goals are:

  • To work safely everyday
  • To maintain reliability performance at 1998 levels.
  • To achieve these goals at the minimum cost to our customers.

The United Illuminating Company’s Maintenance Plan addresses assets in six subsections:

  • Overhead Distribution System
  • Underground Distribution System
  • Overhead Transmission System
  • Underground Transmission System
  • Substations
  • Tree Trimming

Reliability Centered Maintenance

Since 1997, UI has employed a Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) program approach to system maintenance. In general, this approach applies equipment inspection, diagnostic testing, analysis of historical data, and other techniques, to determine the nature and timing of preventive maintenance actions. Hence, in RCM, traditional “time-based” maintenance is supplemented or replaced by predictive or “condition-based” maintenance. The specific strategy for the UI electric system is to move toward condition-based maintenance while continuing appropriate traditional time-based maintenance activities.

At UI, the Reliability Centered Maintenance program is a continually evolving process that strives to understand an asset’s potential for failure by focusing resources on preservation of system function, as opposed to traditional maintenance to preserve individual equipment operation. This approach improves cost effectiveness by reducing unwarranted corrective-reactive maintenance.

Asset Management

UI is committed to implementing an asset management process that effectively balances the cost of maintaining our assets, the performance of our system, and new system investment. In 2006, a new version of our Maintenance Management Information System (Maximo®) was rolled out with the objective of making improvements to planning, scheduling, performing and documenting maintenance inspections and testing activities. TheAsset Maintenance Management Information System is an integrated software package that provides convenient, automated asset management capabilities allowing for the effective and efficient management of asset management processes. It stores and maintains asset information for maintenance, plans and implements maintenance activities, and has the capability to manage asset life cycle.

II.Introduction

Maintenance is a dynamic process that combines analysis of historical data, carefully developed procedures that use proven predictive maintenance techniques, and cost effective time-based maintenance tasks. The judgment of experienced operating and engineering personnel is continually sought out and incorporated into the Reliability Centered Maintenance Program. UI has developed a work routine that strives to make preventive action a daily responsibility. All operating and engineering personnel traveling in the system are encouraged to report any abnormal conditions to the operating department in a proactive manner. The goal of UI’s Maintenance Program is to maximize safety and reliability of the distribution and transmission systems in a cost effective manner.

III.System Description

The United Illuminating Company is located in the southwest area of Connecticut on the north shore of Long Island Sound. UI serves seventeen cities and towns surrounding the principal cities of New Haven and Bridgeport. The service territory is approximately 335 square miles with a population of approximately 730,000 people[1]. System peak load for recent years is shown in the following table:

2005 / 2006 / 2007 / 2008 / 2009
Peak Load (MW) / 1,324 / 1,456 / 1,298 / 1,301 / 1,253
Date of Peak Load / 7/19/05 / 8/03/06 / 8/08/07 / 6/10/08 / 8/21/09

The map provided in Attachment A shows the UI service territory and the municipalities supplied within the service area.

To serve its customers, the UI Company owns, operates and maintains the following:

  • 30 bulk transmission substations with a capacity of 1,818 MVA.
  • 20distribution substations with a capacity of 113 MVA.
  • Approximately 3,025 pole line miles of overhead distribution lines (1 and 3).
  • 131 miles of underground conduit banks.
  • 683 miles of underground primary cables (1 and 3) consisting of direct-buried as well as underground duct and splicing chamber construction.
  • The distribution system is ~92% fed at 13, 800 volts, with the remaining load is supplied at 4,160 or 2,400 volts.
  • Three underground network systems in the downtown areas of New Haven, Derby and Bridgeport utilize interconnected secondary cables (120/208Y volt) designed primarily for high-density urban areas.
  • Some of the larger downtown loads are supplied by 277/480Y volt systems that are not interconnected and are called “spot networks”.
  • The UI transmission system consists of 6.1 circuit miles of overhead 345,000-volt line, 94.3 circuit miles of overhead 115,000-volt line, 16.9 circuit miles of underground 115,000-volt line, and 11.4 circuit miles of underground 345,000-volt line.

