Quantifying PQ and reliability market opportunities from the customer's perspective

Abstract

Businesses can call FedEx when it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight, or they can choose to use US Postal Service first class mail, saving a few dollars and accepting the uncertainty of delivery time. Likewise, businesses have a choice among long-distance telephone providers and can make tradeoffs between price and the level of customer service desired. But they have never been able to select the level of grid-delivered reliability and power quality they want, or their providers for these services. As the restructuring of the electricity industry continues, are we entering an era in which customers will be able to make similar tradeoffs between their desired level of reliability/power quality and the price they pay? E Source has completed one study and currently conducting a second to quantitatively and qualitatively answer these questions, focusing on the customer's perspective of their own reliability and power quality issues and needs. Both studies have focused on mid-size industrial end users of electric power across the US and Canada.