1996/97

Quality of Supply Report

Message from the Managing Director, Power Systems 2

Report Highlights 3

Company Profile 3

Quality of Supply Developments 4

Company Targets 10

System Performance 1996/97 11

Targeting Investments 1997/98 17

Capital Expenditure 19

Analysis of System Performance 1996/97 22

Glossary of Terms 23

How to Contact Us 25

Contents

1

A message from Alan Richardson, ManagingDirector, Power SystemsIn this third Quality of Supply report we review the quality of supply we provided to our customersduring the period 1 April 1996 to 31 March 1997 and include details of the improvements we willdeliver to our customers by the year 2000. In the report we examine the past and future capitalinvestments which are aimed at improving the quality of service experienced by customers.

1996/97 has been an eventful year in ScottishPower. Our area suffered from two of the worststorms that we can remember. On 6 November the south west of Scotland experienced one of theworst gale force storms for more than 20 years with wind gusts of more than 85 mph. Just fourweeks later, the south of Scotland suffered from a snow and ice storm which caused massivedisruption to the affected communities and caused the most damage to our network that we haveever experienced from a single event. Restoring supplies required the efforts of more than 1000staff including 300 from our Manweb division and other contractors. All these staff displayedremarkable dedication to customer service in the most arduous conditions. The effects of this stormare discussed in this report.

Our business strategy is to deliver continuous improvement in quality of supply and our target is toreduce ScottishPower Customer Minutes Lost (CML) per connected customer by around 20% fromthe 1991/92 levels by year 2000. We are well on the way to achieving this and we will continue toreview these targets to ensure our customers receive the highest possible quality of supply.

Customer service is our primary objective, this includes a strong commitment to improving thereliability of our network and the quality of supply provided to our customers through our investmentsin the distribution system. Much of this investment is targeted towards our customers who live in ruralareas and is described in detail in this report. However we are upgrading our urban networks withprogrammes to refurbish buildings and replace switchgear as equipment reaches the end of its usefullife. Our engineering group work closely with manufacturers, encouraging development of newequipment and technology to bring the best possible benefits to our customers, at stillacceptable cost.

At the time of preparing this Report we suffered a tragic accident which occurredon the evening of Tuesday 15 April 97 at Barrhead substation, south ofGlasgow. Three of my staff were carrying out routine checks at the substationwhen an explosion occurred in a piece of 11,000 volt equipment. Two staffsuffered fatal injuries and the third was seriously burned in the explosion. Theentire company was deeply shocked and saddened by this tragic incident anda full inquiry is underway to identify the cause of the event. I know that all staffjoin me in extending my deepest sympathy to the families of those involved.This cruel reminder of the power and danger of electricity strengthens myresolve to ensure our network continues to be maintained to the highestsafety and quality standards.

If you have any questions or comments following your study of this reportplease contact the Regional Manager at your local regional office. Detailsof how to contact us can be found on page 25 of this report.

2

Report highlights

Company profile

© Underlying CML per connected customer down 6.7% on 1995/6to 61.9.

© Two periods of exceptionally severe weather add 47% to supplyhours lost due to all the remaining unplanned incidents in 1996/7.

© Investment in Outage-Free working methods which allow work onlive 11,000 volt overhead lines have avoided around 60,000customer supply interruptions.

© Total outage time caused by planned work reduced by 55% since1992/3.

© First installation of insulated 11,000 volt overhead lines completed.

© As a result of the December 96 storm, stronger overhead lineconstruction specification to be piloted during 97/8.

© New incident recording and customer monitoring systemintroduced in April 97.

ScottishPower distributes electricity to

more than 1.8 million customers in 23,000

square kilometres stretching from Newport-

on-Tay and Helensburgh in the north to

Stranraer and Holy Island in the south.

This geographical area comprises

contrasting topography from the densely-

populated industrial and urban areas of the

Clyde/Forth Valley to the exposed and

sparsely-populated areas of the Borders

and Dumfries and Galloway.

The map shows our four Regions and

illustrates the differences in customer

numbers and type of network used to

provide supply.

3

413,952

16,048km

573,777

12,359km

140,353

13,823km

Customers

Overhead Network (km)

Underground Network (km)

S O U T H E R NR E G I O N

W E S T E R NR E G I O N

F O R T HR E G I O NC L Y D E

R E G I O N

675,98320,850km

4

Quality of supplydevelopment

Independent research, commissioned by ScottishPower during 1996, has

shown that 84% of ScottishPower customers are either satisfied or very

satisfied with the reliability of the supply they receive. This reflects the

effort we have made to improve the service we provide. Customers also

tell us that we should be easy to contact and should keep them informed

when there are problems. We have therefore introduced our 24 hour call

centre.

