White Paper - Date: June 14, 2017 |
Most utilities agree it’s time to rethink the way they charge for electricity. They understand that technological advances and power generation alternatives are making current approaches obsolete. New rate designs can profoundly affect the choices their customers make. The real debate is over what tomorrow’s rate designs should look like. There are many possibilities. Click here to read more:
http://info.burnsmcd.com/2017-appa-collateral … more…Engineering Services Supplier Article - Date: June 01, 2017 |  |
Rochester Public Utilities awarded the Westside Energy Station (WES) engineering, procurement, and construction project to Westside Energy Partners (WEP), the joint venture of the Boldt Company and Sargent & Lundy. WES is a new natural gas-fired reciprocating internal combustion engine (RICE) generation facility in Rochester, Minnesota. It consists of five 9‑MW RICE units that will be placed into commercial operation in Q2 2018. Sargent & Lundy's role is in the development of the conceptua
l design and detailed engineering and design, as well as coordinating the procurement, construction management, and commissioning.
Read the full project profile: http://www.sargentlundy.com/projects/westside-energy-station/… more…First Launch of Apogee Interactive’s Technology in Canada Press Release - Date: May 17, 2017 |
ATLANTA (May 18, 2017) – A Canadian utility will soon launch Apogee Interactive’s Energy Advisor for its residential customers and Apogee’s Commercial Energy Calculator for business customers, proven industry-leading technologies designed to help customers lower their energy bills and leverage the utility’s energy efficiency products and services.
The partnership marks a milestone for Apogee, as it is Apogee’s first partnership with a Canadian utility provider. The Canadian utility
plans to use the online tools to engage customers, providing them with more information on their usage and helping them understand how energy efficiency practices and behaviors can lower their power bills.
The Energy Advisor and Commercial Energy Calculator will help customers learn what drives their electric consumption and the factors that impact costs and fluctuations in their bill. Business customers who use the Commercial Energy Calculator will also be directed to efficient products and services offered by the utility to help them lower energy costs and improve their business’ bottom line.
Features of the Energy Advisor include:
• A responsive user interface
• Energy saving recommendations and links to programs
• Utility branding
• Usage analytics
• Energy libraries designed to further educate consumers who are engaged online.
The Commercial Energy Calculator incorporates the Energy Advisor features and can also assist account managers and commercial auditors. It offers a wide array of tools designed to better serve business customers of varying sizes.
“We are honored to be chosen by a Canadian utility to help them improve their customer experience,” said Susan Gilbert, President and CEO of Apogee Interactive. “Our Energy Advisor is a proven solution for utilities seeking to provide their customers with a hands-on, personalized experience.”
About Apogee Interactive
Apogee Interactive is the nation’s leading provider of customer engagement technology for utilities. Partnering with utilities since 1993, Apogee’s digital engagement platform delivers proactive, personalized communication to residential and commercial customers nationwide. Apogee’s proven SaaS platform enables more meaningful customer engagement, proven sustainable energy results, reduced operating costs, and improved program performance for utilities. For more information, please visit www.apogee.net. Follow us on Twitter at @apoweb and on Linkedin.
Apogee Contact: Karen Morris – 678-684-6801 – kmorris@apogee.net
… more…Press Release - Date: May 01, 2017 |
GridLiance Holdco, L.P. (GridLiance) announces the addition of Justin M. Campbell as President of GridLiance West Utilities – GridLiance’s newly formed transmission company operating in the Western Interconnection.
As GridLiance expands its footprint in the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) and Western Electricity Coordinating Council (WECC) areas, Campbell will head new business and development efforts for GridLiance West Utilities. This includes managing the high voltage tr
ansmission system GridLiance is acquiring from Valley Electric Association, Inc. (VEA). This acquisition will deliver significant benefits to the CAISO region, including increasing the region’s attractiveness for economic development through improved transmission reliability and more access to low-cost renewable energy.
“We are excited to welcome Justin to the GridLiance team,” said Ed Rahill, President and Chief Executive Officer of GridLiance. “Justin’s expertise in developing electric transmission strategy in CAISO and WECC, as well as his leadership in pursuing new business development will be instrumental as we pursue additional opportunities in the west.
“Southern and western Nevada are emerging markets for renewable energy, and this growth is driving the need for transmission that can deliver low-cost energy throughout the region. Our partnership with VEA allows us to enter the market with assets located in a strategic area that will send clean energy to customers and strengthen the grid’s security.”
Campbell joins GridLiance from Edison International, where most recently, he was vice president of Edison Transmission, LLC, a subsidiary formed to pursue opportunities in transmission nationwide. He also held roles in Edison International’s strategic planning group and in Southern California Edison’s Transmission and Distribution Business Unit. Campbell previously held roles at the global investment bank Houlihan Lokey and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
“I am joining GridLiance at a crucial time, when the company is on the verge of closing on an important acquisition in CAISO,” said Campbell. “I’m excited to be a part of a great management team and focused on this dynamic region. I look forward to working with public power utilities to address their transmission needs and with developers to bring more renewable energy to the west.”
GridLiance also announces the promotion of Calvin Crowder to President of GridLiance South Central Utilities. Crowder will lead GridLiance’s development in the RTO regions of the Southwest Power Pool (SPP), Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT), and Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) South, as well as New Mexico. He will also manage GridLiance’s owned assets in the South Central region. Brian Gedrich also joins GridLiance as vice president of GridLiance South Central Region. Prior to GridLiance, Gedrich served as executive director of Transmission Development at NextEra Energy Transmission/Lone Star Transmission.
About GridLiance
Incorporated in 2014, GridLiance’s core business model is to partner with municipalities, public power agencies and electric cooperatives (Public Power) to increase system reliability and lower costs. GridLiance’s differentiated operating model provides its Public and Cooperative Power Partners with new opportunities to invest in regulated transmission projects or rely on GridLiance to plan and construct transmission for their benefit. GridLiance currently operates over 400 miles of transmission lines and related substation facilities in Oklahoma, has long term partnerships with Public Power utilities operating in Missouri, Oklahoma, Nevada, and Kansas, and is negotiating new arrangements with utilities in several other states. For more information about GridLiance, visit www.GridLiance.com.
GridLiance
Krissy Posey, Director of Communications
kposey@gridliance.com
(312) 283-5217
… more…Press Release - Date: April 12, 2017 |
New AreaMax™ product feature supports wireless nodes with 0-10V dimming and monitoring, key component of networked ‘Smart City’ lighting solutions
April, 12 2017…Renton, WA. LED lighting manufacturer Evluma announces the availability of a 7 pin option for the AreaMax™ LED luminaire for Street and Area Lighting. In compliance with ANSI C136.41-2013 Standard for Roadway and Area Lighting Equipment–Dimming Control between an External Locking Type Photocontrol and Ballast or Driver, the Area
Max 7 pin model supports 0-10V dimming and the power and voltage monitoring features of most wireless controls nodes. Already well known for energy and maintenance savings features, such as Photocontrol Failsafe™ and ConnectLED™, the new option opens the doorway to additional savings and functionality for owners of the versatile AreaMax. Wireless control nodes only connect to luminaires with a compatible 7 pin twist-lock receptacle as they depend on power from the luminaire.
