Industry data reveals up to 70% of fuse operations that occur on overhead transformers are the result of a temporary cause or nuisance outage where no other repair work is needed.
Typically, these fuses are located at the edge of the grid and in difficult-to-access areas, making fuse replacement a more time-consuming task and causing truck roll costs to escalate.
As a result, utilities are experiencing permanent outages and maintenance costs that could have been avoided altogether.
The Hidden Cost of Transformer Fuse Replacement
Unnecessary field visits can cost millions of dollars every year. Every 100,000 transformers can require 3,300 unnecessary truck rolls to replace fuses. That equates to:
3,300 unnecessary sustained outages
$3.3M in O&M expenses from truck rolls*
1,600 days of work per year
66,000 extra miles driven per year
*Based on $1,000 per truck roll
The Solution: Bring Fault Testing to the Grid Edge
The VacuFuse® II Self-Resetting Interrupter is available in both fault-testing and non-fault-testing models. See how the fault-testing model prevents temporary faults from becoming sustained outages.
4 Advantages of Fault Testing
Improve Reliability
Fault testing is ideal for hard-to-reach areas with reliability concerns, long restorations, or frequent temporary faults from wildlife, vegetation, or weather.
Boost Reliability Metrics
Eliminating temporary fault outages helps boost metrics like SAIDI, SAIFI, and CEMI, while increasing customer satisfaction.
Save on O&M
With average utility truck rolls costing up to $1,000 per response, preventing temporary faults quickly justifies the investment.
Expedite Storm Recovery
Reduce customer-minutes lost while allowing crews to focus on permanent outages requiring repair.