Volume 2, Number 1 | JANUARY 2009
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Aclara Advanced Metering Infrastructure Eliminates Municipal Water Loss City water departments lose track of up to 45 percent of the water that is delivered to them, according to the American Waterworks Association. Aclara recently told the Mayors Water Council of the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Palm Beach, Florida. how its advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) is stemming the flow in cities across the nation. Ike Moss, vice-president of municipal sales, and Laura Wainwright, water product manager, described the impact of AMI technology on collecting the data necessary to monitor and track water as it comes into the system. One major benefit of AMI is it can identify where infrastructure may be under stress, allowing municipal water companies to pinpoint the areas most in need of upgrade and repair. Aclara’s STAR® Network system allows municipalities to collect data from meters daily, or even hourly. The STAR Network is the leading fixed-network solution for water utilities, with over two million meter-reading devices operating in North America. In addition to allowing water utilities to collect hourly water readings, The STAR Network creates detailed customer profiles, supports structured rate plans, and encourages conservation efforts. Once data is collected and analyzed, real usage information can be delivered by the AMI system to the customer via devices such as pagers, personal digital assistants, or home computers. Soon, data will be delivered directly to in-home displays that are either located on the meter or are stand-alone devices that mount on a wall or plug into an outlet. The AMI system is the data backbone that will also allow connection and disconnection of meters remotely, providing the means for municipal utilities to manage distant meter locations without rolling trucks, saving both time and money. For more information on how the STAR Network system can help you, or to schedule a presentation on the benefits of AMI to water utilities, contact Dan Cerrezuela, Director of Public Utility Sales, Aclara, 216-896-8600, or visit www.Aclara.com. |
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Aclara Provides Customers of PPL Electric Utilities with Hourly Usage Data PPL Electric Utilities, Allentown, PA, is the first major electric utility to provide hourly usage data in a full system deployment via the Web. Access to hourly usage data and other information is available to the utility’s business and residential customers through a secure account log-in on its website at www.pplelectric.com. Customers who register on the website and sign on to their account access a dashboard hosted by Aclara. Although many utilities collect hourly meter readings, PPL is a leader in providing this level of granular data to customers. Hourly information helps customers see how their activities affect power usage and develop strategies to use energy wisely.
The Aclara dashboard, called Energy Analyzer by PPL Electric Utilities, allows customers to view all the important features of the most recent bill: bill highlights, how energy was used by electric appliance for the billing cycle, how billing cycle electricity usage compares with customers with similar home profiles, and links to find personalized ways to reduce their electric bill. Another new feature for PPL Electric Utilities’ customers using the dashboard is bill-to-date, which lets them see how much electricity they have used since their last bill and generates an estimate of their next bill. In addition, PPL Electric Utilities also will use hourly data to develop time-of-use rate options, which provide different rates based on the cost of power throughout the day. The utility will offer TOU rates, allowing individuals to make more informed decisions about when they use electricity and how much they pay for it, to all its customers starting in 2010. PPL Electric Utility’s push to make TOU rates available to customers is one reason it was recently named Utility of the Year by Pennwell’s Electric Light & Power magazine. Another PPL Electric Utilities’ program that caught the attention of the magazine, and played in the decision to name it Utility of the Year is Energy Analyzer. A unique feature of Energy Analyze allows customers to evaluate the role specific appliances play in their energy use. It also provides advice on how to make their homes more efficient. “PPL Electric Utilities continues to find innovative ways to use the Aclara dashboard and provide its customers with benefits of the hourly data collected through its AMI deployment,” said Dave Bonnett, Vice President, Software Product Management, Aclara. “These solutions provide customers with much more than just a bill. They allow customers to see why their bill changed and what they can do to take greater control of their electricity use.” The hourly data being presented to customers is collected from PPL Electric Utilities’ 1.4 million customers using Aclara TWACS advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) technology. Aclara’s meter data management system (MDMS) then performs back-office data processing including advanced validation, editing, and estimation (VEE) to ensure that data presented to the customers is high quality and accurate. The AMI implementation at PPL Electric Utilities is one of the largest in the United States, and has been fully functional since 2004. Nearly 240,000 customers have registered to use PPL Electric Utilities website, and approximately 6.5 percent of PPL Electric Utilities customers signed on to their dashboards in October. |
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Aclara’s Customer Care Dashboard Blends Bill and Energy Analysis with Load Presentment The availability of AMI data allows utilities to provide customers with a rich set of information to help them better manage their energy use, and better position the utility as a source of valuable energy information for customers. Aclara’s approach to providing this type of support is based on limitations observed of past approaches used by some utilities. In too many cases, load data has been viewed as highly granular data in a database that is not accessible with other information of interest to customers, and utilities have not provided tools to help the customer make sense of the information. While this approach may work for larger companies that have available energy expertise, it has not worked effectively for mass-market customers who will now have access to interval information for the first time. For these customers, the bill is at the center of utility communications and load data should be decipherable on it. Aclara’s meter data management (MDM) system is tightly integrated with the presentation and analysis of data to customers and customer service representatives. Customer service representatives can view the detailed data residing in the MDM, using it to educate customers on when and how they use their electricity.
Part of Aclara’s Bill Analysis functionality, the Aclara Customer Dashboard, provides analysis capabilities that help customers better manage their energy costs. Customers can view and analyze their energy bills, access billing and payment histories, and receive specific recommendations on saving energy. Customers can also compare costs with those of similar homes and determine the factors that caused their bills to change, including the specific impacts of each factor, such as weather. Leveraging AMI data requires tools that help customers take advantage of the added information, and Aclara delivers several, including:
Aclara’s Bill Analysis and Energy Analysis are demonstrated to reduce the number of calls to utilities, and increase customer satisfaction. For more information on using Aclara software to leverage your data, visit www.aclara.com. |
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Puget Sound Energy Turns to Aclara Software to Boost Customer Satisfaction Washington State’s oldest and largest energy utility, Puget Sound Energy (PSE), a subsidiary of Puget Energy, has successfully rolled out Aclara’s Customer Moves Center, which allows utility customers to start, stop, and transfer electric and natural gas service on-line. The utility also recently deployed Aclara’s paperless billing and e-mail notification solutions to allow residential consumers to make payment arrangements without assistance from a call-center agent.