The same research confirmed that reliability of supply remains a concern

of customers and that when an incident does occur customers expect a

prompt response. Short interruptions of a few seconds are inconvenient,

although the majority of customers see them as being preferable to

longer interruptions.

This section describes some of the developments we are introducing to

improve all aspects of our service and reliability and to address customer

concerns.

Network Management When an incident occurs on our network which disrupts the supply to

customers, it is important that customers can contact us easily, advise

us of their circumstances and obtain information about what action we

are taking. Our Customer Service Centre now provides an improved

24 hour service, for customers to report problems with their supply on

0845 27 27 999. Calls to this Call Centre are dealt with quickly and

efficiently to make sure that customers are given accurate up-to-date

information.

In January 1996, we opened a new Power Systems Management Centre

(PSMC) in Hamilton at a cost of £5m to improve our efficiency and

management of all incidents and planned work. Since then we have

extended the system to our regional centres to allow us greater flexibility

in managing our network.

The PSMC includes a Control Room which uses a modern computerised

network management system to control all network operations, and a

Despatch Centre which provides dedicated staff to co-ordinate the

activities of all our emergency staff. The duration of an outage depends

on how quickly our field staff can rectify the problem, but more than 80%

of our customers affected by incidents are now restored within three

hours. To accelerate our supply restoration capacity we are investing

£7m in distribution automation which will complete the fitting of remote

control and alarm monitoring facilities at all 440 main substations. This

work is on target to be completed by the end of 1998.

5

To improve our ability to accurately record incidents and identify those

customers who suffer repeated interruptions to their supply, we are

developing a new incident recording and customer monitoring system at

a cost of more than £500,000. This system was implemented at the

beginning of April 97 and will be enhanced during 1997 to improve our

monitoring of the worst served areas.

Planned WorkScottishPower and Manweb are leaders in the field of Outage-Free

working and the Company integration has strengthened this experience.

Special equipment and techniques have been developed to keep

customers on supply while allowing us to conduct routine maintenance.

This has resulted in a 55% drop in CML due to such planned

interruptions, although we are conducting more maintenance. We now

have 10 Outage-Free teams operating which have contributed to the

significant reduction in CML shown on this graph.

Short Supply InterruptionsMore than 60% of all incidents on 11kV overhead lines cause no

damage to our equipment, providing the supply is disconnected

quickly. Following the incident, the supply can usually be restored

simply by re-energising the circuit. In the past, this required an

engineer to visit the substation and close the switch manually which

would typically have taken about one hour.

We have invested in automatic pole mounted switches which can be

programmed to re-energise the supplies. These pole mounted

switches each control relatively small sections of our network to

minimise the number of customers who are affected by a particular

incident.

Customers benefit by having their supply restored within a few seconds

where in the past they would have typically been off for at least an hour.

16

14

12

10

8

6

492/3 93/4 94/5 95/6 96/7

Financial Year

Pre-Arranged CML

Pre

-Arr

ang

ed C

ML

per

Co

nn

ecte

d C

ust

om

er

Pre-Arranged

6

Our market research tells us that customers see short-term interruptions

to their supply as preferable to a longer time without supply. However we

are aware that even a short interruption in supply is inconvenient. Modern

electronic equipment often needs to be reset if it is unable to

ride-through these short interruptions. Under European

legislation manufacturers are working to make their equipment

operate correctly during such supply interruptions.

We aim to collect accurate statistics on the performance of our

network and we are undertaking trials of equipment, similar to

that shown here, which will provide us with the ability to monitor

short-term interruptions. These Power Fail Monitors were

installed last year as part of a programme to develop a

reporting system. This work will continue during 1997/8 to

ensure our information is accurate and reliable. Many circuits have

measured no short interruptions and others have shown between 1 and

20 for the year. We wish to refine this work before reporting the results.

We plan to provide an indication of the number of short term interruptions

experienced by customers in our 1997/8 Quality of Supply Report.

Protection of Overhead NetworksDuring 1996/7 we continued installing our revised overhead line

protection which uses electronic links, in conjunction with pole mounted

automatic switches, to replace 11,000 volt fuses. These electronic links

are more reliable than fuses during transient events such as lightning

storms. The additional pole mounted switches help minimise the number

of customers affected by permanent incidents.

An example of the benefits we obtain from this targeted investment is

shown in the graph. This shows that following the application of our

overhead line protection policy to the 11,000 volt lines out of Dalbeattie

primary substation in 1993/4, the level of customer hours supply lost due

to non-damage incidents has fallen to less than 3.5% of its 1993/4 level.