“A luminaire with a 7 pin option is your first step towards networked outdoor lighting,” said Cathleen Shattuck, Marketing Director at Evluma. “Customers can plan ahead knowing that if and when they choose a wireless node the luminaire will support it. In the meantime, the AreaMax 7 pin model remains compatible with 3 pin photocontrols that may still be in inventory. Backward compatibility gives our customers the option to upgrade when it is convenient for them.”
All AreaMax with the new 7 pin socket will maintain the ability to communicate with ConnectLED preserving the ability to set brightness settings and dimming schedules and easy connect/disconnect using the app. “Many luminaries may also require a driver upgrade to support 0-10V dimming. The AreaMax driver has been designed for dimming since inception.” Evluma’s 7 pin socket configuration also supports available nodes with motion control capability. Unlike some competitive products the current inrush to the AreaMax 7 pin receptacle is extremely low, helping to preserve the life of expensive wireless node relays.
AreaMax with the 7 pin option are available for order immediately. Other AreaMax options include a coastal-grade casting and hardware package and 3000K IDA (International Dark Sky) approved models in both Type V and Type III. All AreaMax carry a 10-year warranty. On display at the NWPPA E & O, Reno, NV April 11-13 and the IEEE REPC in Columbus, OH April 23-26, 2017.
About Evluma
Formed in 2008, Evluma is committed to developing affordable, long-lasting and environmentally low-impact LED lighting solutions that fundamentally change the landscape of the outdoor utility lighting market. Evluma’s high standard of customer service and background in innovative lighting technologies, automation and software design creatively ideate and inform it’s Made in Washington products.
… more…KUBRA Announces 25th Anniversary, Celebrates with Future Forward Campaign Press Release - Date: April 03, 2017 |
New York, New York (March 28, 2017) — KUBRA, a leading customer experience management solution provider, today announced the celebration of the company's 25th anniversary with a new "Future Forward" campaign. The campaign will include employee and client initiatives to underscore both the company’s industry-leading position and the future vision of KUBRA.
“It’s with great pride that I join our employees, clients and partners in celebrating KUBRA's 25th anniversary,” said Rick Watkin, CEO
and President. “Our success and longevity is due not only to the ongoing advancements and continuous innovation of our products, but also to the forward-thinking people who have made it possible.”
KUBRA will kick off its Future Forward campaign and anniversary celebrations March 28 in San Diego at the company’s iConnect Client Conference. Throughout the year, the company will show its commitment to future generations by working with charitable organizations focused on STEM education designed to help bridge the skills gap between today’s workforce and those required in the future.
Founded in 1992 in Mississauga, Ontario, KUBRA was created to receive data for the production and mailing of bills, invoices and statements as an outsourced service for B2B businesses. Throughout the following years, KUBRA rapidly expanded its solutions and created new products to support its growing client base and to cement the company’s status as a leader in billing and payment technology. In 1999, KUBRA expanded into the U.S. market and subsequently moved away from its legacy B2B and newspaper clients to focus on serving the U.S. utility space including water, gas, electric and waste management providers.
KUBRA went on to launch a number of industry-leading customer experience products, including its:
KUBRA iDoxs® e-billing solution providing bill presentment and credit card payments in 1999
KUBRA EZ-PAY® on-demand payment solution in 2004
Secure email bill delivery and payment offering in 2005
Mobile e-billing solutions including SMS, mobile apps and mobile web in 2009
B2B e-billing solution for commercial and industrial clients in 2012
In-person payment solutions including self-serve kiosks and retail cash payments in 2015
Automated alerts and preference management, comprehensive mobile apps and customer-facing utility maps in 2016
Over the years, KUBRA has pivoted its business from an “Interactions” company to a “Customer Experience Management” organization, and today provides more than one billion customer experience interactions annually through deployments at more than 550 utility, insurance and government clients.
For more information and to view a timeline of the evolution of KUBRA, visit www.kubra.com/25years.
About KUBRA
KUBRA provides customer experience management solutions to some of the largest utility, insurance and government entities across North America. Our portfolio of meter-to-cash and outage communication solutions includes billing and payment, mapping, mobile apps and proactive communications solutions for customers. With more than one billion customer experiences annually, KUBRA provides performance-driven value to more than 550 clients every day. KUBRA is an operating subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation. Visit http://www.kubra.com for more information.… more…Press Release - Date: March 17, 2017 |
Tantalus Raises $6M to Support Deployment of Rapidly Expanding Utility Customer Base and Continued Development of Distributed Computing Smart Grid Applications
Tantalus ramps up operations to support the addition of 23 new utility customers over the last year
RALEIGH, N.C. – Feb. 23, 2017 – Tantalus Systems, a leading smart grid solution provider for municipal and cooperative utilities, announced today that the company raised $6M of additional capital from a combination of new inve
stors, including CT Innovations and Vareco Holdings, as well as major existing shareholders. The additional capital will support Tantalus’ growing community of municipal and cooperative utility users as well as the expansion of the company’s integrated smart grid applications ecosystem.
“We are thrilled to maintain the support of our existing investors towards our strategic plan while also welcoming new investment funds to our organization,” said Peter Londa, President & CEO for Tantalus. “The additional capital will not only support our continued growth in our market segment, but also accelerate strategic initiatives to expand our product portfolio beyond AMI. We look forward to continuing to deliver value to our municipal and cooperative utility partners and to the communities they serve.”
Tantalus’ smart grid platform – TUNet® – is now deployed across more than 115 utilities in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean as the company continues to gain market share. In 2016, 23 municipal and cooperative utilities representing approximately 700,000 electric meters selected TUNet as their smart grid communications platform. Now with over one million endpoints deployed with embedded distributed intelligence and powerful grid edge analytics, Tantalus is a market leader in enabling utilities to immediately reduce operational costs and make more informed decisions.
“Tantalus is positioned technologically and commercially to address one of the fastest growing utility market segments – smart grid for municipal and cooperative utilities,” said Matt McCooe, Chief Executive Officer of Connecticut Innovations. “The company’s ability to pro-actively engage its growing User community has helped it identify paths to improve the value of TUNet and prioritize R&D initiatives. These are key components of Tantalus’ rapid expansion within this valuable market segment.”
