North American utilities give SEL high marks in industry survey

Eighty-four percent of electric utilities chose SEL as their favorite protective relay manufacturer.

PULLMAN, Wash. — Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories, Inc. (SEL) is North America’s preferred relay supplier according to the recently released Newton-Evans study “Worldwide Study of the Protective Relay Marketplace in Electric Utilities: 2016–2018.” In the survey, 84 percent of electric utilities chose SEL as their favorite protective relay provider.

These results continue the trend of industry leadership by SEL. In 2012, SEL was the preferred relay provider for 82 percent of the survey’s participants. The five protective relay surveys Newton-Evans conducted between 2002 and 2012 also evaluated manufacturers on up to 15 specific criteria (e.g., technology, technical support, price, and ease of use). Every year, for every category, SEL was the preferred manufacturer.

“No customer is ever compelled to purchase SEL products or services,” said SEL’s Vice President of Quality Tony Lee. “These survey results reinforce the need for us to continue working hard to deserve our customers’ respect and loyalty.”

Newton-Evans is a recognized leader in market research for the electric power industry. Their protective relay study is published every two to four years to provide up-to-date information on protective relay market trends. The 2016 North American results were based on survey responses from utility officials and relay engineers at 79 different electric power utilities representing 31 million electricity users. These utilities account for about 20 percent of the North American market and over 15 percent of utility-operated transmission and distribution substations.

For more information on the study, visit http://www.newton-evans.com. 

SEL serves the power industry worldwide through the design, manufacture, supply and support of products and services for power system protection, monitoring, control, automation, communications and metering. For more than 30 years, SEL has provided industry-leading performance in products and services, local technical support, a 10-year worldwide warranty and a commitment to making electric power safer, more reliable and more economical.