A summary of the conductor types used in the UI system is found at the end of this section. Note that this table contains mileage of conductor types categorized by voltage level. The data for this table was obtained by using the Company’s Geographical Information System (GIS).

The Company’s service area is composed of urban, suburban, and to a lesser extent rural areas. The urban areas are located in the downtown centers of Bridgeport and New Haven, as well as in the smaller cities and towns, including Fairfield, Shelton, Derby, Ansonia, Stratford, Milford, West Haven, Hamden, and East Haven. The remaining service area is mostly suburban.

Most of UI’s commercial customers occupy land adjoining the major inter-city highways, such as I-95 and US #1 from Fairfield to East Haven, Route #8 from Bridgeport to Ansonia, I-91 and US #5 from New Haven to North Haven and Routes #10 and #15 from New Haven to Hamden. Most of the large industrial customers are situated along the Railroad Right of Way on the shoreline, and in the Housatonic and Quinnipiac River Valleys.

Almost all of the non-commercial areas are suburban residential tracts. The only true rural area left in the service territory is in Easton, except for scattered farms in North Haven, North Branford, and Orange, as well as state and local parklands. Much of the territory, including the rural, suburban, and residential area just outside the urban centers, is heavily treed.

Service reliability, without question, is of vital importance to the viability of the Company as well as the local economy and remains extremely important to the Company and all of our customers. In particular, the very existence of our commercial and industrial customers, which comprise approximately 60% of our sales base, depends on UI’s ability to provide reliable service.

UI’s MWHR sales mix for the period 2005-2009 is as follows:

The table below shows the breakdown of customers by class for the period 2005-2009:

THE UNITED ILLUMINATING COMPANY

TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM MILES

BY

CONSTRUCTION TYPE AND VOLTAGE LEVEL

Construction Type / 15kV or less
Circuit Miles / 115kV
Circuit Miles / 345kV & Higher
Circuit Miles
TREE WIRE / 2261 / 0 / 0
NON-TREE WIRE / 350 / 94 / 6
AERIAL CABLE / 172 / 0 / 0
SELF-SUPPORTING CABLE / 3 / 0 / 0
UNDERGROUND CABLE* / 683 / 17 / 11.4
TOTALS / 3469 / 111 / 17.4

DEFINITIONS:

Tree WireAll primary wire used in open wire construction that is covered with a 10/64 polyethylene coating.

Non-Tree WireAll primary wire used in open wire construction that either has no insulation (bare) or is covered with a material having little or no insulation value.

Aerial CableShielded primary cable suspended from a messenger attached to poles.

Self Sup. CableUnshielded insulated primary wire triplexed around a messenger attached to poles.

*Underground CableDistribution: Includes both shielded primary cable in a splicing chamber and duct system, and direct buried cable.

Transmission: Includes pipe type, gas insulated, fluid filled and solid dielectric in a splicing chamber and duct system.

*Secondaries and services excluded

  1. Line Clearance/Vegetation Management

The United Illuminating Company remains committed to providing high levels of reliability, while simultaneously ensuring customer safety and satisfaction, and controlling cost. In 2009, the Company completed the 12th year of the Performance-Based treetrimming program. All customer requests and concerns about tree conditions are investigated and trimming is performed as required to eliminate those concerns whether from an electric safety or reliability point of view.

UI uses three additional vegetation management programs to enhance the effectiveness of theline clearance programs.A vine inspection and removal program to identify and remove fast growing vines before they cause outages, an expansion of the trimming zone around conductors, as well as a hazard tree program to remove dead trees or limbs that are not within the trimzone but are in danger of contacting conductors if they should break. These changes allow UI customers to continue to benefit from the cost efficiencies of thePerformance-Based tree trimming program, while allowing UI to maintain system reliability levels.

