The power of electrical supply is essential for the functioning of our society. Its price is a decisive factor of competitiveness of a large part of our economy. The technological development of the electricity industry and the structure of supply of raw materials determine the development of other sectors of the industry. If the low quality of the distribution of an area exists, or could produce serious consequences for users, or special circumstances that could endanger security in the blackout, the competent authority may establish guidelines for action that must be carried out by distribution companies to restore the quality of service .
What do we mean by quality of the electricity service?
Service quality is the set of features, technical and commercial inherent to power required by the subjects, consumers and the bodies of the Administration.
Quality of service is configured according to the following:
- Continuity of supply on the number and duration of supply interruptions;
- Product quality on the characteristics of the voltage wave;
- Quality care and customer relationship on the set of actions for information advice, recruitment, communication and representation.
How do we measure the quality of electric service?
It depends from the continuity of supply which is determined by the number and duration of interruptions. We use two measures for this: The TIEPI and NIEPI. The distribution companies supply electricity through the implementation of CEL, i.e. the number of interruptions of service they provide and the duration in the course of a full year. This data is processed with a statistical quality indexes for areas.
Policy Context
Law 54/1997 on the electricity sector, foresees in Article 48 regarding  power quality, that the Central Government shall identify objective indicators of quality of service and that utilities are required to furnish to the Administration information quality indexes.
The distribution companies supply electricity through the implementation of CEL, i.e. the number of interruptions of service they provide and the duration in the course of a full year To record these measurements they have to conform to the provisions of the Order ECO/797/2002, 22 March, approving the procedure for measuring and controlling the continuity of the electricity supply and establishing a procedure for measuring and controlling the continuity of supply that is consistent for all companies and auditable, with the implementation within one year from the approval.
Based on the information recorded and submitted by the companies, 2 indicators are used for measuring the quality of electric service: The TIEPI and NIEPI described below:
TIEPI : downtime is equivalent to the installed power in medium voltage (1 kV <V <= 36 kV).
This index is defined by the following expression:
TIEPI = sum( Pli x Hi) / sum( Pl)Â Â Â Â Â Â Â (i=1...k)
Where:
   * sum(PI)=sum of the installed power centers MV / LV power distributor engaged in MT (in kVA).
   * PI i = facilities installed MT/BT power distributor hired in MT, affected by the interruption duration i H i (in kVA).
   * H i = time of supply disruption that affects the power Pli (in hours).
   * K = total number of interruptions during the period.
Interruptions to be considered in the calculation of TIEPI are the ones lasting longer than three minutes.
TIEPI 80 percentile is the value of TIEPI is not exceeded by 80% of provincial municipalities defined.
NIEPI: the number of interruptions equivalent of installed power at medium voltage (1 kV <V <= 36 kV).
This index is defined by the following expression:
NIEPI = sum(Pli) / sum(Pl)Â Â Â Â Â Â (i=1...k)
Where:
   * sum Pl= sum of the installed power centers MT/BT power distributor engaged in MT (in kVA).
   * PI i = installed capacity of processing centers MTlBT the contracted power distributor in MT, affected by the interruption "i" (in kVA).
   * K = total number of interruptions during the period.
Interruptions to be considered in the calculation of NIEPI are  those of more than three minutes.
Description of target users and groups
The current legislation, defines the characteristics of the system that records incidents in power. It also details the necessary background information and the collection and processing of data needed to assess continuity for each client, whether they have breached their conditions of individual quality and, if so, the application of the mandatory check-off. In addition the relevant regulation establishes the procedure for determining the reductions to be applied in the billing to be paid by users if it is found that the quality of individual service provided by the company is less than the statutory requirements.