5000

4000

3000

2000

1000

091/2

Overhead Protection – Applied to Dalbeattie Primary 93/4

‘No

n-D

amag

e’ C

ust

om

er H

ou

rs L

ost

92/3 93/4 94/5 95/6 96/7

120

100

80

60

40

20

091/2P

erce

nta

ge

Dam

age/

No

n-D

amag

e C

HL

92/3 93/4 94/5 95/6 96/7

Damage Non-Damage

7

By the end of 1996/7 we had installed this equipment on more than 190

circuits. Some of those which benefited from this equipment during

1996/7 are indicated on page 16 of this report. This program will be

completed during 1997/8 with a further 50 circuits being targeted.

Automation of Supply RestorationRural villages, often far from one of our 440 main substations, are

supplied by an 11,000 volt overhead line. Incidents on these high voltage

lines can result in the supply to the village being lost until staff arrive to

isolate the incident and restore supplies.

Many villages however, have an alternative supply available in the form of

a second high voltage overhead line. We have an ongoing programme of

installing new equipment to automate the restoration

of supply. This system detects the loss of supply to

the village and having checked that the incident is

not within the village network, signals the electrically

operated pole top switches, to operate and restore

supply to the village. This takes 30 - 60 seconds.

Already these schemes have avoided around

60,000 customer hours of supply loss, equivalent to

two CML for the Company, by their operations.

During 1997/8 we plan to install this equipment to

benefit 10 villages in the ScottishPower area.

GeneratorsLive working on 11,000 volt overhead lines will

substantially reduce pre-arranged interruptions to customers’ supplies but

some tasks are not possible to safely complete on live lines. Similarly

there are other types of high voltage equipment, such as cables,

transformers and switchgear which are not suitable for live working

techniques.

In these situations it may be possible to use a generator to maintain

supply to customers while working safely on equipment. We plan to

increase our use of generators in this way. We have developed

techniques which allow generators to be used at high voltage without

even a short interruption of customers’ supplies to allow the generator to

be disconnected. This approach will allow us to maintain supplies to

groups of customers affected by our rural upgrading programme.

Dunscore

Greenlaw

Aberlady

ColdinghamGifford

WanlockheadLeadhills

Colinsburgh

Crossford

Milton ofCampsie Slamannan

Pathhead

Tweedsmuir

GordonSt Boswells

8

Overhead Line Reconstruction Extreme weather events, such as the snow storm in the Borders on

3/4 December 1996 and a similar event in our Wales region of Manweb

on 19 November, are unpredictable and cause enormous disruption to

our network and to the local communities. Prolonged outages, often for

several days, while we rebuild and repair the damaged poles and

conductors are not compatible with the level of service we intend to offer

our customers.

Following these two such events an investigation was undertaken to

identify what actions could be taken to minimise the impact of future

extreme weather events. The investigation identified that, in general, the

equipment which failed during the storms did so because it was stressed

beyond its design limits by the combination of snow, ice and wind.

It concluded that to reduce such equipment failures in similar severe

storms it is necessary to build much stronger overhead lines than those

which were constructed by the nationalised electricity companies.

The bulk of lines in use today were constructed when electricity was

expanded into rural areas in the 1950-1960's era.

ScottishPower's policy to conduct a systematic refurbishment or

rebuilding of overhead lines will continue. We have identified that around

half of our overhead lines, supplying the most heavily populated areas,

will be rebuilt to a much stronger specification. This programme will take

many years to complete and we will seek agreement from OFFER for its

future funding. We have begun this programme and propose

concentrating our pilot schemes in our Borders area.

Landowner permission together with planning authority approval is

necessary for such work and this is proving ever more onerous.

However, we will continue to pursue our policy of building stronger

overhead lines to bring better supplies to rural communities.

9

Insulated Overhead LinesTraditionally UK overhead lines, as in most other countries,

have utilised bare wire construction. Although this has many

advantages, particularly cost, it can experience transient

damage due to gales, tree contact or bird strikes. We have

completed our first pilot installation of insulated conductors,

at Drummore near Stranraer, where 10.5km have been

installed. The results of this pilot will allow us to finalise

specifications and our future programme.

We believe the selective use of insulated conductors will

improve the reliability of our supply, particularly by reducing the short

interruptions experienced by customers.

Power Quality MonitoringVoltage dips occur on all power systems as a result of system incidents,

e.g. cable damage, lightning strikes, etc. The increasing sophistication

and sensitivity of computers, process control equipment and power

electronics in recent years has increased the problem of equipment

failure as a result of these voltage dips.

Modern equipment should be designed to ride-through many of these

disturbances and European legislation exists to guide equipment

manufacturers in the types of power quality problems that may occur on

a public supply system. Customers who rely on modern electronic

devices should seek guidance from

equipment suppliers on what voltage dips

the equipment can ride-through and how it

should be protected.