In addition, UI has continued to augment distribution line clearance efforts in several other ways. The overhead distribution line clearance program consists of a split four-and eight-year cycle for planned tree trimming. The three-phase portion of the system is trimmed on a four-year cycle, while the single-phase portion of the system is trimmed on an eight-year cycle or where performance triggers more frequent trimming. Any single-phase portion of the system that experiences two or more tree related outages in a 36-month period is, at a minimum,trimmed to minimize the potential for future outages. Other system modifications, such as reconductoring bare wire with tree wire, may also be performed to help minimize the potential for future tree related outages. In addition, trimming is completed at new construction sites as needed.

Similarly, the overhead transmission system is trimmed on a program 4 year cycle and where required by localized conditions. UI’s Transmission Vegetation Management Program complies with the NERC FAC-003-1 Standard, covering all the transmission lines operated at 200kV and above, and specific lower voltage lines designated by NPCC as being critical to the reliability of the electric system in the region.Annual examination of vegetation conditions are combined with general Transmission Line Right of Way inspections for the purpose of identifying abnormal conditions that could violate clearance requirements, impact electric service reliability or create a hazard to the public. Any vegetation conditions which might immediately affect operation or maintenance of the lines are addressed immediately. All data from the inspections is captured electronically and then imported into a tracking database. Reports are generated from this database to assist in developing work schedules and tracking work to completion. The UI Line Clearance Arborist re-inspects all reported vegetation items, develops the maintenance trimming schedule, prioritizes work and coordinates with the railroad entities. Field audits are completed to ensure the work performed meets the NERC standards.

UI continues to work with local tree wardens, as well as civic and professional groups, to help educate customers about the proper selection and care of trees that may be planted near UI’s electric facilities. In addition, safety brochures are distributed annually through bill inserts, and other events are held to educate the public on the dangers associated with energized wires and the importance of having qualified tree contractors or UI line clearance crews remove hazardous tree growth. We believe that we can continue to provide safe, reliable service in a cost-effective manner by working together with our customers in matters of line clearance and vegetation management.

  1. Maintenance Practices

The primary goal of Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) is to keep equipment operating properly while minimizing total maintenance costs. RCM uses proven predictive maintenance techniques to schedule cost effective maintenance only when needed (based on experience, inspection and testing results, manufacturers’ data, etc.) to prevent critical failures.

It should be understood that the term maintenance, as used at UI, includes both inspection and maintenance activities. UIcrews performconstruction, inspection and maintenance activities, thereby developing a balanced, well-rounded work force and minimizing costs.

United Illuminating employees perform the majority of maintenance work on the distribution system, with the exception of tree trimming, pole inspection and treatment, and street light repair/replace, which are done by outside contract crews. During peak constructions periods, outside contract crews may augment UI crews on construction projects. Outside contract crews are also used on UI’s transmission system for both major construction and maintenance functions.

Maintenance practices in the following sections are organized as noted below:

  • Construction/Maintenance Work Force Organization
  • Equipment Maintenance by Area
  • Overhead Distribution System
  • Underground Distribution System
  • Overhead Transmission System
  • Underground Transmission System
  • Substations
  • Protective Systems
  • Buildings and Structures
  • Substation Condition Assessment
  • Tree Trimming (Attachment B)
  • General
  1. Construction/Maintenance Work Force Organization

The following is a staffing summary by section and grade of United Illuminating’s construction and maintenance departments (as of October 21, 2009):