As an example of Tantalus’ strong market position, Blue Ridge Electric Cooperative in South Carolina selected Tantalus in 2016 over several competitors due to TUNet’s ability to reliably deliver distributed intelligence at the edge of a utility’s distribution network, even in challenging terrain. “In a recent side-by-side comparison with competing technology, TUNet outperformed the competition in terms of network coverage, response time and data accuracy,” remarked Barney Drake, Power Delivery & System Support Services Supervisor at Blue Ridge. “TUNet delivered 80% of outage notifications within the first two minutes of the event – before a single customer called in to report it. Access to pro-active data like this will change the way we do business.”
The funding comes as the company continues to introduce system enhancements and new functionality to its networked endpoints through remote firmware upgrades. This unique and field-proven feature of TUNet effectively reduces ongoing maintenance costs while protecting the long-term value of the utility’s smart grid investments.
About Tantalus
Tantalus provides a two-way, multi-purpose platform that enables access to data to power advanced Smart Grid applications for monitoring and control of electric, water and gas municipal and cooperative utilities. TUNet® – the Tantalus Utility Network – is an award winning end-to-end WAN/FAN/LAN/Grid Edge communications system that utilizes IP-based networks including Fiber, WiMAX and cellular as well as 220 & 900 MHz wireless RF. TUNet is purpose built for the Smart Grid and unites utility applications through a software-defined radio (SDR) and distributed computing capability embedded at every endpoint. The result is enhanced value across all utility departments through solutions such as automated metering, outage management, power quality monitoring, load management, distribution automation and grid optimization that are both cost-effective and practical to deploy throughout urban and rural service areas. For more information, please visit www.tantalus.com.
About CT Innovations
Connecticut Innovations (CI) is the leading source of financing and ongoing support for Connecticut’s innovative, growing companies. To maximize company growth potential, CI provides venture capital and strategic support for early-stage technology companies; financial support for innovation and collaboration; and connections to its well-established network of partners and professionals. For more information, please visit www.ctinnovations.com.
About Vareco
Vareco is a single family office investing opportunistically across multiple sectors and asset classes. Vareco provides senior management services and strategic guidance to a variety of privately-held and publicly-traded companies through direct investment and active board participation. The firm has specialized knowledge in shipping and energy infrastructure and controls multiple operating companies in these spaces. For more information, please visit www.varecoholdings.com.
Contact
Laura Wright
Marketing Communications Manager
Tantalus
M: 919-538-0732
E: lwright@tantalus.com
www.tantalus.com | Twitter: @TantalusCorp
… more…White Paper - Date: March 15, 2017 |
Get the results of a recent survey on the state of workforce automation in the electric utility industry.
The research provides good insight on the effects of maintaining a manual, paper-based system, and the work that is being transitioned to a fully automated system.
The white paper also includes a case study on Colorado Springs Utilities, showing how this technology provides a rapid return on investment with substantial savings each year from reduced driving miles and restoratio
n times.… more…Press Release - Date: March 15, 2017 |
Utility supervisors in particular will benefit from using Clevest WorkBook on smartphones in emergency situations
July 20, 2016—Clevest Solutions Inc., a leading provider of mobile workforce automation software including smart grid operations, has released the latest version of its Mobile Workforce Management solution for utilities.
Release 5.3 includes smartphone capabilities in the company’s award-winning WorkBook mobile app, allowing Clevest to provide its software solutions on
all types of devices on Windows, iOS or Android operating systems. Utility supervisors in particular will benefit from using WorkBook on smartphones to effectively manage their contractors and borrowed crews – which is essential in emergency situations.
Release 5.3 also delivers significant user interface enhancements in both WorkBook and the company’s WorkSpace office app. The 5.3 user experience includes special indicators and configurable order icons, saving and sharing of WorkSpace views, free-text search, color-coded geofences and in-row editing of grid repeatables. These highly usable features will improve the productivity and efficiency of both field and office utility workers.
“Our highly configurable and flexible mobile solutions allow utilities to automate any field activity and integrate with any back-end enterprise system in real time,” stated Garnik Bobloyan, VP of Engineering, Clevest. “We’ve been a trail blazer from the onset as we have supported devices from PDAs to laptops to tablets, and now support smartphones. Utility field crews can effectively complete their work assignments on any device, even when the device loses network connectivity.”
Edna Menon, Senior Product Manager, Clevest, added “We continue to benefit from the invaluable customer and market feedback we receive. Our latest Mobile Workforce Management was developed from this feedback and will increasingly solve utilities’ operational challenges in a demanding environment where they are consistently forced to do more with less.”
Read the highlights of Clevest Mobile Workforce Management 5.3 at www.clevest.com
… more…Comverge Brings Next-Generation Demand-Side Management to Public Power Utilities Press Release - Date: March 03, 2017 |
New IntelliSOURCE Express™ Enterprise Demand Response Management System Designed for Municipal and Electric Cooperative Utilities
Norcross, GA, March 2017 – Comverge, Inc., the leading provider of cloud-based demand response and energy efficiency solutions for electric utilities, today announced IntelliSOURCE Express™, an enterprise demand response management system (DRMS) designed for municipal and cooperative electric utilities. The solution is preconfigured, enabling a rapid time to b
enefit through a cost-effective deployment. The preconfigured capabilities are based upon best practices Comverge has developed from dozens of successful DRMS deployments. IntelliSOURCE Express also includes state-of-the art capabilities for cybersecurity, customer engagement, and bring your own device (BYOD).
With IntelliSOURCE Express, public power utilities can capitalize on the latest technology being deployed for demand-side management (DSM) programs such as two-way devices, integrated demand response and energy efficiency capabilities, and bring your own device (BYOD). With two-way devices, public power utilities can manage the peak with greater precision to more effectively lower the demand charge and pass savings along to customers and members. By taking advantage of the IntelliSOURCE Express integrated customer engagement portal, utilities can strengthen member and customer engagement by providing insights and tools to conveniently reduce household energy consumption and save on energy bills. A BYOD approach to demand response and energy efficiency gives public power utilities the ability to provide value added services to customers who have purchased retail Wi-Fi thermostats.
“Public power utilities typically still use legacy load management systems and, due to cost constraints, have yet to migrate to a modern enterprise DRMS to manage their demand response programs,” said Greg Dukat, Comverge Chairman, President and CEO. “With the release of IntelliSOURCE Express, public power utilities can benefit from a modern DRMS to save more money on power purchases and better engage customers and members.”
The threat of cyber-attacks continues to grow and many utilities have already been compromised. Legacy load management systems often include outdated and difficult to maintain technologies. As a result, these systems can be more vulnerable to modern cyber-security attacks. IntelliSOURCE Express utilizes today’s advanced technologies and is continually updated, tested, and certified against cyber-security threats. IntelliSOURCE Express also provides multiple, redundant layers of security for the application, framework, infrastructure, and communication. IntelliSOURCE Express can be deployed as either a cloud-based or on-premises solution.
