Original General Order 166

Definitions

Accessible:  A condition which permits safe and legal access.  

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.

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.