Department / Position / Number
System Maintenance / Manager, System Maintenance / 1
Maintenance Engineer / 5
Line Clearance Arborist & Technician / 3
Analyst & Tech Support Specialist / 2
Total System Maintenance / 11
Power Delivery (PD) / Senior Director, Construction Operations / 1
Manager, Power Delivery / 2
Supervisor, Power Delivery / 13
Line Worker 1st Class / 27
Line Worker 2nd & 3rd Class (Apprentice) / 25
Line Worker 5th Class (Helper) / 0
Line Trouble Shooter / 8
Line Group Leader / 32
Cable Splicer 1st Class / 8
Underground Working Leader / 2
Underground Inspector / 3
Supervisor – UG Construction / 2
UG PD Equipment Specialist & Helper / 17
Administrative Clerks - PD / 3
Total Power Delivery (PD) / 146
Transmission & Substation (T&S) / Manager – T&S / 1
Supervisor – T&S / 10
Substation Utility Worker / 3
Substation Maintenance Worker / 1
Substation Electrician Const. & Maint. Worker / 14
Substation Electrician 1st Class / 12
Substation Electrician 2nd Class / 7
Substation Electrician 3rd Class / 0
Substation Electrician Specialist / 10
Test Engineer / 1
Test Technician / 15
Glove Lab Technician / 2
Administrative Clerks – T&S / 2
Total Transmission & Substation (T&S) / 78
Total Construction Maintenance Work Force / 235
  1. Equipment Maintenance by Area

The Company uses a software application called Maximo® to manage the maintenance of equipment. Maximo® serves many functions, as it contains historical asset record data along with an asset registry, and also generates work orders associated with preventive and corrective maintenance plans. Several other databases are utilized in conjunctionwith Maximo® for implementing the RCM plan. These databases are linked where possible.

UI visually inspects its overhead equipment in accordance with defined RCM programs and whenever work is being performed on the system. The major components of UI’s Overhead Distribution System are identified below. Details of maintenance and inspections are noted in each asset category.

It should be noted that, in the course of any inspection and maintenance process described in this report, all hazards, damage, and other abnormal conditions affecting equipment on the UI system, are immediately reported to appropriate supervision, who then analyze the situation and coordinate corrective actions. Also, additional attention is given to any equipment as deemed appropriate by Electric System Maintenance.

The following is a list of major components of the overhead and underground distribution and transmission systems, and of the Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) implemented for each category.

  1. Overhead Distribution System

Equipment considered integral to the overhead distribution system consists of:

a)Poles

In 2006, the Company improved the inspection process for wood polesby incorporating the use of the Company’s Geographical Information System (GIS) for poles, in electronic format, in the pole inspection process. This allows the Company to continuously improve our asset information in an efficient manner. The Company’s poles will be inspected and treated over a six year period through2011. During the period 2006 - 2009, the Company continued the inspection and treatment program of wood poles completing 55,000 inspections of 85,000 for which UI is custodian. Poles from 010 years old will only be visually inspected and reported as such. If visual inspection warrants further action it is documented in a maintenance report. All poles 10years old and older are inspected both above and below the ground line area and, if necessary, maintained with an effective and proper remedial treatment. Poles presenting immediate hazards (danger poles) or pressing problems are brought to the attention of Customer Operations and Electric System Maintenancefor immediate action. Additionally, a pole is visually inspected whenever work is performed on the pole.

b)Wire

In addition to visual inspections carried out during pole maintenance, the main line and three phase side taps are inspected using infrared heat detection equipment on an annual basis. Inspection of single-phase lines using infrared heat detection equipment is performance based. Connector related outages on single-phase side taps are monitored through the Circuit Interruption Reporting System. Problems recorded in the Circuit Interruption Reporting System are tracked by the System Integrity group, who coordinates investigation and corrective action with the Electric System Maintenance group, as required. Similarly, problems identified during visual inspections are reported to Customer Operations and/or Electric System Maintenance for follow up and corrective action.

c)Aerial Cable

Aerial cable is dielectrically tested upon completion of any work involving the cable’s insulation. Aerial cable is inspected whenever work is done on the pole, and is visually inspected from the ground during pole maintenance. Paper Insulated Lead Covered (PILC) cable is replaced on a scheduled, programmatic basis with replacement priority based on past performance and its potential failure impact on system reliability.