About Comverge
Comverge is the industry’s leading provider of integrated cloud-based demand response, energy efficiency and customer engagement solutions that enable electric utilities to ensure grid reliability, lower energy costs, meet regulatory demands, and enhance the customer experience. Through its combination of software, hardware and services, Comverge helps utilities optimize every aspect of a demand management program, from participant recruitment and device installation to call center support, control events, and measurement and verification. Comverge has worked with hundreds of electric utilities to deploy nearly six million energy management devices and enroll more than two million residential customers into mass-market demand management programs. In July 2015, Navigant Research ranked Comverge the industry’s number one demand response provider. For more information, visit www.comverge.com and follow us on Twitter at @Comverge.
… more…Energy New England becomes ENE Press Release - Date: January 19, 2017 |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: John G. Tzimorangas, 508‐698‐1234
ENERGY NEW ENGLAND BECOMES ENE
Foxboro, MA – January 17, 2017 ‐ Energy New England, LLC (ENE), President & CEO John G. Tzimorangas announced today that Energy New England has changed its name to ENE. In making the official move at yesterday’s ENE Board of Director’s Meeting, he revealed the new ENE Logo that depicts a compass star and lightning bolt.
John G. Tzimorangas, President and C
EO of ENE said, “For years our customers have come to know us as just ENE and today we made it official! The brand recognition of ENE in the Northeast is unmistakable, so moving toward the acronym is timely. ” The move also includes the launch of the new www.ene.org website and a switch to ene.org email for the company.
ENE Board Chairman William Bottiggi noted; “The work that we have been doing to support our clients has resulted in a significant increase in Green and Carbon Reducing Projects. The name change and website look to “Green” more accurately depicts our mission as a company.”
About ENE - Energy New England, LLC (www.ene.org) is a leading provider of wholesale and retail energy services. The company conducts more than $300M in structured transactions annually, manages 1,100 MWs of energy, and has also grown to become the leading provider of conservation and efficiency services for the public power community in the region. The company’s customer base has grown exponentially over the past few years. Its comprehensive portfolio includes power supply and risk management services, energy and water conservation services, energy brokering, renewable energy solutions and lobbying and representative services. Energy New England has customers situated throughout New England as well as other power pools. The company works with an increasing number of utilities, independent power producers, industrial, commercial and institutional facilities, municipalities and non‐profits.
… more…Cummins and Tangent Energy Launch Pioneering Grid Edge Joint Venture Press Release - Date: October 24, 2016 |
edgeGEN™ combines Cummins generators with Tangent DERMS technology for C&I energy users
Kennett Square, PA and Columbus, IN – October 24, 2016 - Tangent Energy Solutions, Inc. and Cummins, Inc. (NYSE: CMI) today announced the formation of a joint venture named Tangent Generation Resources, LLC. The newly formed JV will market edgeGEN™, a line of natural gas generators equipped with Tangent AMP™, a Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS). Tangent Generation Resources will s
ell through municipal utilities and energy retailers to help commercial and industrial (C&I) customers manage energy consumption on the grid while reducing their costs.
Tangent Generation Resources is a pioneering joint venture between a traditional engine manufacturer and a grid edge DERMS technology provider. It represents a significant step toward the realization of a more decentralized energy grid that increasingly relies on C&I Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) as a power supply source; especially during periods of peak energy use. According to one industry analyst, by 2020, DERs could provide as much as one-third of the U.S. power supply with more than 70% of that figure sourced from engine-powered assets.
The partnership of Cummins, a global power leader that manufactures, distributes and services diesel and natural gas engines and related technologies, and Tangent Energy Solutions, a leading provider of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), will work exclusively through municipal utility and energy retailer channel partners to help their C&I customers dispatch generation during peak demand periods when costs on the energy grid are the highest.
“Distribution level energy providers and their C&I customers have become more aware and interested in the embedded economic potential that generators represent in the new grid edge economy. At the same time, they do not want to be distracted from core business operations,” said Satish Jayaram, Director, Global Energy Ventures, Cummins Power Systems. “Our partnership with Tangent Energy Solutions has proven that C&I energy users see tremendous value in a combined DER/DERMS offering, which made the joint venture a logical next step.”
Market factors are predicted to increase the energy industry’s reliance on customer-side energy resources to provide power and balance volatility on the energy grid. This shift toward the “grid edge” creates more economic opportunities for customers that are equipped to recognize and respond to market signals. At the same time, these opportunities cannot interfere with the normal operation of customer energy systems.
edgeGEN™ is a branded line of generation resources that consists of Cummins clean diesel or natural gas engines equipped with a suite of integrated technology and managed services provided by Tangent Energy Solutions. The DERMS technology platform, Tangent AMP™, predicts and alerts customers ahead of peak demand periods and other economic opportunities on the energy grid, then provides dispatch, demand management services, and monetization in one turnkey offering.
“As an industry leading engine manufacturer, Cummins was the ideal partner for this joint venture because we share the vision that a decentralized energy grid can only succeed by helping distribution level energy providers empower, motivate and monetize C&I customer participation,” said Dean Musser, President and CEO of Tangent Energy Solutions. “Alternative business models that focus solely on aggregating DER assets and managing them at the utility level, or put the onus of monetizing participation on the customer, fall short of the transactive energy benefits needed to drive broad based adoption.”
About Tangent Energy Solutions, Inc.
Tangent Energy Solutions is a Distributed Energy Resources (DER) company. Our Distributed Energy Resource Management (DERM) systems actively manage behind-the-meter supply and demand in order to maximize economic opportunities for C&I energy customers, while minimizing disruption to normal operations. By uniquely building out a DER solution from the customer side of the meter and monetizing it through exclusive relationships with leading Load Serving Entities (LSEs), Tangent motivates and empowers customers to become price makers on the energy grid while offering the industry plug-and-play access to customers that competitors cannot match.
About Cummins
Cummins Inc., a global power leader, is a corporation of complementary business units that design, manufacture, distribute and service diesel and natural gas engines and related technologies, including fuel systems, controls, air handling, filtration, emission solutions and electrical power generation systems. Headquartered in Columbus, Indiana, (USA) Cummins currently employs approximately 54,600 people worldwide and serves customers in approximately 190 countries and territories through a network of approximately 600 company-owned and independent distributor locations and approximately 7,200 dealer locations. Cummins earned $1.65 billion on sales of $19.2 billion in 2014. Press releases can be found on the Web at www.cummins.com. Follow Cummins on Twitter at @Cummins and on YouTube at Cummins Inc.
… more…Three P’s for Driving Utility Customer Engagement: Personalization, Prompts and Promotion White Paper - Date: September 14, 2016 |
Back in the day of John Wanamaker’s famous quote, “I know half my advertising budget is wasted; I just don’t know which half,” the ability to measure the effectiveness a company’s marketing spend was elusive.