Voltage dips particularly affect our major

process and service industry customers

who are concerned about losing many

hours of production because of these

supply disturbances which last less than

one second. The ScottishPower area has

one of the highest concentrations of

semiconductor manufacturing facilities in

Europe, for example 38% of all European

PCs are manufactured here, and we are

addressing these customers' concerns by

monitoring power quality. Our monitoring

equipment produces power quality reports, showing the number, duration

and severity of voltage depression, which we use to ensure we deliver

high quality supplies and to assist customers in understanding their

internal protection needs.

SPline

BT line

Satelliteclock

Display Stationdatabase

NU

MB

ER

OF

DIP

S

VOLTAGE

R

ETAINED

DURATION

Our strategic goal is to deliver excellent customer service and ensure a

continuous improvement in the availability, reliability and security of

supply. We have system performance targets to demonstrate this

improvement, the most notable of which are:

© By 2000, to reduce total underlying CML per connected customer by

20% compared to 1991/2 to between 55 and 65 minutes.

© By 2000, to reduce total underlying customer interruptions to between

45 and 55 per 100 connected customers.

© By 2000, to target improvements to those customers who experience

more than an average of three unplanned incidents in each separately

protected section of HV network used to provide their supply.

These company targets are consistent with regional performance in line

with the tables below:

AvailabilityCustomer Minutes Lost per

Region connected customer by 2000

Clyde 37-43

Forth 58-70

Western 60-72

Southern 145-175

SecurityInterruptions per 100

Region connected customers by 2000

Clyde 32-36

Forth 55-65

Western 47-55

Southern 105-125

This report shows that the underlying performance of our network is well

on the way to achieving these targets. However, the unusually severe

snow and ice storms of the previous two winters have masked the

underlying improvement in our reported figures. We have described in

this report the actions we are taking to achieve our targets and reduce

the impact of future severe events. Through these efforts we expect the

improvements to continue.

We will however continue to review these targets to ensure our

customers receive the highest possible quality of supply.

10

Company targets

COMPANY SYSTEM PERFORMANCE

Key Improvements© Underlying CML per connected customer down 6.7% on 1995/6 from

66.3 to 61.9.

© Customer Interruptions (CI) per 100 connected customers down 13%

on 1995/6 from 65.5 to 57.0.

© Pre-arranged CML per connected customer down 38% on 1995/6

from 9.9 to 6.1.

© Investment in Outage-Free working methods which allow work on live

11,000 volt overhead lines have avoided around 60,000 customer

supply interruptions.

1996/7 Extreme WeatherDuring 1996/7 the ScottishPower area suffered two short, but

exceptionally severe, periods of bad weather which caused enormous

disruption to local communities and to our network. This graph plots the

number of HV and EHV incidents we experienced each day last year and

the impact of these storms is clearly visible.

On the 6 November 1996 the Western region suffered from severe winds

which gusted to more than 85 mph, amongst the worst for more than 20

years. These gales caused 188 incidents on our HV and EHV networks.

On the 3 and 4 December 1996 southern Scotland was subjected to a

severe snow and ice storm which caused extensive damage to our

network. This caused 300 incidents on the HV and EHV systems and was

centred on our Borders area as shown in the diagram overleaf. The

damage caused to overhead lines by this storm was the worst that

ScottishPower has ever experienced from a single event. The storm

caused more than 400 wooden poles and steel towers to snap or buckle

and conductors to break at 800 locations.

11

System performance 1996/7 (See also Tables 1-3 on page 22 of this report)

400

300

200

100

0April 96 March 97

3 & 4/12/96Ice Storm

6/11/96Gales

Number of HV & EHV Incidents per day

The region's emergency plan was activated and at the peak of the storm

more than 1000 staff, including 300 from Manweb and outside

contractors were involved. Our contingency planning successfully allowed

us to use these resources to restore the supplies to 40,000 customers

affected by the storm.

Despite all the efforts to restore supplies quickly during both these

storms their combined effect was to add 26.7 CML to the company's

performance, which represents 48% of the underlying CML performance

for the whole year.

AvailabilityThis graph clearly demonstrates the impact of the storms during 1996/7

which have been described earlier and which added 26.7 CML to the

1996/7 total. During 1995/6 severe lightning, wind and snow storms

including the snow storm in Dumfries and Galloway during February,

which triggered the Local Authority Emergency Plan, added 14.7 CML to

the 1995/6 total.

Over the past five years the underlying availability of supply due to

unplanned interruptions, measured in CML, has improved by 33%.

The underlying trend is shown in this graph by the 'weather corrected'

line, which shows that we are on course to achieve our year 2000 target.