This system allows various public consultations to citizens anonymously. It constitutes the public register of electricity distribution companies and various levels of quality statistics on the continuity of supply and has been developing since 2003 thanks to data collected by this procedure.Â
Description of the way to implement the initiative
CEL - Electric Power Quality MITYC is a project developed in collaboration with the different administrations (CNE, OMEL, and MITYC) and the electric power distributors. This project was launched in 2004 to generate the data quality industry. Subsequently, we extended the system to collect information relating to energy and electricity billing.
Other substantial improvements have also implemented to disaggregate the quality data for exceptional events that natural causes and that generally occur in at least 10% of the municipalities on the peninsula or at least 50% of municipalities in each of the islands and mainland systems and that, in accordance with technical regulations applicable to facilities, are not provided for in the design of the same: hurricanes (eg, Hurricane Klaus), floods, earthquakes, etc.
Power quality can be classified in terms of size:
Individual Quality: is the contractual nature referred to each consumer.
- Zone Quality: is that related to a particular geographical area served by a single distributor.
Data supplied by electricity distributors may refer to different types of areas which are determined by the number of inhabitants: - A set of counties in a state with more than 20 000 deliveries, including provincial capitals.
- A set of counties in a state with a number of supplies between 2 000 and 20 000, excluding provincial capitals.
- RC (rural area concentrated): A set of counties in a state with a number of supplies between 200 and 2 000.
- RD (dispersed rural area): a group of municipalities with fewer than 200 province supplies and supplies located away from population centers that are not residential or industrial estates.
Technology solution
The users access the system via the Internet in three ways:
- With user name and password;
- Using a recognized digital certificate (eg class FNMT 2CA or DNI-e);
- Free access to public consultations: electricity distribution businessregistration and query statistics on the quality and continuity of supply.
In order to send data by Business, the Developer system Allows Flexibility in the format: It supports Access databases and files with XML structure. In order to meet the requirements of the users, they all have the option to download the template in the format chosen. It goes to the sender in real time indicating possible problems or errors that your shipping information might contain. Also, the data download is done in real time, allowing the manager of the Ministry staff at all times to display statistics resulting from the quality of the submitted files.
The development of the programming was done by NET Framework inside NetFramework 2.0 with the Visual Studio 2005 tool. Data storage is done through an ORACLE Database version 10-g server.
Based on Web Services it then obtains the receipt from Electronic Registry of MITYC. The number of registry and the date and hour of presentation are used in order to organize the applications forms in chronological order. Then they are consulted by the personal of MITYC in order to manage them electronically as it is regulated in Law 11/2007, providing citizens with electronic access to their procedures.
Main results, benefits and impacts
The impact of CEL in the electricity sector has been significant. Through the systematic collection of data on the continuity of supply, and real time statistics, the system allows early detection of those areas that are deficient in power quality levels, allowing, based on reports generated by the system CEL, timely decisions aimed at improving service delivery.
In 2004 during the implementation of CEL about 100 companies in the sector reported data on supply continuity and duration. The system was subsequently expanded in order  to also collect data regarding energy and electricity bills. In the year 2010 data regarding has been submitted by more than 300  electricity distribution companies, almost covering all the sector in Spain.
Currently, the CEL has eliminated the use of paper for this procedure. The electricity sector distribution companies send quality data in a fully electronic manner..
Return on investment
Return on investment: Not applicable / Not availableTrack record of sharing
Data supplied by electric utilities in terms of continuity of supply is collected for the same periods during the year and is sent via the CEL system within usually early the next year. In 2004 during the implementation of CEL about 100 companies in the sector reported data on supply continuity and duration.  The system was subsequently expanded in order  to also collect data regarding energy and electricity bills. In the year 2010 data regarding has been submitted by more than 300 electricity distribution companies, almost covering all the sector in Spain.
Lessons learnt
The current legislation in Spain protects the rights of citizens regarding the guarantee of continuity of the electricity supply in their homes or businesses. The CEL Implementation is the instrument for collecting and evaluating real-time quality indicators provided by the industry and generating reports and statistics needed to detect the minimum to be met in terms of quality by the electrical sector companies.
Scope: National