Times have changed. In today’s digital world, the ability to track, measure, and adjust marketing programs and their associated communications in near real-time is nothing short of amazing.
Utility industry communication professionals know the quality and quantity of marketing
and
energy efficiency messaging has a direct impact on customer satisfaction. Year after year,
J.D. Power’s residential customer satisfaction survey results demonstrate this fundamental principle:
“Overall customer satisfaction increases when utility communications are recalled. Improved communications, particularly around electronic channels, and providing customers with more choices are large contributors to the increase in overall customer satisfaction.”
October 2014, J.D. Power
However, J.D. Power 2014 studies indicate that electric and gas providers rank 200 points lower on an industry scale showing pharmacy, finance, and retail companies in the lead. And while that might seem discouraging, the upside is we can glean useful insights for use in our industry.
The J.D. Power surveys also verify the correlation between program awareness or participation with higher customer satisfaction scores. The 2014 results show that simply making customers aware of existing programs increases customer satisfaction by 60 points. And notice how many customers that includes? As shown on this chart, 23 percent fall in the ‘not aware of any programs’ category and 43 are ‘aware but not participating.’ That equates to a whopping 66 percent of customers between those two categories and is an enormous opportunity for utilities to get their program messages out effectively.
It’s also interesting to notice the steady uplift in satisfaction as customers participate in one, two, three, four, or in five or more programs. Granted, the percentage of customers in these categories is low, going from 20 percent participating in one program to only two percent in the ‘five or more programs’ category. But it’s the trend that is important. More participation, more satisfied customers, and there is a 194-point difference between the two extremes.
So, what do the industries leading the pack in customer satisfaction know that utilities must learn? What are others doing that is different that can account for a 200-point differential?
For one, they have all moved off of segmentation and on to personalization. As Bruce Lucia, president of the Atlanta Division of one top retailer, Kroger’s, put it, “Segmentation is something we did a decade ago. Today, personalization is how we connect with customers.”
Let’s investigate what the top performers are doing and apply those ideas to our world. The following is the story of three utilities who outperformed even their best expectations for customer engagement and satisfaction using highly effective personalization, prompts, and promotion in their program design, marketing communications and implementation. While they are entirely different in their approaches and technology used, the common themes of customized, caring, messaging sent regularly create a profound impact.
In a society filled with “selfies,” instant gratification (i.e. Instagram) and the popular phrase, “It’s all about me!” it shouldn’t come as a surprise that “personalization” is one of the strongest arrows in your marketing quiver. When you talk directly to your customers specifically about them, they are more likely to listen.
Reaching customers when it matters most, like when they receive their monthly bill, with proactive and personalized information regarding their energy use, can greatly improve their customer experience and satisfaction.
It can also significantly raise the level of engagement you achieve with those customers. Consider the case of Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (REC), the first of 11 member cooperatives of ODEC to implement a personalized video messaging campaign and achieve an email click through rate 7 times greater than the industry average (30% click through rate versus 4%).
The Opportunity
Searching for a way to better inform and educate its members on the key factors affecting their monthly energy use and ways to save, REC enlisted Apogee to create short, customized videos for 2,000 members in a pilot test.
The Implementation
Beginning in late summer of 2014, a project team consisting of customer service and IT staff from REC and client support, creative services, and software development staff from Apogee, began work. By the end of October 2014, the first sets of videos were ready to launch. The video messaging platform delivered customized bill explanations for each member in the pilot. The final scene in the movies asked viewers to answer an online survey about the experience.
The Results
The Case for Personalization
“The video survey results were resoundingly positive,” reported Todd Jordan, Director of Member Solutions for REC. “Ninety-five percent of the respondents found the information easy to understand and 94 percent said they found the information useful. Overall, 92 percent felt the video format was an effective way to communicate changes in their bill,” he said.
“These short, animated videos explain changes in the monthly bill for each member, showing the impact of weather and other factors in dollars and cents. “It’s engaging and accurate because it’s using the member’s own home profile, billing data, local weather, and housing construction norms for our region. The more our members understand their monthly energy use, the better equipped they are to make choices and changes in their energy use or the energy efficiency of their homes.”
Todd Jordan, Rapahannock Electric Cooperative
Based on the pilot’s astounding results, personalized videos were then released to another 25,000 members a month later. Here are the details:
THE RESULTS
OF 25,000 EMAILS SENT...
OVER 9,500 VIDEOS VIEWED IN JUST ONE BILLING PERIOD
OUTSTANDING – Very informative .
Surprised - never received a video presentation before.
I thought it was creative and proactive.
It was good to find out that I saved money (which was my goal, by lowering the thermostat). Excellent-very helpful in presenting the reasons for changes in the bill month to month.
Super and very helpful. Congratulations on an innovative user friendly approach to customer service.
Loved it! Amazed. Very cool. Fantastic !
The Power of Regular Prompts
REC plans to continue distribution of the personalized video messages to members each month, with a different program or service applicable to the individual customer’s profile offered in the closing scene. Messaging will also align with the co-op’s program marketing annual calendar to include lighting, water heater, heat pump and other program messages. Each quarter, the images in the short movies will be changed to maintain customer interest.
Union Power Cooperative is also leveraging the power of personalization combined with regular prompts to achieve a 300 percent increase in the number of consumers utilizing Union Power’s “My Energy Report” online application to conduct their own home energy audits, reevaluate their usage, and explore opportunities to save on an ongoing basis.
The Opportunity
Union Power, an electric membership cooperative serving 70,000 members across North Carolina, offers a home energy calculator application from Apogee on its website that’s integrated with its billing system. This energy audit tool provides a fast, accurate assessment of the home’s energy use on a monthly and annual basis using a quick home profile checklist and cross-referencing the profile data against the member’s billing history, historic and current regional weather. It then offers recommendations on how to save and computes savings estimates.
While use of the online application provides an ongoing value and benefit to the members, Union Power wanted a way to re-energize interest and boost participation.
The Implementation
Union Power expanded the basic online HomeEnergyCalculator™ application to include automated monthly emails to members containing a customized graphic showing the member’s current month home energy analysis and annual analysis right in the body of an email. This way,
The Power of Regular Prompts
members were exposed to a quick explanation of their energy use on a monthly basis, not just when they visited the cooperative’s website.
“At Union Power Cooperative, we are committed to providing energy efficiency education to our members. This is valuable service strategic to our mission to provide an exceptional member experience. We believe personalized energy reports go one step further to improve that experience and helps maintain an ongoing individual conversation with each member,”
Luanne Sherron, VP of Communications & Key Accounts, Union Power Cooperative
The company currently has email addresses for 26,000 of its members and Apogee generates and distributes the “My Energy Report” personalized prompt emails to those members each month.
