Energy Decision # 30 - Grid Reliability Indices Explained: The Numbers the Utility Isn't Showing You

Grid reliability indices — SAIDI, SAIFI, CAIDI, and MAIFI — are the four numbers that should be driving your backup power investment decisions, but most C&I operators have never seen their own circuit-level data.This is Energy Decision #30 in the complete C&I energy management series from Tactical Energy Group. 100 decisions. Every one that matters.In this episode, Daniel Burke covers:What SAIDI, SAIFI, CAIDI, and MAIFI actually measure and how each index is calculated. Why utility-reported reliability figures are population-weighted averages that exclude your worst-case exposure. Major Event Days and the IEEE 1366 standard — why the MED-excluded SAIDI number is the wrong number for business continuity planning. EIA 2024 national benchmarks: SAIDI 123.6 minutes, SAIFI 1.5, CAIDI 131.6 minutes (excluding major events). Best-in-class utility performance — what SAIFI below 1.0 actually looks like and how to use it to justify capital. The MAIFI blind spot — why momentary outages don't show on standard utility reports but still stop production lines. The recloser tradeoff: how utility SAIDI improvements can coincide with more momentary interruptions at your facility. How to request circuit-level reliability data and use it as leverage with your utility. Translating SAIDI and CAIDI directly into backup generator runtime requirements and UPS sizing decisions. How to use outage cost math to defend a microgrid or BESS investment to your CFO.Who this is for: plant managers, facility managers, operations executives, and finance leaders at manufacturers, hospitals, cold storage facilities, critical infrastructure operations, and large commercial buildings who are evaluating resilience capital or questioning whether their grid can support long-term growth.If you're trying to figure out whether your facility's grid reliability exposure actually justifies investment in backup power or on-site generation — and whether the numbers your utility is showing you tell the real story — this episode is built for you.Read the full breakdown on Grid Reliability Indices at tac-nrg.comIf you're an Indiana C&I operator actively evaluating this decision, get your free Energy Decision Blueprint at blueprint.tac-nrg.com.Visit tac-nrg.com for more practical tools and the Energy Decision Blueprint for qualified Indiana C&I operators.Timestamps:0:00 – Why utility reliability numbers don't match what your facility actually experiences1:30 – What is SAIDI, SAIFI, CAIDI, and MAIFI?4:00 – Major Event Days and the MED exclusion trap5:30 – National reliability benchmarks and what best-in-class looks like6:30 – The MAIFI blind spot and the recloser tradeoff8:00 – How to request circuit-level data and use it as capital justification9:30 – Translating SAIDI into backup generator and UPS sizing11:00 – Questions to ask your utility this quarter12:30 – Energy Decision Blueprint