Reduced Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Costs.

Automation reduces operating costs across the entire utility, whether from improved management of information at the utility layer or from the automatic development of switching plans with a distribution management system (DMS) at the network layer. At the substation and distribution layers, fast fault location substantially reduces crew travel times, because crews can be dispatched directly to the faulted area of the network. Time-consuming traditional fault location practices using line patrols in combination with field operation of manual switches and the feeder circuit breaker in the primary substation are eliminated. Automation can be used to reduce losses, if the load characteristics justify the benefit, by regularly remotely changing the normally open points (NOPs) and dynamically controlling voltage. Condition monitoring of network elements through real-time data access in combination with an asset management system allows advanced condition and reliability-based maintenance practices to be implemented. Outages for maintenance can be optimally planned to reduce their impact on customers.