History Log

Description

All Qwest services that extend to designated high voltage (HV) environments are required to have high voltage protection (HVP). HVP devices may be provided by you, the end user, or may be requested from Qwest.

High Voltage Protection (HVP) is intended to:

• Minimize electrical hazards to personnel engaged in construction, operation, maintenance and use of telecommunications service
• Limit electrical damage to telecommunications equipment, cable and wire facilities, and customer equipment
• Provide service continuity and integrity of telecommunications transmissions

High voltage environments are any premises where hazardous voltages of 1000V peak-asymmetrical or greater appear on serving facilities due to Ground Potential Rise (GPR) and/or induction caused by faults in electric power systems located on the end user premises. HVP is designed to isolate or neutralize the hazardous voltages. High voltage environments include certain:

• Power company sites, including sub-stations, transformers, and poles
• Government installations
• Mines, dams, or other industries supplying their own power
• PCS or Cellular sites located at power transmission line towers

Options for Service

The High Voltage Protection (HVP) options available are:

• Qwest provided
• Customer provided

Availability

High Voltage Protection (HVP) is available where facilities exist throughout Qwest's 14-state local service territory.

Terms and Conditions

High Voltage Protection (HVP) is required at customer premises and at Qwest central offices whenever the fault-produced GPR/induction equals or exceeds 1000V peak-asymmetrical.

High Voltage Protection (HVP) may be provided by you, the end user, or may be requested from Qwest.

At the customer's request, Qwest shall provide any required high voltage protection at the customer's premises and, if necessary, at the Company's CO at rates and charges as set forth in the tariff, following guidelines outlined in Technical Publication 77321. The Company will inspect and verify the protection when service is established at new or existing customer locations, and at future times as deemed necessary during changes, rearrangements or maintenance.

Identifying a High Voltage Location

There are a number of ways in which the need for High Voltage Protection (HVP) can be identified. No matter how the high voltage area is identified, the procedure is the same.

• You would advise and/or provide the information.
• Qwest contacts you to advise you that the location requires high voltage protection after the order has been submitted.
• When the end-user name is a substation or power utility company.

Qwest Responsibility

Qwest, working in conjunction with the customer, shall determine the proper methods of protection required to achieve the objectives, see the Description section. The method of protection for every service in a cable shall be coordinated by Qwest to be compatible with the protection provided for the most critically important service in that cable.

Technical Publications

Technical characteristics, including Network Channel /Network Channel Interface (NC/NCI™) codes, are described in Technical Publication, Special High Voltage Protection, 77321.

Pricing

Rate Structure

Monthly charges for HV environments include the standard rate for the intended service, plus, an additional HV charge for the HV equipment.

Qwest Provided HVP

Recurring charges for HVP may consist of the following:

• Central Office Power
• HVP Equipment

Nonrecurring HVP charges that may consist of the following:

• Installation
• Environmental cabinet
• Special Construction

Customer Provider HVP

With this option, the customer provides all equipment requirements for HVP and follows all Qwest guidelines to ensure safety to Qwest installation and maintenance personnel.

Nonrecurring HVP charges that may consist of the following:

• Environmental cabinet
• Special Construction

Rates

Rates and/or applicable discounts are available in Exhibit A or the specific rate sheet in your Interconnection or Resale Agreement.

Tariffs, Regulations, and Policies

Tariffs, regulations and policies are located in the state specific Tariffs/Catalogs/Price Lists.

Implementation

Product Prerequisites

If you are a new CLEC and are ready to do business with Qwest, view Getting Started as a Facility-Based CLEC. If you are an existing CLEC wishing to amend your Interconnection Agreement or New Customer Questionnaire, additional information is located in the Interconnection Agreement.

Pre-Ordering

Customer Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of the customer to provide Qwest with the complete the RG31-0048 - Design Information for Power Industry Channels form and return it to the appropriate Electrical Protection Engineer.

