OASIS Insights & Observations

1. OASIS Insights & Observations Transmission Customer Forum September 21-22, 2006 Jim Viikinsalo

2. Outline • Historical Background • OASIS Data Posting Requirements • Transmission Service Overview • Short-Term Request Processing • Tips of the Trade (Helpful Query Methods)

3. Evolution of OASIS • Open Access Same-time Information System • FERC Order 889 (April 1996) • Transmission Providers post transmission data to OASIS Web sites • Standards and Communications Protocol (“S&CP”) • Standard data exchange formats required by the FERC • Customers/vendors can access data and display in their own desired format • Basic core data set is unchanged, but functionality has increased throughout the years • From “horseless carriage” to a vehicle with A/C and automatic transmission

4. OASIS Data Posting Requirements • ATC/TTC values on each posted path: • at least 13 months of Monthly service • at least 30 days of Daily service • at least 168 hours of Hourly service • 82 different paths posted on the Southern Company OASIS • Result – tons of data, only pounds useful (desired)(most inquiries seeking only a very small and specific subset of the data)

5. Daily Study Process - Summary • Near-term studies update Daily and Hourly TTC postings • System conditions for a given day are not known 30 days in advance, so Monthly TTC value used initially • 2-Day Study: Forecast developed based upon real-time conditions. Daily/Hourly TTCs updated and posted to OASIS. • Next-Day Study: Daily and Hourly TTCs updated and posted again with more recent system conditions. • ATC updated continuously every time a customer: • Confirms transmission service • Redirects transmission service • Schedules partial transmission service • Result – “pounds” of useful information • Daily and Hourly TTCs/ATCs based on real-time conditions • Postings for Days 3-30 based on estimated system conditions as projected in monthly studies

6. Other Information Posted on OASIS • Schedules • Interruptions and Curtailments • Planned Transmission Outage Schedule • Significant Transmission Outages • Tariff and Rate Summaries • System Impact Studies and Facilities Studies • Interconnection Requests and Information • See the “General Information” page for more details

7. Transmission Service Overview • Southern Companies Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT) developed from pro-forma tariff of Order 888 • Transmission capacity to deliver energy from a Point of Receipt (POR) to a Point of Delivery (POD) • Different types and priorities of service exist • Network Integration service (Firm, Secondary) • Point-to-Point service (Firm, Non-firm, Secondary)

8. Service Priorities

9. Maintaining Reliability • Interruption – A pre-emption of lower priority service when ATC is needed to grant requests for higher-priority service • Usually implemented in advance of a schedule start • Example: Hourly non-firm request bumps Hourly redirect request • Curtailment – A reduction in schedules for reliability to relieve a transmission constraint • Usually happens after a schedule begins • All firm curtailed pro-rata • Non-firm curtailed by economics (value of service) and Last in First Out (LIFO)

10. Daily Request Processing • 0600-0700 Central M-F: Begin answering next-day requests • Tips • Daily requests can be queued several days ahead of time • Avoid queue flooding and displacements • Query TTC in System Data to view the time of last update • Make note of Section 13.2 in the OATT (conditional acceptance) • Redirect activity makes ATC more volatile • Initial request may be refused, but a subsequent redirect may allow a similar request to be accepted (non-discriminatory for both responses) • Capacity made available as a result of redirects is offered on a first-come, first served basis

11. Request Volume Many requests are approved, but not confirmed by customers

12. Service Availability – 2006 YTD • Firm service • 3 planned outages required reductions of the SOCO-FL interface • 1 unplanned outage required curtailments during an off-peak period on the DUK-SOCO interface • Non-firm service • 11 reliability events required curtailment of non-firm service • No TLRs initiated by SOCO Reliability Coordinator

13. There’s Gold In Them Thar Hills! • OASIS contains a great deal of data in standard format • SOCO OASIS provides access via Web browser • View service offerings, requests, outages, and more • Audit Templates available for specific queries of the database • Standard FERC format also allows users to access data directly • Using custom or third-party tools, users can display information in the manner most valuable to their own operations • S&CP allows for customized presentationsof information from the OASIS sites of multiple providers • Users usually discover that the data theywant is on OASIS today

14. Query the database using Audit Templates • Use audit queries to view changes in offerings and reservations • Follow the “Audit Templates” link from the Customer Menu page • requires only elementary knowledge of S&CP • Service Offerings audit trail – via transofferingaudit • Reservation Status audit trail – via transstatusaudit • Follow “System Data” link to see TTC/ATC timestamps Data, such as ATC, changes very frequently when customer activity is high

15. Audit Query - Example Input • follow link to Audit Templates from Menu page • input is case-sensitive • can query by different sets of input parameters (Path, Seller, POR,POD, etc.) • date format is yyyymmddhhmmssTZ

16. Audit Query – Example Output • Results are sorted from latest to earliest updates • ATC can vary significantly as reservations are confirmed, redirects away are granted, and schedules are approved • Results can be viewed inside Web browser (html) or downloaded as a CSV text file (data)

17. Build Your Own User Interface • Other possibilities • request submittal and response • redirect / resale management • post analysis • Vendor solutions • exist today

18. Demonstration

19. Questions or Comments? Jim Viikinsalo (205) 257-6700 jwviikin@southernco.com