Quality delivered

QUALITY IN THE ELECTRICITY AREA

Areti manages the electricity distribution service in Rome and Formello. It plans and carries out modernisation and expansion work on the infrastructures, comprising high, medium and low voltage electricity lines, stations and substations, systems for remote control and for measuring energy drawn from and fed into the grid.

The activities are carried out in compliance with procedures under the QASE (Quality, Environment, Safety and Energy) Management System certified according to UNI EN ISO and OHSAS Standards.

Infrastructure works are aimed at increasing the quality of the service provided, also taking into account the objectives established by the National Authority (ARERA) and the energy efficiency of the networks; they are implemented in accordance with the concession, sector regulations and service requirements, in particular for connecting new customers related to urban expansion and increasing electricity applications.

The Regulatory Plans of the HV, MV and LV grids represent the operational tool for the integrated development of the electricity grids. Among other things, they aim to create an adequate and enabling network configuration for future smart city scenarios: distributed generation, electrical mobility, storage systems, end user involvement, connectivity.

As part of the progressive implementation of the MV and LV Regulatory Plans, Areti’s interventions provide for the construction of new backbones aimed at rationalising and upgrading the networks and, at the same time, changing the voltage from 8.4 kV to 20 kV on the MV network and from 230 V to 400 V on the LV network.

These interventions generate significant benefits on transport capacity, which guarantees residual power for new connections, and a reduction of energy losses and voltage drops on MV and LV grids.

Infrastructure management and development activities carried out in 2018 concerned interventions of construction, expansion, transformation, modernisation, upgrading, decommissioning – and, as a result, reduction of environmental impacts in specific areas – measure, protection, ordinary and extraordinary maintenance operations on stations and substations, high voltage (HV) lines as well as low and medium voltage (LV and MV). The works are functional to the capillary distribution of electricity and improvement of the service, above all in terms of availability and continuity of the supply.

The main interventions realised in 2018 are shown in the relevant box.

In synergy with other industrial parties, Areti developed several projects that include research activities and application of innovative technology, also considering the initiatives proposed by national institutional bodies and the opportunities offered by the European Community. In particular, in the areas of smart grids, advanced network management systems (automation and digitisation), network resilience, distributed storage (storage systems) and smart cities (e.g. with interventions on public lighting infrastructures) (see, for further information, the chapter Institutions and the company).

In 2018, for example, the implementation of algorithms for calculating resilience metrics on company systems was completed. These algorithms allow dynamically classifying each branch and node of the high- and medium-voltage electrical grid according to their risk for the continuity of service. The risk is estimated on the basis of the impact that would be caused by a failure and an index of the failure rate for the element itself. In the area of “grid losses”, a project is also under way to define specific algorithms to measure/estimate low-voltage grid losses, starting with measurements in the substations, measurements of customer consumption and grid topology.

Again, for example, for the impact that these innovative projects may have on customers and the community, we mention here (and also referring to the paragraph dedicated to innovation in the chapter Institutions and the Company) the “car park project” which envisages the creation of a car park for charging electric vehicles equipped with photovoltaic system and storage system in order to test methods for managing prosumers; the “blockchain project”, which exploits technology capable of recording exchanges and information securely and permanently without the need for intermediaries or third parties to intervene to ensure the shared data, aims to verify the feasibility of a system capable of certifying the energy exchanges between producer-storage- consumer and assign them penalties or rewards depending

on the effects that they have on the network in terms of phase shift and voltage; the “light+ project” that involved the development of a prototype of an intelligent public lighting pole able to manage a series of sensors and functions typical of the public lighting service, but also to provide useful services to the electrical distributor (e.g. integrated modems etc.) and third parties (e.g. ambient sensors, video analysis etc.); finally, the continuation of the “drone project”, launched in 2017, thanks to which a remote piloted aircraft system was created to periodically check the status of the overhead power transmission lines operated by Areti, and the project will continue with the development of a “land-based drone”.

In the “optical fibre” area, in 2018 the optical fibre laying activities acquired in IRU from Telecom and Wind were completed for the creation of a primary network between the HV/MV transformation plants, useful for the integration of present and future services in primary stations.

With regard to digital meters and smart metering systems, in 2018 Areti completed its technical investigations linked to the development and consolidation of new standards and experimental tests in the field initiated in 2016 on products from foremost meter manufacturers, equipped with advanced technologies. As a result, a working group was set up to define technical specifications, which led to the completion at the end of 2018 of the preparation of the documentation required to carry out a public tender (through competitive dialogue) for the supply of the 2G electronic meter system.

