Reliability indices: The determination of reference values for Swiss electric distribution networks

At the beginning of the year 2008 Switzerland introduced a new law concerning the supply of electricity. This new law governs the opening of the electricity market as in the European Union. A regulator (here the Electricity Commission “ElCom”) controls the prices and the continuity of supply of electricity of each supplier and sets the performance level. The reliability of a network will be determined by using internationally employed continuity indices like SAIFI and SAIDI. Reasonable values for such indicators have to be determined first. Therefore, the regulator depends on the experience of Swiss power companies, which have already performed such analyses. The paper highlights the momentary process which leads to appropriate guidelines.