White Papers
Using Service-Oriented Architecture to Transform Utilities
Since the 1970s, utility companies have grown principally through mergers and acquisitions. This industry consolidation has resulted in organizations with diverse business processes (e.g., customer care, outage management, … Read Article
Survival Skills for Utility Mergers
The recent surge in merger, acquisition and divestiture activity in the U.S. utilities industry has come as no surprise to leaders in the industry who have long anticipated … Read Article
Examining Business Process Outsourcing
What does next-level utility performance look like? The energy industry may be one of the most complex business environments, as it is capital-intensive, regulatory-constrained, ROI-managed, environmentally challenged, often … Read Article
Shifting Regulatory Oversight of Utility Mergers
Many in the energy industry are anticipating a wave of mergers that will fundamentally alter and concentrate the energy industry, both from utility consolidation and mergers between utilities … Read Article
The Energy Policy Act of 2005
On August 8, 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005 into law, following four long years of congressional debates, negotiations and revisions. The … Read Article
Fusion of Work Management and Supply Chain Management
Asset life cycle management is an asset management strategy designed to manage the cradle-to-grave life cycle of key assets, considering all classes, stakeholders and life cycle stages, in … Read Article
Using the Sarbanes-Oxley Act
Who would have predicted that significant help in managing operational risks would come from such an unlikely source: Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act? But, by voluntarily extending … Read Article
Pollutants, Resources and Nanotechnology
The embryonic field of nanotechnology, which has been receiving much attention of late, aspires to the control of matter at molecular and near-molecular scales, in emulation of the … Read Article
Asset Management: Practical Path to Success
The term asset management has taken center stage for most utility transmission and distribution, primarily because of cost pressures resulting from limited capital and O&M funds, and customer/regulatory … Read Article
Service Delivery Management
Organizations today are challenged with simultaneously improving performance and lowering costs. Many are discovering that the key lies in reinventing service by adopting a service delivery management (SDM) … Read Article
Collections Best Practice
Utility bad debt is increasing year-on-year according to market research group Chartwell in its 2004 report, Credit and Collections in the Utility Industry. Chartwell estimates that more than … Read Article
Electric Generation Capacity: What, Where and Who
The principal driver of energy consumption and demand growth in the United States is increased population. The nations population is growing at a rate of approximately 1 percent … Read Article
Defining Customer Valuation
Most utilities view their interactions with customers mainly monthly billing and payment as highly routine, with neither party giving a second thought to the value at … Read Article
The Hydrogen Economy
The expression hydrogen economy is appearing more and more frequently in the headlines and on the bookstands. As recently as February 2005 the governor of Florida unveiled his … Read Article
Goodbye AMR, Hello AMM
Not long ago, the decision to pursue an automated meter reading (AMR) project was straightforward to describe and quantify. The business case was essentially one of justifying the … Read Article
On Better Business Intelligence
Utilities are working hard to address new financial control and reporting requirements, making progress on significant cost reduction and revenue enhancement initiatives and improving the management of financial … Read Article
Exploiting Broadband Over Power Lines
Broadband over power lines (BPL) and power line communications (PLC) are sets of equipment, software and management services that when overlaid on the electric grid provide users with … Read Article
Q&A: Meter Reading Past and Future
Q: In 1997, as Puget Sound Power and Light, you merged with Washington Natural Gas and became Puget Sound Energy. Was it then that automated meter reading made … Read Article