The United States and the world are facing two preeminent energy challenges: the rising cost of energy and the impact of increasing energy use on the environment. As a regulated public utility and one of the largest energy delivery companies in the Mid-Atlantic region, Pepco Holdings Inc. (PHI) recognized that it was uniquely positioned to play a leadership role in helping meet both of these challenges.

PHI calls the plan it developed to meet these challenges the Blueprint for the Future (Blueprint). The plan builds on work already begun through PHI’s Utility of the Future initiative, as well as other programs. The Blueprint focuses on implementing advanced technologies and energy efficiency programs to improve service to its customers and enable them to manage their energy use and costs. By providing tools for nearly 2 million customers across three states and the district of Columbia to better control their electricity use, PHI believes it can make a major contribution to meeting the nation’s energy and environmental challenges, and at the same time help customers keep their electric and natural gas bills as low as possible.

The PHI Blueprint is designed to give customers what they want: reasonable and stable energy costs, responsive customer service, power reliability and environmental stewardship.

PHI is deploying a number of innovative technologies. Some, such as its automated distribution system, help to improve reliability and workforce productivity. Other systems, including an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), will enable customers to monitor and control their electricity use, reduce their energy costs and gain access to innovative rate options.

PHI’s Blueprint is both ambitious and complex. Over the next five years PHI will be deploying new technologies, modifying and/or creating numerous information systems, redefining customer and operating work processes, restructuring organizations, and managing relationships with customers and regulators in four jurisdictions. PHI intends to do all of this while continuing to provide safe and reliable energy service to its customers.

To assist in developing and executing this plan, PHI reached out to peer utilities and vendors. One significant “partner” group is the Global Intelligent Utility network Coalition (GIUNC), established by IBM, which currently includes CenterPoint Energy (Texas), Country Energy (new South Wales, Australia) and PHI.

Leveraging these resources and others, PHI managers spent much of 2007 compiling detailed plans for realizing the Blueprint. Several aspects of these planning efforts are described below.

VISION AND DESIGN

In 2007, multiple initiatives were launched to flesh out the many aspects of the Blueprint. As Figure 1 illustrates, all of the initiatives were related and designed to generate a deployment plan based on a comprehensive review of the business and technical aspects of the project.

At this early stage, PHI does not yet have all the answers. Indeed, prematurely committing to specific technologies or designs for work that will not be completed for five years can raise the risk of obsolescence and lost investment. The deployment plan and system map, discussed in more detail below, are intended to serve as a guide. They will be updated and modified as decision points are reached and new information becomes available.

BUSINESS CASE VALIDATION

One of the first tasks was to review and define in detail the business case analyses for the project components. Both benefit assumptions and implementation costs were tested. Reference information (benchmarks) for this review came from a variety of sources: IBM experience in projects of similar scope and type; PHI materials and analysis; experiences reported by other GIUNC members; and other utilities and other publicly available sources. This information was compiled, and a present value analysis was conducted on discounted cash flow and rate of return, as shown in Figure 2.

In addition to an “operational benefits” analysis, PHI and the Brattle Group developed value assessments associated with demand response offerings such as critical peak pricing. With demand response, peak consumption can be reduced and capacity cost avoided. This means lower total energy prices for customers and less new capacity additions in the market. As Figure 2 shows, in even the worst-case scenario for demand response savings, operational and customer benefits will offset the cost of PHI’s AMI investment.

The information from these various cases has since been integrated into a single program management tool. Additional capabilities for optimizing results based on value, cost and schedule were developed. Finally, dynamic relationships between variables were modeled and added to the tool, recognizing that assumptions don’t always remain constant as plans are changed. One example of this would be the likely increase in call center cost per meter when deployment accelerates and customer inquiries increase.

HIGH-LEVEL COMMUNICATIONS ARCHITECTURE DESIGN

To define and develop the communications architecture, PHI deployed a structured approach built around IBM’s proprietary optimal comparative communications architecture methodology (OCCAM). This methodology established the communications requirements for AMI, data architecture and other technologies considered in the Blueprint. Next, an evaluation of existing communications infrastructure and capabilities was conducted, which could be leveraged in support of the new technologies. Then, alternative solutions to “close the gap” were reviewed. Finally, all of this information was incorporated in an analytical tool that matched the most appropriate communication technology within a specified geographic area and business need.

SYSTEM MAP AND INFORMATION MODEL

Defining the data framework and the approach to overall data integration elements across the program areas is essential if companies are to effectively and efficiently implement AMI systems and realize their identified benefits.

To help PHI understand what changes are needed to get from their current state to a shared vision of the future, the project team reviewed and documented the “current state” of the systems impacted by their plans. Then, subject matter experts with expertise in meters, billing, outage, system design, work and workforce management, and business data analysis were engaged to expand on the data architecture information, including information on systems, functions and the process flows that tie them all together. Finally, the information gathered was used to develop a shared vision of how PHI processes, functions, systems and data will fit together in the future.

By comparing the design of as-is systems with the to-be architecture of information management and information flows, PHI identified information gaps and developed a set of next steps. One key step establishes an “enterprise architecture” model for development. The first objective would be to establish and enforce governance policies. With these in place, PHI will define, draft and ratify detailed enterprise architecture and enforce priorities, standards, procedures and processes.

PHASE 2 DEPLOYMENT PLAN

Based on the planning conducted over the last half of the year, a high-level project plan for Phase 2 deployment was compiled. The focus was mainly on Blueprint initiatives, while considering dependencies and constraints reported in other transformation initiatives. PHI subject matter experts, project team leads and experience gathered from other utilities were all leveraged to develop the Blueprint deployment plan.

The deployment plan includes multiple types of tasks; processes; and organization, technical and project management office-related activities, and covers a period of five to six years. Initiatives will be deployed in multiple releases, phased across jurisdictions (Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey) and coordinated between meter installation and communications infrastructure buildout schedules.

The plan incorporates several initiatives, including process design, system development, communications infrastructure and AMI, and various customer initiatives. Because these initiatives are interrelated and complex, some programmatic initiatives are also called for, including change management, benefits realization and program management. From this deployment plan, more detailed project plans and dependencies are being developed to provide PHI with an end-to-end view of implementation.

As part of the planning effort, key risk areas for the Blueprint program were also defined, as shown in Figure 3. Input from interviews and knowledge leveraged from similar projects were included to ensure a comprehensive understanding of program risks and to begin developing mitigation strategies.

CONCLUSION

As PHI moves forward with implementation of its AMI systems, new issues and challenges are certain to arise, and programmatic elements are being established to respond. A program management office has been established and continues to drive more detail into plans while tracking and reporting progress against active elements. AMI process development is providing the details for business requirements, and system architecture discussions are resolving interface issues.

Deployment is still in its early stages, and much work lies ahead. However, with the effort grounded in a clear vision, the journey ahead looks promising.