12

120

100

80

60

40

20

092/3 93/4 94/5 95/6 96/7 97/8 98/9 99/00

Financial Year

Availability

CM

L p

er C

on

nec

ted

Cu

sto

mer

Total

All Faults

Pre-Arranged

Target

Weather Corrected

Edinburgh

Dumfries

Stirling

Kilmarnock

> 50,000

20,000 – 50,000

5,000 – 20,000

2,500 – 5,000

Key – CHL

CustomerHours Lost by PrimarySubstation

SecurityOver the past five years the impact on security of supply from unplanned

interruptions, measured in CI, has improved by 29%.

The graph shows we are on course to achieve our year 2000 target.

Quality of ServiceAs soon as we are aware that an incident has occurred which disrupts

supply to customers we respond as quickly as possible. To help us

monitor our speed of response we record the time it takes to restore

supply to each customer and we have a target to restore 80% of supplies

within three hours and 99% of supplies within 24 hours. During 1996/7

we exceeded both of these targets by restoring 80.6% of all supplies

within three hours and 99.1% of all supplies within 24 hours.

Voltage Complaints (See also Table 4 on page 22 of this report)

Domestic customers make up the majority of our 1.8 million customers

and receive their supply at 230V. European legislation requires this

voltage to be between minus 6% (216.2V) and plus 10% (253V).

We design our networks to maintain supply within this band under normal

circumstances. However, due to increasing load on our network for

example, customers may complain to us about voltage problems.

Last year we investigated 1005 complaints, found 521 were valid and

took action to rectify the problem. To ensure we rectify these problems

quickly we have a target to rectify 95% of verified voltage complaints

within six months. During 1996/7 we exceeded this target by rectifying

513 voltage complaints, equal to 98.5%, within six months.

13

100

80

60

40

20

092/3 93/4 94/5 95/6 96/7 97/8 98/9 99/00

Financial Year

Security

CI p

er 1

00 C

on

nec

ted

Cu

sto

mer

s

Total

All Faults

Pre-Arranged

Target

Weather Corrected

REGIONAL SYSTEM PERFORMANCE

Key Improvements© 1.66 million or 92% of ScottishPower’s 1.8 million customers

experience supply security and availability better than the national

average.

© All Regions achieve a minimum of 31% reduction in Pre-arranged CML

between 1995/6 and 1996/7.

AvailabilityThe vast majority of ScottishPowers' customers, 1.66 million or 92%,

reside in either the Clyde, Forth or Western regions. These customers

experience an availability of supply which is better than that received by

the average customer in the UK.

The graph shows that the supply reliability of the remaining 140,000

ScottishPower customers, who reside in Southern region, is extremely

dependent upon the weather. In 1996/7 the storms in November and

December accounted for more than 70% of the total CML during the

whole year.

The underlying performance of the network in Southern region is close to

the national average and the improvement due to our continued efforts

and investment can be seen. As a result of the storms we have

experienced, and their unacceptable impact on the performance of our

network, we are taking action to construct overhead lines which are more

resilient in extreme conditions. The work we are undertaking was

described on page 8 of this report.

14

400

300

200

100

0Clyde

1995/6 National Average

Forth Western Southern

Regional Unplanned CML

CM

L p

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on

nec

ted

Cu

sto

mer

95/6

96/7

Storm Contribution

15

SecurityIn general, our rural customers are those who are least well served.

This is demonstrated by the figures for our Southern region which serves

predominantly rural communities. It is for this reason that the majority of

our investments which are specifically aimed at improving the quality of

the supply we provide, are targeted at our rural area.

Again the impact of the storms is highlighted in the above figures

together with the national average. It is clear that the vast majority of

ScottishPower customers experience a supply reliability significantly

better than the national average.

Pre Arranged CMLThe improvement due to our investments in Outage Free working,

described earlier, can be seen in the graph with all regions showing a

minimum of a 31% reduction in CML due to pre-arranged supply

interruptions between 95/6 and 96/7.

These latest improvements continue the downward trend since 93/4

when we started Outage Free working. Southern region have halved the

supply minutes lost to our rural customers over this period.

