Parsing Poles and Towers

Categories: Transmission

February 4, 2016

Michael O’Sheasy’s article “Parsing Poles and Towers” appears in the January 2016 issue of Public Utilities Fortnightly. The article, co-authored with Joshua Rogers of Gulf Power, develops a method to split pole and fixture costs into customer and demand (usage) components.  The proposed method, based on the concept of a minimum distribution system, uses regression analysis to estimate the cost incurred from serving the customer regardless of usage. This estimate is then used in calculating allocators (shares) that are applied to FERC Account 364 information. In contrast, customer and demand allocators for the cost of fixtures attached to poles are derived directly from FERC Account 365 information. As a result of this innovative parsing of the pole and fixture costs, the customer and demand split is more accurate for the poles, fixtures, and total account.