The following information is required to be populated on the form:

• Service locations
• Ground Potential Rise (GPR) fault data
• Service type
• Service classification
• High Voltage Protection (HVP) service option
• Proposed terminal equipment
• Channel type (e.g., UG type circuit)

When one customer extends a circuit to a high voltage environment which belongs to another customer (e.g., a governmental agency terminating at an electric company's power plant), installation personnel may discuss the need for HVP with either customer. It may be necessary for the customers to discuss HVP requirements with each other in order to provide complete information to Qwest. HVP is only effective if all services terminating at a customer location are protected. One customer's delayed installation of HVP may impact installation of other customers' services.

Anytime a customer wishes to change any of the above information, a revised RG31-0048 - Design Information for Power Industry Channels form is required.

The completed form should be sent to the Electrical Protection Engineer (EPE) for the state where the service will be located, as shown below.

STATE	E. P. ENGINEER	ADDRESS	PHONE
CO, MN, ND, SD, WY	Tim Conser Timothy.Conser@qwest.com	Room MTG22 700 W Mineral Ave Littleton, CO 80120	303 707-5616
ID-N, ID-S, MT, WA	Dick Reehl Richard.Reehl@qwest.com	Room 202 714 S Washington St SE Olympia, WA 98501	360 754-3110
AZ, NM, UT	Larry Young Larry.Young@qwest.com	7655 S Houghton Rd Tucson, AZ 85747	520 292-7561
IA, NE, OR	Terry Avery Terry.Avery@qwest.com	Room M5 5950 NE 122nd Ave Portland, OR 97230	503 251-7041

Your Qwest Service Manager will assist you with any questions about the RG31-0048 form.

Ordering

To request HVP or to identify an existing HVP site, use the following guidelines.

Local Service Request (LSR)

High Voltage Protection (HVP) service requests are submitted by marking the LSR for manual handling and include High Voltage Protection as a notation in the Remarks Section.
If you are submitting a service request where HVP is provided by you or the end-user, you will need to identify this in the Remarks section as High Voltage Protection (HVP) Customer Provided.

If you are submitting a service request where you want HVP provided by Qwest you will need to identify this in the remarks section as requesting High Voltage Protection (HVP) Qwest Provided.

Service requests should be placed using Interconnect Mediated Access - Electronic Data Interchange (IMA-EDI) & IMA Extensible Markup Language (XML) or faxed to (888) 796-9089.

Access Service Request (ASR)

High Voltage Protection (HVP) service requests are submitted by marking the High Voltage Protection field on the Access Service Ordering Guidelines (ASOG) form. Field entry requirements are described in the Access Service Request (ASR) Forms.

For new requests, only one RG31-0048 form needs to be submitted per location (e.g. if five circuits are ordered on the same location, only one form is needed).

For existing HVP locations where Qwest has an RG31-0048 form on file, if it is more than two years old, a new one is required. Qwest will contact the EPE and if the EPE confirms that a current form is not on file, Qwest will request the form or the electrical protection information. Qwest will consider the service request invalid until a response is received from the EPE that the requirement for the form or electrical protection information has been satisfied.

If HVP is identified after the service request has been submitted, or the Qwest order has been issued, a SUP will be required.

If you are unable to ascertain that a current form is on file (e.g. can't reach the EPE), you may request that the property owner send the form. The property owner request will not be valid until a response is received from the EPE that the requirement for the form has been satisfied.

Provisioning and Installation

General provisioning and installation activities are described in the Provisioning and Installation Overview.

Maintenance and Repair

General maintenance and repair activities are described in the Maintenance and Repair Overview.

Billing

Customer Records and Information System (CRIS) billing is described in Billing Information - Customer Records and Information System (CRIS).

Integrated Access Billing System (IABS) billing is described in Billing Information - Integrated Access Billing System (IABS™).

Training

Local Qwest 101 "Doing Business With Qwest"

• This introductory web-based training course is designed to teach the Local CLEC and Local Reseller how to do business with Qwest. It will provide a general overview of products and services, Qwest billing and support systems, processes for submitting service requests, reports, and web resource access information. Click here for Course detail and registration information.

View additional Qwest courses by clicking on Course Catalog.

Contacts

Qwest contact information is located in Wholesale Customer Contacts.

Frequently Asked Questions

This section is currently being compiled based on your feedback.

Last Update: April 21, 2008