Appendix K: Outside Management Control

Following this introduction of Outside Management Control (OMC) guidelines, we have listed those cause codes
that GADS recognizes as being outside plant management control. At the end of this Appendix are guidelines for
removing OMC events from standard calculations. Annex D of IEEE 762, quoted below, sets the standard for
defining and handling OMC events. For more comments on OMC events, please refer to Section I-2 and III-13 of
these GADS Data Reporting Instructions.

Annex D: Outside of Plant Management Control

The electric industry in Europe and other parts of the world has made a change to examine losses of generation
caused by problems with and outside plant management control. After reviewing the work used by others, the
following is provided as guidelines for determining what is and is not outside plant management control:

There are a number of outage causes that may prevent the energy coming from a power generating plant from
reaching the customer. Some causes are due to the plant operation and equipment while others are outside plant
management control.

The standard sets a boundary on the generator side of the power station (see Figure K-1, below) for the
determination of equipment "outside management control".

Typical Interconnection

Utility Distribution Co.

Transmission or
Distribution System
Point of Ownership Change
with Utility Distribution Co.
Utility Distribution Co.

Generation Facility

Disconnect Device Operated

by Utility Distribution Co.

(2) Out
Utility Distribution Co. ISO
Metering Metering
In
Disconnect Device Owned &
Operated by Generation Entity

High Side Breaker or

B Recloser Owned by
Generation Entity

(1) Dedicated Transformer Owned

by Generation Entity

Generator
Auxiliary Load

AUX Generator
PT A
Breaker

Generator

Figure K.1: The Physical Boundary of Outside Management Control

As shown in Figure K.1, a generating unit includes all equipment up to (in preferred order) (1) the high-voltage
terminals of the generator step-up (GSU) transformer and the station service transformers; (2) the GSU
transformer (load) side of the generator-voltage circuit breakers; or (3) at such equipment boundary as may be
reasonable considering the design and configuration of the generating unit.

It may be assumed that all problems within the power station boundary are within plant management control;
however that is not always the case. Therefore, there is a need for some additional clarification as to what is and
what is not under plant management control.

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 Appendix K: Outside Management Control

It is easier to identify those actions outside plant management control than to identify the responsibilities of plant
management. Therefore, the following are considered to be outside (external) of plant management control. All
other items are considered within their jurisdiction and are the responsibility of the plant management for
calculating power plant performance and statistics.
• Energy losses due to the following causes should not be considered when computing the unit controllable
performance because these losses are not considered to be under the control of plant management:
• Grid connection or substation failure. This reason relates to problems with transmission lines and
switchyard equipment outside the boundaries of the plant as specified by the “boundary of plant
responsibility” shown in Figure K-1 on this Annex.
• Acts of nature such as ice storms, tornados, winds, lightning, etc are not under plant management control,
whether inside or outside the plant boundary.
• Terrorist attacks on the generating/transmission facilities or transmission operating/repair errors are not
under plant management control.
• Special environmental limitations such as low cooling pond level, or water intake restrictions that could
not be prevented by operator action. These are acts of nature such as high ambient temperatures where
the equipment is working within design specifications. However, if the equipment is not maintained by
the plant such as opacity out of limits or NOx out of control, etc, then plant management should be
penalized. These are equipment problems and are within plant management control.
• (9130) Failure of fuel supplier to fulfill contractual obligations or a pre-arranged deal due to physical fuel
disruptions or operational impairments (e.g. force majeure on a pipeline or compressor down; making the
pipeline incapable of making its firm deliveries.)
This cause code is considered outside of management control. Examples of this would include:
Firm pipeline gas transportation segment interrupted causing disruption or reduction in the flow of
natural gas
Physical damage to pipeline or cyber disruption
Routine pipeline maintenance (e.g. pigging)
Commodity supplier fails to deliver firm gas to primary pipeline receipt point

(9131) Lack of fuel – due to contractual or tariff provisions that allow for service interruption or price
fluctuations during peak demand periods.
This cause code is not considered outside of management control. Examples of this would include:
Company’s fuel supply group allocates limited firm fuel to other fleet sites
Interruptible pipeline transportation interrupted
Pipeline issues Operational Flow Order
Pipeline enforces ratable takes provision to tariff levels
LDC confiscates or interrupts fuel scheduled for delivery to plant gate
Plant fuel buyer rejects gas at implied delivered price (possibly including penalties)
• Labor strikes. Outages or load reductions caused by labor strikes are not normally under the direct control
of plant management. These strikes may be company-wide problems or strikes outside the company’s
jurisdiction such as manufacturers (delaying repairs) or transportation (fuel supply) problems.