The Results
In the first nine months of implementation, the monthly emails with personalized content
are achieving a steady 50 percent open rate, nearly twice the generae industry average of 26 percent.
In addition, the number of home energy audit calculations conducted on the website has jumped 300 percent -- clearly demonstrating that being visible in a monthly email makes a huge difference in activity level. With energy education, it’s better to be proactive and send messages monthly rather than being “out-of-sight,
out-of-mind.”
This participation is critical for Union Power, who is required by the North Carolina General Assembly to ensure that a percentage of the electricity they sell is generated from renewable energy sources or energy efficiency programs. An incremental compliance schedule establishes that by 2018, 10 percent of each cooperative’s energy sales must come from renewable energy and energy efficiency. Cooperatives can fulfill REC/EEC requirements through indirect savings measures.
Fortunately, Apogee’s Progress Insights™ (My Energy Report) program qualifies as an
indirect savings measure. As such, each Union Power Cooperative member enrolled in ProgressInsights counts for 345 kWh toward the 10 percent goal.
The Endurance of Printed Promotion
Finally, their members like it. Here are just a few of the hundreds of feedback emails Union Power regularly receives:
“I am truly impressed by the presentation, data, and recommendation. Good job
and keep it up.”
Residential Customers, Union Power
“I have to say, this service is FANTASTIC! Thank you so very much for such a detailed breakdown of costs and the factors involved!”
“This was good comparative information and I appreciate it. Comparisons like this help me evaluate the effect of my habits and my efforts to cut usage. Thanks.”
While electronic communication delivery methods top the list for speed and affordability, it’s important not to overlook opportunities to capitalize on traditional printed communication channels as a supplement to any comprehensive marketing campaign.
When combined with Google analytics and other electronic tracking and measurement tools, it’s often easy to see the immediate impact of effective printed communications. Kankakee Valley Electric Cooperative (KVREMC) in Indiana certainly found this to be the case when they launched a new online application for their members called “Weather Insights™.”
The Opportunity
Developed by Apogee, KVREMC selected WeatherInsights for its ability to give members a quick, precise tool for uncovering and quantifying the value of potential energy savings in their homes. “We can’t control the weather, but we can encourage members to make small changes that can have a big impact,” said Amanda Steeb, Communications/Marketing Director of KVREMC.
The Implementation
The Endurance of Printed Promotion
“The application is tailored to our housing stock and uses our rates and our local weather, so members can see the direct correlation between outside temperatures and their inside thermostat setting temperature,” Steeb explained.
“Our goal is to provide our members with more control over their energy use and bills, and WeatherInsights presents the data in dollars and cents so they can make informed energy choices.”
Amanda Steeb, KVREMC
Weather Insights appears in the top right-hand corner of KVREMC’s website, showing the current day’s weather, an estimated energy cost for a typical home that day, and a 3-day weather forecast. Consumers just click on the Weather Insights icon to see a 7-day forecast and corresponding break down of a home’s predicted energy costs on those days. A “Save Money” button takes them to a virtual thermostat display where they can adjust the setting up or down to see the precise dollar impact per degree for each day and for the week. They can also fill out a quick home profile for a more detailed analysis of their home’s energy use and cost at any time.
In addition to adding a new banner across the top of their website for the first three months that Weather Insights was available, KVREMC next promoted the new app with a traditional bill stuffer. Within a few days of mailing those inserts, usage of Weather Insights jumped four-fold.
Next, KVREMC spread the word to EMC’s statewide about the new weather app through the statewide EMC monthly magazine. Again, within a few days of the publication being received at member homes, usage shot up another 40 percent. It’s hard to ignore hard numbers like that when measuring printed communication effectiveness.
In conclusion, the common denominator to these three marketing program communication case studies is clear. Segmentation may still have its place in a marketing plan, but the bar has been raised, and today, personalization is the new mark to hit. And regular proactive prompts or nudges that remind customers that you are there and you care are paramount to the new age of customer engagement.
Please visit www.apogee.net to see our next scheduled webinar and find out how we can assist you in achieving greater results with your customer engagement and marketing programs.
J.D. Power & Associates 2014 Utility Customer Satisfaction Studies
About ODEC:
Headquartered in Glen Allen, Virginia, ODEC is a not-for-profit, member-owned, power supply cooperative. It supplies the wholesale power requirements of its 11 member electric distribution cooperatives, which provide reliable, affordable electricity to 1.2 million people in 70 counties in Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware. Learn more at www.odec.com.
About Rappahannock Electric Cooperative:
Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (www.myrec.coop) is a member-owned utility that provides electric service to more than 158,000 connections in parts of 22 Virginia counties. With its general office in Fredericksburg, Va., the cooperative operates and maintains more than 16,000 miles of power lines through its service area, which ranges from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay.
Contact: Todd Jordan, tjordan@myrec.coop
About Union Power Cooperative:
Union Power Cooperative (www.union-power.com) is an electric distribution cooperative headquartered in Monroe, NC. We serve more than 70,000 member accounts in Union, Stanly, Cabarrus, Mecklenburg and Rowan counties and have more than 100 employees. The Cooperative is a not-for-profit organization incorporated in 1939. We have approximately 5,700 miles of energized distribution and transmission lines, 23 substations and 3 breaker stations and purchase wholesale power from the North Carolina Electric Membership Corporation (NCEMC).
Contact: Luanne Sherron, luanne.sherron@union-power.com
About Kankakee Valley REMC:
Kankakee Valley REMC (www.kvremc.com) now serves more than 18,000 members with 1,810 miles of line. We continue to strive to meet our members’ needs while continuing to provid quality service.
For 73 years, Kankakee Valley REMC has been an important contributor to the economy of our area and we look forward to continually improving the service and quality of life for our members.
Contact: Amanda Steeb, asteeb@kvremc.com
About Apogee Interactive, Inc.:
Founded in 1993, Apogee pioneered electronic applications designed to increase a utility’s customer engagement and consumer energy efficiency. Today, its comprehensive customer communication platform of applications has expanded to include personalized video messaging, outbound email and text messaging, and its energy analysis apps are available for mobile devices. Clients include investor-owned, municipal and cooperative energy companies including Con Edison (ED), American Electric Power (AEP), Entergy (ETR), Southern Company (SO), NSTAR (NST), Salt River Project, Jackson EMC and Flint Energies. See more at www.apogee.net.
100 Crecent Centre Parkway, Suite 450,
Tucker GA 30084 info@apogee.net 678-684-6801
… more…The Case for Utility Digital Engagement Advertising/Marketing Supplier Article - Date: September 14, 2016 | |
Customer expectations are changing and so is the energy industry. Over the last 20 years, companies like Amazon have revolutionized retail business and Apple’s iPhone has put the world at our fingertips. Companies of all kinds, and especially electric utilities, that do not engage with customers on digital channels are missing ripe opportunities to increase revenue and thrive in today’s market.
