GO166: Definitions

Appropriate Regulatory Authority: The agency or governmental body responsible for regulation or governance of the utility.

Critical Customers: Customers requiring electric service for life sustaining equipment.

Emergency or Disaster: An event which is the proximate cause of a major outage, including but not limited to storms, lightning strikes, fires, floods, hurricanes, volcanic activity, landslides, earthquakes, windstorms, tidal waves, terrorist attacks, riots, civil disobedience, wars, chemical spills, explosions, and airplane or train wrecks.

Essential Customers: Customers requiring electric service to provide essential public health and safety services.

Major Outage: Consistent with Public Utilities Code Section 364, a major outage occurs when 10 percent of the electric utility’s serviceable customers experience a simultaneous, non-momentary interruption of service. For utilities with less than 150,000 customers within California, a major outage occurs when 50 percent of the electric utility’s serviceable customers experience a simultaneous, non-momentary interruption of service.

Measured Event: A Measured Event is a Major Outage (as defined herein), resulting from non-earthquake, weather-related causes, affecting between 10% (simultaneous) and 40% (cumulative) of a utility’s electric customer base. A Measured Event is deemed to begin at 12:00 a.m. on the day when more than one percent (simultaneous) of the utility’s electric customers experience sustained interruptions. A Measured Event is deemed to end when fewer than one percent (simultaneous) of the utility’s customers experience sustained interruptions in two consecutive 24-hour periods (12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.); and the end of the Measured Event in 11:59 p.m. of that 48-hour period.

Safety Standby: Interim activities undertaken to mitigate immediate public safety hazards.

Serviceable Customer: A customer prepared and properly equipped to receive service where both the customer’s electrical service facilities and those facilities of the utility necessary to serve the customer can be legally and physically accessed in a safe manner.

Transmission Facilities: Transmission facilities are those facilities subject to control by the Independent System Operator pursuant to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission orders.