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 Appendix K: Outside Management Control

However, direct plant management grievances that result in a walkout or strike are under plant
management control and are included as penalties against the plant. If a labor strike is caused by plant
management/worker problems during an outage, any outage extensions are included as energy losses as
long as the unit is incapable of being restarted because of equipment failures, maintenance, overhauls, or
other activities.
• Other weather related problems such as seasonal variations in gross dependable capacity due to cooling
water temperature variations are not within plant management control.

GADS Cause Codes Outside Plant Management Control

(As of January 1, 2021)

3600 Switchyard transformers and associated cooling systems - external (OMC)

3611 Switchyard circuit breakers - external (OMC)
3612 Switchyard system protection devices - external (OMC)
3619 Other switchyard equipment - external (OMC)
3710 Transmission line (connected to powerhouse switchyard to 1st Substation)
3720 Transmission equipment at the 1st substation (see code 9300 if applicable)
3730 Transmission equipment beyond the 1st substation (see code 9300 if applicable)
9000 Flood
9001 Drought
9010 Fire including wildfires, not related to a specific component
9015 Pandemic
9020 Lightning
9025 Geomagnetic disturbance
9030 Earthquake
9031 Tornado
9035 Hurricane
9036 Storms (ice, snow, etc)
9040 Other catastrophe
9091 Physical Security Incident
9093 Cyber Security Incident
9130 Failure of fuel supplier to fulfill contractual obligations or a pre-arranged deal due to physical fuel disruptions
or operational impairments (e.g. force majeure on a pipeline or compressor down; making the pipeline
incapable of making its firm deliveries.)
9132 Wet fuel – Biomass (OMC)
9135 Lack of water (hydro)
9138 High Water Level in Tailrace (too much water)
9139 Ground water or other water supply problems (OMC)

9150 Labor strikes company-wide problems or strikes outside the company's jurisdiction such as
manufacturers (delaying repairs) or transportation (fuel supply) problems.
9200 High ash content (OMC)
9210 Low grindability (OMC)
9220 High sulfur content (OMC)
9230 High vanadium content (OMC)
9240 High sodium content (OMC)
9250 Low BTU coal (OMC)
9260 Low BTU oil (OMC)
9270 Wet coal (OMC)
9280 Frozen coal (OMC)

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 Appendix K: Outside Management Control

9290 Other fuel quality problems (OMC)

9300 Transmission system problems other than catastrophes (do not include switchyard problems in this
category; see codes 3600 to 3629, 3720 to 3730)
9320 Other miscellaneous external problems
9500 Regulatory (nuclear) proceedings and hearings - regulatory agency initiated
9502 Regulatory (nuclear) proceedings and hearings - intervenor initiated
9504 Regulatory (environmental) proceedings and hearings - regulatory agency initiated
9506 Regulatory (environmental) proceedings and hearings - intervenor initiated
9510 Plant modifications strictly for compliance with new or changed regulatory requirements (scrubbers,
cooling towers, etc.)
9520 Oil spill in Gulf of Mexico (OMC)
9590 Miscellaneous regulatory (this code is primarily intended for use with event contribution code 2 to
indicate that a regulatory-related factor contributed to the primary cause of the event)

Policy on Handling Outside Management Control (OMC) Events and their

Equations in GADS
(As of December 9, 2004)

Background
The IEEE 762 “Definitions for Reporting Electric Generating Unit Reliability, Availability and Productivity” (Annex
D) is the basis for the OMC work. In part, Annex D states that:

“There are a number of outage causes that may prevent the energy coming from a power generating plant
from reaching the customer. Some causes are due to the plant operation and equipment while others are
outside plant management control.”

