• White Papers

    Survival Skills for Utility Mergers

    by Chris Trayhorn, Publisher of mThink Blue Book on May 15, 2006

    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

    by Chris Trayhorn, Publisher of mThink Blue Book on May 15, 2006

    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

    by Chris Trayhorn, Publisher of mThink Blue Book on May 15, 2006

    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

    by Chris Trayhorn, Publisher of mThink Blue Book on May 15, 2006

    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

    by Chris Trayhorn, Publisher of mThink Blue Book on May 15, 2006

    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

    The World’s Hottest Retail Energy Markets

    by Chris Trayhorn, Publisher of mThink Blue Book on May 15, 2006

    The number of retail energy markets open to competition grows year-on-year and research carried out by Peace Software and VaasaEmg has provided for the first time an “apples … Read Article

    Asset Management: Practical Path to Success

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    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

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    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

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    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

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    The principal driver of energy consumption and demand growth in the United States is increased population. The nation’s population is growing at a rate of approximately 1 percent … Read Article

    Defining Customer Valuation

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    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

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    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

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    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

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    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

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    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

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    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

    Setting a Course for Growth

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    Within the next few years, energy and utility companies will be operating in a more disaggregated, multinational industry. The demands of this new market will drive companies to … Read Article

    The New New Grid

    by mThink on May 23, 2005

    Under pressure from four distinct sources – aging assets, growing peak demand, the emergence of new power generation technologies and revenue constraints from regulation and theft – distribution … Read Article
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