Century Electric Distribution System Operations

The electric industry has gone through dramatic changes over the past two decades. The restructuring program begun in the early 1990s opened up the wholesale markets with numerous competitive generation companies transacting over open-access transmission systems. New entities called independent system operators (ISOs) and regional transmission organizations (RTOs) arose as wholesale market operators and transmission service providers for the majority of customers in the US. In other locales, traditional utility balancing authorities evolved to provide similar functions for their area of responsibility. Many states also opened retail electricity supply to competition, allowing customers greater choice over the sources of energy and creating new business opportunities for retail providers. Concurrently, over 40 states enacted policies to promote renewable supply portfolios and a similar number have net energy metering tariffs which have helped to spur adoption of distribution energy technologies. All of this has occurred during a period of increasing customer service and reliability expectations. Combined, these factors are creating a need to transition our electric system into a 21 century power system that continues to be reliable and cost effective while incorporating more sustainable energy sources.