For the applicable Interconnection, the clock-minute average of Reporting ACE must not exceed its BAAL for more than how many consecutive clock-minutes?

• A. 30 consecutive clock-minutes
• B. 60 consecutive clock-minutes
• C. 15 consecutive clock-minutes
• D. 45 consecutive clock-minutes

Answer: (A)

The key idea is that ACE performance is allowed to drift above the BAAL for only a limited amount of time before signaling a reliability issue. Specifically, the clock-minute average of Reporting ACE may exceed its BAAL for up to a certain number of consecutive minutes, after which any further exceedance becomes a violation. For this rule, that limit is 30 consecutive clock-minutes. In practice, you can tolerate short bursts of higher-than-BAAL ACE, but if the one-minute averages stay above BAAL for 31 consecutive minutes, you’ve exceeded the limit and must take corrective action. If the value drops back below BAAL before reaching 31 minutes, the count resets.

The other durations don’t match the standard’s specified limit: they would either loosen or tighten the allowable window and are not the requirement for Reporting ACE with BAAL.