The Confusion Surrounding “Stray Voltage”

Abstract – While “stray voltage” has been a concern for farm livestock for many years, it is only within the past few years that the term has been associated with human fatalities.  The industry has seen an expansion of the term’s usage to describe events that some engineers feel is incorrect.  This situation has resulted in costs to utilities exceeding many millions of dollars that has a questionable impact on customers increased safety.

The purpose of Jim Burke’s paper is to discuss the confusion that now exists in the area of “stray voltage”. The paper will discuss the traditional definition of the term “stray voltage”, as well as the recent usage of the phrase to describe more dangerous conditions such as step-and-touch voltages, temporary overvoltages, contact voltages, etc.  Finally, the paper will address the status of the industries response to this issue. It will discuss the measures taken by some utilities as well as the IEEE to establish some sort of industry guidelines to address these issues.
 
Jim Burke is a Fellow of the IEEE, and an Executive Advisor with InfraSource Inc. in Raleigh, North Carolina.  He was the chair of the IEEE Working Group on Distribution Neutral Grounding which developed the present guide in 1991.  He is a member of the IEEE Working Group on tray Voltage.

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