200

150

100

50

0Clyde

1995/6 National Average

Forth Western Southern

Regional Unplanned CI

CI p

er 1

00 C

on

nec

ted

Cu

sto

mer

s

95/6

96/7

Storm Contribution

100

80

60

40

20

0Clyde Forth Western Southern

Regional Pre-Arranged CML

CM

L p

er C

on

nec

ted

Cu

sto

mer

93/4

94/5

95/6

96/7

16

Region Circuit Proposed Work Update

Forth Blackburn Overhead line protection Completed

Forth Menstrie Overhead line protection Completion July 97

Forth Carberry Rebuild overhead line Almost complete, remainder by+ protection October 97 following cropping

season

Forth Collingsburgh 11kV rural automation Completed

Western Pinwherry Overhead line protection Completion July 97

Southern Barrhill Insulated conductors Completed

Southern Oakfield Overhead line protection Completed

Southern Torthorwald Rebuild overhead line + protection Completed

Southern Craig – Port William Rebuild overhead line + protection Completed

Southern St. Boswells 33kV primary automation Completion September 97

UPDATE ON 1996/7 QOS CIRCUITSIn our Report last year we detailed a list of localities where we would be

targeting quality of supply initiatives. The table below gives an update of

progress on this work. It is too early to measure the effect of this work

on these circuits but we fully expect the results to improve the regional

performance statistics.

Least Well Served CustomersOur target is to ensure that by the year 2000 we target improvements to

those customers who experience more than an average of three

unplanned HV incidents in each protection zone providing their supply.

To ensure we can identify such customers we implemented a new

incident recording and customer monitoring system in April 97 at a cost

of more than £500,000.

The chart shown here indicates that in 1996/7, 36.6% of all CML were

due to high voltage overhead line incidents. The majority of the

pre-arranged CML were also due to planned work on high voltage

overhead lines. Whilst high voltage underground cables account for

24.2% of CML, this is spread over a larger number of customers who live

in more densely-populated areas. The impact on individual customers is

therefore much smaller.

We have described in this Report how we plan to improve the reliability of

our overhead lines. We target those circuits where we can expect

maximum benefits taking into account the number of incidents on a

circuit, the number of customers affected and the duration of the

interruptions.

We have a duty to maintain our system in a safe condition and our assets

are upgraded based on condition as well as CML. Much of our capital

investment therefore does not have a measurable effect on performance,

but is designed to avoid deterioration of our network. The work

programme described on page 18 is drawn from the specific programme

we have for the improvement of quality of supply.

Targeting investments andgetting results

17

LV Incidents

Pre-arranged

Transmission

EHV IncidentsHV–U/G Incidents

HV–O/H Incidents

HV – RestIncidents

Percentage of Customer Minutes Lost

36.6%

24.2%

10.9%

6.8%

8.8%11.8%

0.8%

18

Least Well Served areas to be targeted during 1997/8

No ofRegion Circuit CHL CI Incidents Proposed Work

Southern Selkirk - Ettrick Bridge, 4125 1419 8 Line rebuild & overheadDeloraine, Tushielaw, Ettrick protection policy

Southern Duns Castle, Borthwick Quarry, 1302 296 5 Overhead protection policyHardens, Gavinton, Polwarth

Southern Denholm - Bonchester Bridge, 4792 713 4 Line rebuild and refurbishmentFodderlee, Bedrule

Southern Maxton, Rutherford, Roxburgh 1957 491 8 Overhead protection policyNewton, Mertoun, Clinthill,Bemersyde, Smailmolm,Mellerstain

Southern Chapel on Leader, Birkenside 1669 388 4 Overhead protection policyBlainslie

Forth Cowstrandburn, Kinnedar, 2516 1012 3 Overhead protection policySaline, Steelend

Forth Kingston, Brownrigg, 2846 489 6 Overhead protection policyWhitekirk, Leuchie, RhodesHoldings, Newmains

Forth Longniddry, Gosford, Aberlady 5778 3842 6 Overhead protection policy

Clyde Clynder, Rosneath, Kilcreggan 1865 1007 3 Overhead protection policy

Southern Crossmichael, Laurieston 8690 4001 16 Line rebuild

Southern Boreland, Sibbaldie, Millbank 664 421 3 Overhead protection policy

Southern Holywood 1418 1181 6 Line rebuild

Southern Lochfoot, Shawhead 5493 1543 14 Line rebuild

Southern Scaur Glen, Wanlockhead, 4061 1929 8 Line rebuildLeadhills, Enterkinfoot,Durisdeer

Southern Tarff - Bridge of Dee 1332 666 4 Line rebuild & overheadprotection policy

Western Killoch Colliery, Drongan, 3882 2346 5 Overhead protection policyOchiltree rural

Western Part of Troon & Barassie, 3314 2411 2 Overhead protection policyDundonald rural, Symingtonrural

Southern Biggar - Drumelier, 2829 842 7 Line rebuild and refurbishmentTweedsmuir, Kindledores

Western Corra Linn - Towers, Rigside 2038 375 3 Line rebuildLanark & Douglas rural area

Western Towers - Poneil, Lanark & 5244 1056 18 Line rebuildDouglas rural area

Western Part of Kirkintilloch, Low Moss 3169 1771 5 Overhead protection policyPrison

Western Forth, Tarbrax, Braehead 7072 1968 7 Overehad protection policy

Forth Sauchie, parts of Alloa & 1662 327 2 Overhead protection policyOakley

Forth Ecclesmachan, parts of 5273 2029 6 Overhead protection policyBroxburn & Dechmont

3 Year Annual Average

Actual & planned investment for five yearperiod 1995/6 – 1999/2000In October 1995 OFFER announced that, in setting ScottishPower's Price

Control, they had assumed it would be necessary to spend £431.8m on

the Distribution network during the five years 1995/6 to 1999/2000.