This Appendix K lists a number of cause codes that is universally accepted as those outside the control of
management by the GADS program. It also identifies certain conditions under which those specific cause codes
would be applied. The list may change with time and some additional clarifications may be added.

The list of cause codes shown hereafter should be reviewed from time to time to insure the latest cause codes are
used in the OMC equations.

It is also VERY important that all cause codes (including all OMC cause codes) be reported to GADS. Some
companies may wish to exclude a forced outage or change it to a non-curtailing event if it fits into the OMC
category. THAT IS NOT RIGHT! The event should be reported as a forced outage and the OMC calculations will
show the events without the FO.

Handling OMC Events

OMC events will come in two forms: outages or deratings. The OMC event types can be either forced, maintenance
or planned but it is expected that the majority will be forced outage events.

For all existing GADS equation calculations, the OMC events will be treated as a standard event, i.e., a forced
outage, forced derate, etc. The calculation will not change and will follow the calculations shown in Appendix F of
the GADS DRI.

In calculating equations without OMC events, it is important to remember that the objective of the removal of
OMC events is to affect the availability of the unit. To that end, we handle outages differently than derates. In

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 Appendix K: Outside Management Control

removing a particular event from a unit’s event records we are faced with the question of what to put in place of
the missing event. In the case of an outage, there is no sure way of knowing in what state a unit should be
considered. The only sure thing is our objective of returning those hours to an available state. That is exactly what
we do and that is all we do. Assuming that the unit is in reserve or in service during the time of the removed OMC
outage event, and so, adding to either service or reserve hours presents a fictional summary of the unit’s
performance. In viewing the available hours we temporarily recalculate AH as (Service + Reserve + Synchronous
Condensing + Pumping + OMC).

In the case of a derating event, however, we know for certain the state of the unit at the time of the removed
event. Whenever an event is removed it is necessary to look for any derating events that may have been shadowed
by or overlapping the removed event. Those overlapping hours must be accounted for by the software processing
the OMC event. It isn’t enough to simply recalculate Equivalent Availability by adding the sum of the removed
OMC events because we need to now take into account the effect of the newly uncovered (un-overlapped)
derating events.

Before we begin defining the methods there is an important assumption that needs to be made as to the
processing of the data. Since the removal of the OMC outage event is seen as an adjustment, we’ll assume that
outage events have been processed as normal and that OMC removal is acting on clean data and that performance
totals have already been summed for the unit. Also, in the case of derate events, that loss attributed to an event
has been calculated particularly in the case of overlapping and shadowed events.

OMC Process Methods by Event Type

1. Outage Events – In simple terms, when an OMC outage event is encountered, the total associated hours
would be reduced as well as the number of occurrences. In order to help keep our numbers in balance,
we’ll add these hours to an OMC Hours category. Notice that in each example below we are increasing
available hours and not service hours even though we are reducing outage hours.
a. Forced Outage – Regardless of whether it is a U1, U2, U3 or SF, removing an OMC_FO event would
cause a decrease in Forced Outage hours and Forced Outage Occurrences and an increase in Available
Hours.
b. Planned Outage – Removing an OMC_PO event would cause a decrease in Planned Outage hours and
Planned Outage Occurrences and an increase in Available Hours.
c. Maintenance Outage – Removing an OMC_MO event would cause a decrease in Maintenance Outage
hours and Maintenance Outage Occurrences and an increase in Available Hours.
d. Derate Event shadowed by an OMC outage – If the removed OMC outage event shadows a derating
event, the equivalent hours shadowed by the outage needs to be added into the equivalent outage
hours so that it can be reflected in the equivalent availability.
2. Derate Events – In removing OMC derate events, it is important to keep in mind that the loss of capacity
(a.k.a. reduction) originally calculated and attributed to an event is maintained when the OMC event is
removed. The removal of the OMC event then properly affects the available capacity of the unit rather
than increasing the losses attributed to the surrounding / overlapping derating events. Illustrations are
included below in order to aid the explanations.
a. A simple OMC derate – When there are no overlapping derating events, the equivalent hours of the
OMC event can be removed from the total equivalent hours and the associated event occurrences
can also be reduced by 1. The number of derate hours also is reduced by the duration of the event.
b. An OMC derate event overlapped by another derate – If an OMC event is removed and there is
another overlapping derate event, the OMC is removed and totals are adjusted just as in case ‘a’