These applications are just the latest in a series of software solutions from Aclara implemented by PSE. The utility also employs Aclara Software’s energy- and “We continue to enjoy a productive partnership with Aclara. Our implementation of its consumer-oriented energy products has allowed Puget Sound Energy to provide top-notch service to its customers,” said Wendy Micklus, Manager Customer Experience. “We are pleased with the benefits to our utility customers provided by Aclara.” “Our partnership with Puget Sound Energy continues to grow, and we plan to work closely with the utility as it applies Aclara applications to improve the customer experience and enhance call-center operations,” said Bruce Phillips, Group President of Aclara. |
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Thompson Joins UTC Smart Networks Council Mark Thompson, Aclara’s Director of Strategic Planning, will join the Board of Directors for the newly formed Utilities Telecom Council's (UTC) Smart Networks Council. The council, made up of utility executives and AMI solution representatives, is responsible for creating standards and guidelines for the advancement of smart networks. The council’s mission is to:
Aclara has been working with the UTC since 1990. This international non-profit trade association represents energy and water utilities, their industry trade associations, and their technology partners.
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New Publication Focuses on Smart Grid Issues
First of all, smart grid, intelligent utility, what’s the difference? “It seems like most smart grid discussions inevitably lead to these questions: How do we get to a smart grid? When do we know when we are there? And what’s a smart grid again? These aren’t easy questions. Utilities can install smart meters and other smart sensors on their grid, but having these technologies doesn’t necessarily mean they have a smart grid. To make it even more confusing, other “smart grid” components like demand response, distribution automation and AMR have already been around for years. “The smart grid is more than just acquiring technologies. The smart grid is about transforming business processes and technologies to improve T&D network automation and monitoring and to better connect consumers and utility companies, so utilities can continue to provide reliable, affordable, efficient, and sustainable energy. Focusing on just smart grid, however, leaves out many people, devices, and systems outside of T&D – even outside of the utility – that impact the grid’s operation. “An intelligent utility takes smart grid a step further by enabling groups both across and outside the company – including the enterprise, generation/wholesale, consumers, other utilities, and global participants – to acquire the knowledge they need to provide reliable, affordable, efficient, and sustainable energy.” Why does the intelligent utility concept matter? “Utilities are facing a slew of issues today, from aging infrastructure and reliability to dealing with transportation electrification and renewable energy sources. Some issues will require utilities to make investments in traditional infrastructure. For example, utilities will have to replace aging transformers and wires or build new transmission lines and generation plants to keep up with demand. “However, other issues will limit utilities’ ability make these investments – such as the backlash against coal generation and the credit crunch. To continue providing the energy that consumers demand, utilities will have to consider solutions that go beyond traditional investments, including informational and operational technologies and business process transformation.” What makes this magazine different? “Even as the financial crisis rages on, utilities will have to continue making some investments to provide reliable, affordable, efficient and sustainable energy. This magazine sorts through the smart-grid hype and shows what utilities are really doing to build intelligence into their systems today. “At the same time, the magazine also focuses on the connection between what utilities are doing today and how these efforts can support a utility company’s long-term vision for the smart grid or intelligent utility. For example, what changes will have to take place in today’s customer information systems to support future efforts like AMI or PHEVs? What’s more, how will business processes in customer operations change to support these new efforts as well as new information sources? Today, more than ever, with the dramatic transformation of the industry, utilities must ensure that their investments serve them well today and into the future.” For more information about Intelligent Utility or to sign up today for a free subscription, please go to www.intelligentutility.com. |
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The following courses, some of which are condensed for this venue, will be available:
Please see the training registration calendar on the TWACS Customer Portal at http://customer.aclaratech.com for detailed course descriptions, times, fee information, and to register. Breakfast, lunch, and beverages are included in the registration cost. Training seats from Service Level Agreements may not be redeemed for these classes. Any class that does not receive a minimum of 10 registrations by February 27 will be cancelled. If you are interested in attending, but need to wait until after February 27 to register, please contact Customer Care by telephone at 800-892-9008 or by email at care@Aclara.com. TNS Administration – This course is designed for TNS operators and IT staff responsible for TNS servers. It covers TNS architecture, services, logs, database maintenance, system backups, OPTIMUM and third-party integration, and general service implementation and maintenance concerns. Mapped Register Meters – This WebEx® course covers all the information necessary to configure and read mapped register meters including examining registers and their purposes on the module, creating and defining rate classes, the differences between on-request and daily-shifted data, and configuring intervals on Sentinel and S4 modules. For more information on or to register for these courses, please see the TWACS customer portal at http://customer.aclaratech.com. |
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Aclara’s recent awarded contracts highlight our proven and reliable technologies and our suite of solutions for energy and water applications.
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The core objective of the Aclara approach is to provide a meaningful presentation of load data on the bill, together with analysis and content that will promote desired actions. Aclara’s solution tightly integrates the interval data in the MDM, load presentation, and the billing information that is at the core of customer-utility communications, and delivers it in the customer’s language, along with a rich set of tools the customer can use to take best advantage of this valuable new information.
Energy Central’s
Aclara will offer TWACS training sessions immediately following the 2009 Aclara Client Conference at the Renaissance St. Louis Grand & Suites Hotel on April 30th.