OFFER’s Published Price Control Assumptions £m (1996/7 Prices)Load Related 233

Non-Load Related 198.8

Total 431.8

We are currently spending more on quality improvement initiatives than

allowed by OFFER in the Price Control Review and our future investment

plans will deliver further service enhancements to our customers.

A range of efficiency improvements have already been delivered and

further savings are planned for the future;

© Improved procurement by taking advantage of market opportunities.

© Cost reduction through introduction of new designs, materials and

techniques.

© Implementation of new Information Technology systems providing more

detailed operational information about our network assets and enabling

more effective prioritisation and targeting of investment.

© Improved work management systems and working practices.

Against this background of cost savings, ScottishPower's latest capital

expenditure projections are:

ScottishPower’s Network Capital Expenditure (1996/7) Prices)Actual Planned

1995/6 1996/7 1997/8 1998/9-1999/00 Total

£m £m £m £m £m

Load Related 44.6 42.1 50.1 90.5 227.3

Non-Load Related 39 37.5 36.7 70.4 183.6

Total 83.6 79.6 86.8 160.9 410.9

Capital expenditure

19

20

Reasons for Network Investment© Load related expenditure is necessary to meet customer requests for

new connections or increased supply capacity and to reinforce the

distribution network to carry additional demand. Our forecasts of future

expenditure are driven by assumptions about local economic trends,

customer requirements and movements in the location of network

demand. This demand may not materialise in the future and our

forecast expenditure is subject to constant review and updating.

© The majority of the non-load related investment programme is directed

towards maintaining the existing performance and integrity of the

distribution network as its age increases. Significant levels of

expenditure are necessary to maintain security of supplies to

customers and meet our obligation to ensure the safety of our staff

and the public and comply with environmental legislation.

Achievements in 1996/7 and work plannedduring 1997/8We have made significant progress with our programme of work and

during 1996/7 we:

© spent more than £32m to ensure that supply security is maintained to

our existing customers.

© provided more than 16,200 new housing connections.

© installed more than 230MVA of additional transformer capacity to meet

increased requirements for customer demand.

© rebuilt more than 210km of 11kV overhead line.

© refurbished more than 180km of 11kV overhead line.

© replaced switchgear at more than 230 distribution substations.

© spent more than £870k on installation of anti-oil

pollution equipment at Grid Supply Points.

This programme of work will continue during 1997/8

and we will report on progress in next year's Quality of

Supply Report.

New 11kV Switchboard

A representative selection of the major projects (each with expenditure in

excess of £100k) completed during 1996/7 and planned for 1997/8 are

shown in Tables 1 & 2.