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 Appendix K: Outside Management Control

above. The NAC of the unit at the start of the overlapping event is increased, but the loss attributed
to that event remains constant. (Normal derate events are considered loss-constant throughout their
duration)
c. OMC derate event which is shadowed by a dominant derate – In this case, the overlapping derate is
dominant and so, is considered to be capacity-constant. This means that removing the OMC event has
no effect on the available capacity within the dominant overlapping derate. The adjustment to the
unit performance stats would be limited to the duration and equivalent hours of that portion of the
OMC event that exists outside the dominant derate.
d. A dominant OMC derate overlaps another derate – When the OMC derate event is marked as
dominant, multiple adjustments may be necessary. The first adjustment is to take care of the total
duration and equivalent hours of the OMC derate event. Once the OMC derate event affect is
removed, the overlapped derate event(s) need to be accounted for by adding those portions of the
event(s) that were overlapped by the OMC event to the equivalent hours total as well as any total
durations. The number of derate event occurrences would not need to be adjusted.
e. OMC derate event is shadowed by an outage – Since an outage effectively truncates the derate
event, only the portion of the OMC derate that extends outside the overlapping outage needs to be
accounted for and removed.

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 Appendix K: Outside Management Control

Example# Before OMC event removal After OMC event removal

1-d - Derate Event

shadowed by an OMC
outage

OMC Outage (any type) is removed from shadowed Unit available hours increase by the outage
derate. duration. Equivalent hours are adjusted upward by
the overlapped portion when derate D1 is now
accounted for at its actual value.

2-b - An OMC derate

event overlapped by
another derate

OMC Derate is removed from above D2 Loss attributed to D2 remains unchanged. NAC of
the unit increases

2-c - OMC derate event

which is wholly or
partially shadowed by a
dominant derate

OMC Derate is removed from inside D2 The effect of removing the OMC event is to
increase availability by the portions which extend
beyond the dominant derate.

2-d – Dominant OMC

derate overlaps other
derates

Dominant OMC Derate is removed. Events D1, D2 and D4 are extended and totalled at
their original values.

2-e - OMC derate event is

shadowed by an outage

OMC Derate is removed from being shadowed by an The effect of removing the OMC event is to
outage (any type) increase availability by the portions which extend
beyond the outage.

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 Appendix K: Outside Management Control

New OMC Equations

Please note that all equations that include OMC events be calculated in the same methods and have the same
names as that in IEEE 762 and Appendix F of the GADS DRI. In other words, those equations will not change at all
but will be the benchmark as to what the unit was able to provide under all circumstances.

Please note also that any equation that excludes OMC events be calculated in the same methods as that in IEEE
762 and Appendix F of the GADS DRI but the names are modified to show they exclude OMC events. These
equations will be used against the benchmark calculations to show what the unit could have done without OMC
events. Both numbers will be provided by GADS and either number can be used based on the needs and the
reports.

Equations 95-141 in Appendix F are for calculating the performance statistics without OMC events. Please note
that they are the same as the equations for calculating the performance statistics with OMC events except that
their names have an “X” in front of them.

Table K-1 below shows how the event based performance statistics can be affected by excluding OMC events. Two
statistics, Starting Reliability (SR) and Seasonal Derating Factor (SEDF), do not have without OMC definitions. XSR
is not defined because IEEE 762 does not adjust the actual/attempted starts when OMC events are removed, and
although SEDF is based on available hours (AH), a without OMC version is not defined by NERC. Service Factor (SF)
is not affected because it is only based on service hours (SH), which are not affected by removing OMC events.
Because only AH is adjusted when excluding OMC events the performance statistics do, on rare occasions, exceed
100%. That is inherent with the concept of OMC events because the objective of their removal is to affect the
availability of the unit and nothing else.