Also completed during the year was the development of a multi- service concentrator for electronic meters, which came into operation after the necessary tests had been completed. It is a modular apparatus consisting in a main control and processing unit and one or more additional units, each one dedicated to a specific service (electricity, water, etc.).

Activities on the development of multi-service reading for the testing of multi-functional remote reading technologies applicable to several sectors continued: for Acea Ato 2, Areti developed a device for remote reading of water meters (equipped with lance-pulses) with NB-IoT technology, which has been added to the previous version with GPRS technology. The project was completed and moved on to the field operation phase. The solution identified led to the filing of a patent for an industrial invention in March 2018.

Lastly, the installation of digital meters under remote management continued for low voltage users for a total of 1,613,050 meters installed on active low voltage users as at 31.12.2018, equal to 99.68% of the total LV meters.

THE QUALITY LEVELS REGULATED BY ARERA IN THE ELECTRICITY SECTOR

The electrical - commercial service quality parameters (i.e., quotes, work, supply activation/deactivation, replies to complaints) and technical aspects (supply continuity) - are established at a national level by the Regulation Authority for Energy, Networks and the Environment (ARERA), which reviews them on a regular basis, gradually introducing more stringent standards Since 2016 the new regulatory cycle was launched regarding the quality of distribution, measuring and transmission services for the 5th regulatory period 2016-2023.

Such regulatory framework requires that customers be indemnified in the event certain quality standards are not met and comprises a fine/bonus system applicable to service operators, so as to encourage them to continually improve their services.

The commercial quality aspects of the service consist of “specific” levels and “general” levels ⁴⁰, applicable to the operations pertaining to the electricity distribution company (divided into low and medium voltage supplies) as well as those of the seller (see Tables 13, 14 and 15). A quality criterion also governs the timely communication of technical data between the energy distributor and seller (see Table 13). Every year Acea submits the results achieved to the ARERA for review and then notifies such results to its own customers, as required, by enclosing them with the bill.

As regards performance 2018 for commercial quality, related to the distribution and measurement of electricity, we present estimated data herein which may differ from those sent to the Authority (ARERA) according to the deadlines set by the latter.

As regards the “specific” commercial quality levels, both for low voltage supplies to domestic and non-domestic customers and for medium voltage supplies, in many cases there was a slight improvement in performance. With regard to the “general” levels of responses to written complaints/requests for information, there was a substantial improvement in performance compared to 2017 (see Table 13).

The system contemplates automatic indemnities ⁴¹ to be granted to customers in the event of failure to comply with “specific” quality levels starting from a basic amount ⁴², which can either double (in the event operations are performed in a timeframe between twice and three times the required standard) or treble (if operations are performed in a timeframe three times the required standard).

For Acea Energia, 2017 was the year of the launch of a new information system, implemented with the aim of developing and improving performance linked to the customer contact channels.

The system had the usual need for fine-tuning that had an impact on performance. In 2018, the first improvements began to become evident with higher percentages of compliance with the standards set by ARERA for certain services: for example, for the specific levels of commercial quality, the billing adjustments for the protected market and the reasoned response to written complaints in the free market; the percentages of services performed within the maximum time imposed by the general levels of quality also improved (see Table no. 14).

The Authority also defines and updates the benchmark parameters of “technical” quality of the service ⁴³, in relation to continuous electricity supply, envisaging an incentive system for the operator (bonuses and fines) and indemnities for customers.

It should be stressed that the continuity indicators supplied related to financial year 2018 are not those communicated to ARERA but rather the highest possible estimate at the time of publication of this document ⁴⁴.
With regard to the duration of disruptions and the number of disruptions for LV users, the first available data concerning 2018 and shown in Table no. 15 indicate a decrease in the results compared to 2017.
Disruptions occurring at any voltage level within the electricity system are also regulated for MV customers. The regulatory system entitles medium-voltage customers to receive automatic compensation provided that they can certify the adequacy of their systems ⁴⁵ in the event of a number of disruptions in the supply of electricity exceeding that stated by a specific standard.

Prolonged or extended disruptions, in other words service disruptions exceeding the duration established by standards, are also regulated for both LV customers and MV customers. In such eventualities, the operator is required to pay a fine, calculated on the basis of the number of LV customers cut off as a result of disruptions due to “other causes”, to the extraordinary event fund set up with the Energy and Environmental Services Fund. In addition, the distributor will automatically indemnify customers affected by disruptions