The Business Case for Digital
Accenture’s latest New Energy Consumer Survey brings some
interesting customer behavior insights to our attention. Above all, the study highlighted that customers who use digital channels are far more engaged than non-digital users. Accenture found that digitally engaged customers are:
• 80% more likely to participate in programs
• 73% more likely to share personal information
• 69% more likely to be satisfied with their energy provider
From that same Accenture study, we learn that digital channel users are more likely to purchase energy-related revenue-generating products and services.
Millennials Provide the Energy Industry a Window of Opportunity
We have all heard that population demographics are changing and the time of the millennials has come. Why is this important and how does it affect the energy industry? This group, which includes people aged 19-35 in 2016, is shaping our future. They are passionate about the environment and energy efficiency. They are also more likely to notice and act on information conveyed over digital channels.
Millennials are early adopters and technology is essential to them; they are investing in solar, new homes, and EVs. By 2025—less than 10 years from now—they will make up 75% of the workforce. Millennials present a major engagement challenge and opportunity for utilities.
Top-Ranking Industries
The companies we do business with on a daily basis set perceptions and expectations. Utilities are compared to credit card providers, retail banking, and airlines. When is the last time you contacted a ticket agent? These industries have learned to streamline business and serve customers through digital channels and they are outstripping the energy sector in customer satisfaction by a large margin as a result.
Digital Engagement Channels
Digital engagement provides a cost-effective means to justify your marketing ROI, making segmentation and personalization easier and your campaigns more impactful. Moreover, data analytics provide rich and consistent feedback that can help utilities fine-tune their outreach and engage with customers better and better over time.
Fortunately, utilities today have many digital channels through which to reach their customers. These include:
• Bill alerts (text or email)
• Energy summary reports
• Energy calculators
• Feedback forms
• Weather/energy forecasts
• Digital newsletters
• Social media
Digital Engagement Case Study Snapshots
With the importance of digital engagement more clear than ever, many utilities have already gotten started. These utilities leverage various channels, including those listed above.
Outbound Energy Progress Reports
One utility emails 20,000 energy reports each month, a few days prior to the bill drop, and since the program began in 2014 has had only had 98 customers opt out (0.5%). These personalized energy reports provide opportunities for positive change and program promotion.
The utility has outpaced the industry average in customer satisfaction scores, increased online audit completion rates by 300%, and maintained a steady open rate of 50%. In addition, they receive renewable energy credits for each enrolled customer.
Personalized Video Messaging
Utilities in the southeast are finding success with personalized video bill analysis. Of the 2,000 customers in one pilot group, 94% found the offering useful, 99% wanted more videos, and more than 1,000 customers wrote verbatim comments that were 99% positive. Today more than 40,000 videos are circulated each month.
Energy Summary Reports
One major IOU saw customer satisfaction jump 16% among the select group of residential customers chosen to receive energy summary reports. This increase amounts to about 100 points on the JD Power satisfaction scale. Another major IOU on the west coast is using this same digital strategy to increase engagement among its small to midsized business customers.
Energy Forecasts
This digital strategy provides customers relevant information and a reason to return to your website repeatedly, beyond their monthly bill pay visit. Utilities using this technique not only see an increase in traffic to their website but also see a considerable increase in repeat traffic.
Time to Get Started!
In conclusion, digital engagement improves utilities’ program targeting, and in turn, personalization improves customer satisfaction. Using billing data and analyzing customer behavior opens the door to fine-tune and target program participation. Personalized, outbound, and proactive communication is the key to any successful digital campaign.
The trend is clear: Customer expectations are evolving, and the energy industry is expected to keep up. Forward-thinking utilities are leveraging digital engagement strategies and tools to stay ahead of the curve.
… more…Press Release - Date: June 03, 2016 |
Thompson Coburn is pleased to announce that Adrienne E. Clair has joined its Utilities practice in Washington, D.C. She was previously a partner and co-chair of the Energy, Mining, Transportation and Telecommunications Division at Stinson Leonard Street.
With 20 years of experience, Adrienne advocates on behalf of her clients on electric and natural gas matters before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), including proceedings to enforce the FERC’s rules for open access trans
mission service, formation and operation of regional transmission organizations, and proceedings on natural gas pipeline rates. Adrienne also assists clients in compliance matters, including enforcement actions and auditing existing compliance programs.
Bonnie Blair, Chair of the firm’s Utilities practice, commented, “We are delighted that Adrienne has joined our team. She brings broad experience, a stellar reputation with clients and colleagues, and strong relationships throughout the energy bar. We are looking forward to working with her to combine our skills for the benefit of all our clients.”
Adrienne has been recognized by Chambers USA, 2010-2015, as “a well-respected FERC attorney who is particularly noted for her work with electricity cooperatives and municipalities. Sources praise her strategic approach to advising clients.” She is past president of the Energy Bar Association and a founding co-chair of the Women’s Bar Association’s Energy Forum. Adrienne earned her J.D. at The George Washington University and her B.A. degree, cum laude, from Hampton University.
The firm’s Utilities practice has been nationally recognized by Chambers USA for the past six years.
About Thompson Coburn LLP
Thompson Coburn is a full service law firm with nearly 400 attorneys nationwide, practicing in more than 40 areas of law. In 2015, the firm was listed among the 25 firms that general counsel endorsed for each of the past five years in the BTI Consulting Group’s Most Recommended Law Firms report. In 2014, the firm was selected as one of the top 30 firms in the nation for providing exceptional client service, as ranked by BTI, the country's leading provider of strategic research to law firms and general counsel.
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… more…ENMAX Corporation Selects Eka’s Next-Generation ETRM Software to Manage Operations in Power, Natural Gas, and Renewables Press Release - Date: May 18, 2016 |
Energy leader requires an advanced, multi-commodity energy trading and risk management software solution to manage its operations.
Eka Software Solutions, the leading global provider of Smart Commodity Management software solutions, announced today that ENMAX Corporation has selected Eka’s InSight CM platform to manage trading, position, risk, scheduling, and settlement for its operations in power, natural gas, and renewables.
ENMAX is a leading Alberta utility with a history datin
g back more than 100 years. The company is dedicated to providing safe, reliable, and competitively priced electricity, natural gas, and renewables to residential, small business, and commercial customers. ENMAX is involved in the entire supply chain of electricity including generation, transmission, distribution, and retailing.
To support the growing needs of its wholesale and retail energy operations, ENMAX sought an advanced, multi-commodity ETRM solution to support power, natural gas, and renewables. The company required a single integrated system to support the entire scope of the business including all front, middle, and back office functions. The solution needed to satisfy all audit specifications in a single system of record and provide robust reporting to meet management and regulatory obligations.