Table K.1: Comparison of OMC Affect on Performance Statistics in Appendix F

NAME NAME
CALC CALC AFFECTED NUMERATOR DENOMINATOR
DESCRIPTION w/ w/o
No. No. BY OMC? FORMULA FORMULA
OMC OMC
Starting
62 SR ** n/a FALSE * ACTSU ATTSU
Reliability
Forced
Outage 3 FOF 97 XFOF TRUE FOH PH
Factor
Maintenance
Outage 4 MOF 98 XMOF TRUE MOH PH
Factor
Planned
Outage 1 POF 95 XPOF TRUE POH PH
Factor
Unplanned
Outage 2 UOF 96 XUOF TRUE FOH + MOH PH
Factor
Scheduled
Outage 5 SOF 99 XSOF TRUE POH + MOH PH
Factor
Unavailability
6 UF 100 XUF TRUE FOH + MOH + POH PH
Factor
Availability
7 AF 101 XAF TRUE PH - FOH - MOH - POH PH
Factor

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 Appendix K: Outside Management Control

Table K.1: Comparison of OMC Affect on Performance Statistics in Appendix F

NAME NAME
CALC CALC AFFECTED NUMERATOR DENOMINATOR
DESCRIPTION w/ w/o
No. No. BY OMC? FORMULA FORMULA
OMC OMC
Service
8 SF 102 XSF FALSE *** SH PH
Factor
Seasonal
Derating 9 SEDF ** n/a TRUE ESEDH PH
Factor
Unit Derating
10 UDF 103 XUDF TRUE EFDH + EMDH + EPDH PH
Factor
Equivalent
POH + MOH + FOH +
Unavailability 11 EUF 104 XEUF TRUE PH
EFDH + EMDH + EPDH
Factor
Equivalent PH - FOH - MOH - POH
Availability 12 EAF 105 XEAF TRUE - EFDH - EMDH - EPDH PH
Factor - ESEDH
Equivalent
Maintenance
17 EMOF 106 XEMOF TRUE MOH + EMDH PH
Outage
Factor
Equivalent
Planned
18 EPOF 107 XEPOF TRUE POH + EPDH PH
Outage
Factor
Equivalent
Forced
19 EFOF 108 XEFOF TRUE FOH + EFDH PH
Outage
Factor
Equivalent
Scheduled MOH + POH + EMDH +
20 ESOF 109 XESOF TRUE PH
Outage EPDH
Factor
Equivalent
Unplanned MOH + FOH + EFDH +
21 EUOF 110 XEUOF TRUE PH
Outage EMDH
Factor
FOH + SH +
Forced
22 FOR 111 XFOR TRUE FOH SYNCHRS +
Outage Rate
PUMPHRS
Forced
Outage Rate 23 FORd 112 XFORd TRUE f*FOH SH + SYNC + f*FOH
demand
Equivalent FOH + SH +
Forced 24 EFOR 113 XEFOR TRUE FOH + EFDH SYNCHRS +
Outage Rate PUMPHRS + EFDHRS
Equivalent
25 EFORd 114 XEFORd TRUE f*FOH + p*EFDH SH + SYNC + f*FOH
Forced

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 Appendix K: Outside Management Control

Table K.1: Comparison of OMC Affect on Performance Statistics in Appendix F

NAME NAME
CALC CALC AFFECTED NUMERATOR DENOMINATOR
DESCRIPTION w/ w/o
No. No. BY OMC? FORMULA FORMULA
OMC OMC
Outage Rate
demand
Equivalent POH + SH +
Planned 26 EPOR 115 XEPOR TRUE POH + EPDH SYNCHRS +
Outage Rate PUMPHRS + EPDHRS
MOH + SH +
Equivalent
SYNCHRS +
Maintenance 27 EMOR 116 XEMOR TRUE MOH + EMDH
PUMPHRS +
Outage Rate
EMDHRS
FOH + MOH + SH +
Equivalent
MOH + FOH + EFDH + SYNCHRS +
Unplanned 28 EUOR 117 XEUOR TRUE
EMDH PUMPHRS + EFDHRS
Outage Rate
+ EMDHRS
Notes: * IEEE 762 does not recommend adjusting actual/attempted starts when removing OMC events. **
Not defined by NERC. *** SH is not affected by OMC events; only AH is affected.

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