It’s easy to dismiss how much truck rolls for standard maintenance operations cost your utility. If your organization is making a guess at the cost, you’re likely underestimating it. With all costs included, truck rolls can be as expensive as $1,000. If you are skeptical, consider these expenditures you may be overlooking:

O&M Cost Breakdown

1. Crew costs

   Crew costs include those you would typically expect when considering truck roll costs, such as each crew member’s salary or hourly wages and benefits. Additionally, repair work typically takes place after a storm hits, when you’re paying a storm or hazard duty premium for your crew. Overtime premiums also often apply for truck rolls.

2. Trip costs

   The cost of the trip itself includes the price of fuel multiplied by the distance you typically travel to and from the location of the fault, otherwise known as your average trip length. Don’t forget to account for the average miles per gallon your utility vehicle gets, as well as the amount of time crews spend making stops along the way.

3. Inventory costs

   When responding to faulted laterals, your crew needs to have replaceable parts on hand to provide a 1:1 replacement for spent equipment. This contributes to warehouse inventory costs as well as the costs and hassle of stocking every truck with an array of sizes and types of spare fuses.

4. Operating costs

   Fixed costs that contribute to truck rolls go beyond the cost of contracting or owning the vehicles themselves. They also include insurance costs, such as liability premiums and collision and workers compensation premiums. In addition, you’ll likely have various licenses and fees, heavy vehicle use tax (HVUT) permits, and a utility garage storage allocation. It’s easy to overlook counting fixed costs in your calculation. However, they are crucial components that enable your crew to do their jobs during every truck roll.

5. Miscellaneous overhead expenses

   Additional expenses to reflect on are annual maintenance and upkeep for utility fleet vehicles as well as a variety of taxes, such as road use tolls, fuel taxes, and property taxes for fleet housing. In addition, accidents are unexpected, but they happen, and sometimes vehicle repairs or health care costs for crew members injured on the job are needed.

6. Mutual aid crews

   When severe storms hit, you may need to request assistance from other utility crews to quickly restore power. This often requires housing, feeding, and caring for outside crews as well as spending additional time to provide necessary briefings so they can safely and effectively do their jobs.

How to Trim Costs

Truck rolls for maintenance are essential but can be costly, with expenses adding up quickly. There are solutions out there that can work for you. For example, adding a single-phase recloser like the TripSaver® II Cutout-Mounted Recloser will prevent sustained outages from temporary faults, driving down unnecessary calls for crews. By leveraging what’s best for your system, your organization can improve efficiency, save on operational costs, and ensure more reliable power for your customers.