Table 1Examples of Major Projects completed during 1996/7

Region Project Description

Clyde Replacement of 11kV switchgear at Acredyke primary substation

Forth New housing development at Seafield, Kirkcaldy

Forth Replacement of 11kV switchgear & overhead line at New Inn, Kettlebridge

Southern Refurbishment of Dumfries GSP – Penpont 33 kV overhead line

Southern Rebuild of Gatehouse – Tongland 33 kV overhead line

Southern Replacement of 11kV switchgear at Newton Stewart primary substation

Southern Extension to Dumfries GSP, 33 kV substation

Southern Connection of a 21MW Windfarm at Gallowrigg

Western Replacement of 11kV switchgear at Girvan primary substation

Table 2Examples of Major Projects planned during 1997/8

Region Project Description

Clyde Replacement of 11kV switchgear at Consett Street primary substation

Clyde Replacement of 33kV switchgear at West George Street substation

Forth Reinforcement of 6.6kV system in Kingsknowe area, Edinburgh

Southern Replacement of 11kV switchgear at Cargenbridge primary substation

Southern Rebuild of Newton Stewart – Gatehouse 33kV overhead line

Southern Uprated Supply to ICI, Dumfries

Western Replacement of 33kV switchgear at Newarthill GSP

Western Replacement of 11kV switchgear at Hamilton primary substation

Western Replacement of 11kV switchgear at Newhouse primary substation

Western New supply for Chunghwa, Mossend, Bellshill

Western New supply to Egger Chipboard, Barony, Auchinleck

21

Extension to 33kV Substation at Dumfries GSP

Gallowrigg Windfarm

22

Detailed analysis of systemperformance, 1996/7

Clyde Forth Western Southern Company

Table 1 - Customer Numbers

Number of customers 573,777 675,983 413,952 140,353 1,804,065

Table 2 - Security

No. of Supply Interruptionsper 100 connected customers due to:-

a) Distribution faults

LV (Inc. Services) 7.6 4.5 4.8 2.4 5.4

HV Overhead 1.5 15.0 14.1 42.5 12.7

HV Underground 19.7 16.6 15.6 15.5 17.3

HV Other 5.9 11.8 9.7 23.7 10.4

HV Total 27.1 43.4 39.5 81.7 40.3

EHV 2.0 2.9 9.1 26.7 5.9

Transmission 3.1

Total faults 36.7 50.8 53.3 110.8 54.7

b) Planned outages 0.7 2.0 1.2 14.4 2.4

Total from all causes (a) + (b) 37.4 52.8 54.5 125.2 57.0

Correction for extreme weather events 0.3 5.3 4.6 24.6 6.0

Total corrected for extremeweather events 37.1 47.5 49.9 100.5 51.0

Table 3 - Availability

No. of Supply Minutes Lost per connected customer due to:-

a) Distribution faults

LV (Inc. Services) 11.4 7.5 12.3 5.0 9.7

HV Overhead 1.5 23.0 29.2 213.7 32.4

HV Underground 22.9 23.3 18.1 16.4 21.4

HV Other 5.0 11.8 12.7 19.5 10.4

HV Total 29.4 58.1 60.0 249.7 64.3

EHV 1.3 2.9 10.3 51.0 7.8

Transmission 0.7

Total faults 42.1 68.5 82.6 305.7 82.5

b) Planned outages 1.5 4.7 3.5 38.6 6.1

Total from all causes (a) + (b) 43.6 73.2 86.1 344.3 88.6

Correction for extreme weather events 0.4 12.9 21.0 214.9 26.7

Total corrected for extreme weather events43.2 60.3 65.1 129.4 61.9

Table 4 - Voltage Complaints

Verified Voltage complaintsper 10,000 connected customers 0.89 4.16 3.21 3.99 2.89

Notes for tables 2 and 3:

132kV faults aggregated at Company level.Weather correction = 6/11/96 and 3-4/12/96 replaced by an ‘average’ day.

Availability A measure of the time the supply is not

available, generally expressed as the average

number of minutes per connected customer

the supply is NOT available.

CHL Customer Hours Lost

CI Customer Interruptions, generally expressed

as the average number of customer

interruptions per 100 connected customers.

CML Customer Minutes Lost, generally expressed

as the average number of minutes per

connected customer the supply is NOT

available.

Extra High Voltage Nominally operating at greater than 22,000

(EHV) volts but less than 132,000 volts. This usually

refers to 33,000 volts.

High Voltage (HV) Nominally operating at greater than 1000 volts

but less than 22,000 volts. This usually refers

to 11,000 volts.

Incident An event which causes an uncontrolled flow of

electrical current, followed by supply

disconnection.

Kilovolt (kV) 1000 volts

Non-damage incident An incident which causes no permanent

damage to equipment and therefore requires

no repairs to be undertaken.

Outage Free Methods of undertaking work on 11,000 volt

equipment without interrupting supplies to

customers.

Overhead protection The use of electronically controlled links

together with automated switches to restore

supplies following an incident and, where

necessary, disconnect damaged equipment

leaving the minimum number of customers

without supply.

Pre-arranged This term is used to refer to planned

interruptions in supplies to customers which

are notified to the affected customers at least

two days in advance.

23

Glossary of Terms

24

Refurbishment A planned replacement or renewal of existing

equipment as it reaches the end of its

useful life.

Security A measure of the number of supply

interruptions, generally expressed as the

number of supply interruptions per 100

customers.

Short Interruptions to customers supplies which last

interruptions less than 60 seconds. Their duration is

typically about 10 seconds.

Substation Premises containing one or more transformers

and/or switchgear.

Switchgear Automatic or manual mechanical devices for

controlling the flow of electrical energy into a

circuit or item of equipment.

Underlying A measure of the performance of the system

performance which excludes the affects of identifiable

severe events.

Voltage Dip A sudden sag in the voltage, typically in the

range 10% to 30% of the sinusoidal voltage.

If you have any questions or comments following your study of this report

please write to the Regional Manager at your local regional office.

ScottishPower plc

Clyde Region

St Vincent Crescent

Glasgow

G3 8LT

ScottishPower plc

Forth Region

10 Fishwives’ Causeway

Edinburgh

EH15 1EP

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ScottishPower plc

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Motherwell

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Dumfries

DG1 2DN

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