"As our business is growing, particularly our retailing operations, we need to invest in an advanced ETRM software solution," said Davin Kivisto, VP Planning & Risk at ENMAX. "We conducted an in-depth evaluation of all the leading ETRM software vendors and it quickly became obvious Eka offered the most comprehensive solution. In addition, Eka’s reputation for partnering with customers and providing excellent customer service made Eka the logical choice."
In competitive evaluations, Eka comes out on top for providing the greatest depth and breadth of functionality as well as for outstanding implementation capabilities. Eka has received industry recognition for its fully integrated ETRM software solution; the company was recently named a Major Player in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide ETRM Software 2015 Vendor Assessment. Last year, Eka enjoyed tremendous growth in its energy business, increasing its energy customer base 33%.
"Eka’s modern ETRM software is an ideal solution for energy companies such as ENMAX that need a next-generation system for multiple commodities including power, natural gas, and renewables," said Andy Bout, General Manager of Energy at Eka. "As evidenced by other energy companies that have recently adopted Eka’s next-generation ETRM software solution, such as Tourmaline Oil, Just Energy, and SEI Energy, companies are looking for something better than the dated platforms so prevalent in the marketplace. To remain competitive in today’s volatile energy markets, energy companies require systems that enable them to effectively manage the business. We are pleased to welcome ENMAX as a new customer."
Read the full press release here: https://www.ekaplus.com/enmax-selects-eka-etrm-software… more…Veracity Connect Welcomes 15th State Utility Association Press Release - Date: February 02, 2016 |
VERACITY CONNECT PROVIDES PLATFORM TO MUTUAL AID PROGRAM
FOR MISSOURI ASSOCIATION OF MUNICIPAL UTILITIES
(February 2nd, 2016) – Veracity Connect, the category-defining, cloud-based, collaborative community for utilities, today announced that they will provide their platform to the Missouri Association of Municipal Utilities (MAMU), to help enhance the association’s mutual aid program, allowing for accessibility to updated information on each of their member systems.
Veracity Co
nnect will allow MAMU to:
• Access, manage and share mutual-aid information in an effective way, while retaining access to an off-line version of critical information.
• Empower emergency coordinators and staff with mobile enabled access to information to take action, where and when it’s needed
The Missouri Association Of Municipal Utilities (MAMU) is a trade organization that is part of the Missouri Public Utility Alliance, a not-for-profit service organization that represents municipally-owned electric, natural gas, water, wastewater and broadband utilities working together for the benefit of their customers - customers who, in effect, "own" the utilities in their community.
Comments on the News
“Over the years, the MAMU Mutual Aid Program has helped our member utilities face the risks of storm damage and other unpredictable emergency needs. Emergency readiness has grown in importance with heightened customer demands and concerns about a broader range of potential threats and vulnerabilities”, said Rick McKinley, longstanding chair of the mutual aid committee. “The Veracity Connect will help enhance our program by providing Mutual Aid Coordinators with 24/7, mobile enabled access to current information on each of our member systems.”
About Veracity Connect
Veracity Connect is the category-defining, cloud based, collaborative Community for Utilities, providing a platform for more than 1,000 Utility members to manage mutual aid, critical spares and surplus assets. Veracity Connect member utilities can quickly and confidentially share industry knowledge and expertise to leverage best practices, mitigate risks and ensure network reliability and resiliency.
… more…Press Release - Date: August 18, 2015 |
Process Driven Compliance Solution Provides Critical Capabilities to Adhere to NERC CIP Standards and Ensure Audit Readiness
SigmaFlow, the industry leader in NERC compliance solutions, today announced added enhancements to its Compliance Manager Solution to support NERC CIP version 5 standards. The new CIP v5 model provides additional preconfigured functionality that automates and streamlines the collection of evidence, document management and data-driven reporting – required to adhere t
o NERC CIP v5 standards.
The NERC CIP v5 standards provide many new and redefined compliance expectations for electric utilities. The challenge of transitioning from version 3 to version 5 can be complicated and often costly for utilities that are not adequately prepared. There are also many utilities coming under CIP for the first time due to the new brightline impact criteria in v5, requiring them to build an entire CIP program to prove their adherence to the standards, with processes in place to ensure their audit readiness.
“NERC CIP v5 is a big challenge for utilities, both those transitioning from v3 and those new to the standards. Our CIP v5 enhancements provide a streamlined option for compliance – one they can fully deploy in a matter of weeks,” said Terry Schurter, vice president of NERC Solutions at SigmaFlow. “We have received significant industry validation from prospects and customers regarding our comprehensive functionality, ease of deployment and customer support. Our automated process driven approach ensures audit readiness along with substantial cost and time savings,” Schurter added.
SigmaFlow Compliance Manager
SigmaFlow Compliance Manager manages all documents, data, and work activities while automatically collecting and building the evidence for NERC compliance in a real-time repository. The solution automatically collects and manages compliance evidence through data management, document management, tasks and procedures for all of the NERC CIP Standards.
The SigmaFlow Closed-Loop Controls Framework provides an out-of-the-box, preconfigured solution to support real-time compliance, ensuring reliability with built-in validation and feedback loops that detect compliance gaps and issues as they happen. The Framework includes controls for:
- Audit and RSAW Readiness / Production
- Security Controls, Access Rights, Change Management, Ports and Services, and Patches
- Cyber Security Training and PRAs (Personnel Risk Assessments)
- Information Protection, Compliance Events, Document Reviews, and Compliance Assurance
“The NERC CIP Standards have matured to version 5 and many requirements have expanded applicability and increased timelines, driving the importance of a process driven compliance management framework,” said Karl Perman, director of member services for EnergySec. “The use of automated solutions to replace manual processes can help considerably with time savings and greatly decrease the potential for errors when producing evidence for compliance.”
Solution Enhancements and Functionality to Support NERC CIP v5
Classification Management (Sites, System, Cyber Assets)
SigmaFlow CIP v5 enhancements include all new assessment and classification processes to address the new assessment and classification criteria in CIP v5. Built on auditable processes, the solution has the ability to guide, calculate and document the Impact Rating of Assets (Site/Facilities), evaluate Cyber Systems to determine if they are BES Cyber Systems using the BROS (BES Reliability Operating Services), determine BES Cyber System connectivity type to align with the v5 requirements matrix, and to classify each Cyber Asset properly. This enhancement also includes auditable processes for the required periodic review of these assessments and classifications.
Configuration Management (Cyber Asset Change & Baseline Management)
Configuration Management has been enhanced in this release to support v5 requirements for changes on existing cyber assets. This includes the built-in workflow to manage the addition of new cyber assets, proper decommissioning of cyber assets being taken out of service or reused for other purpose, and in-process management and updating of baselines, ensuring the Cyber Asset baselines are properly approved and validated prior to procedure completion. Before change and after change security controls validation on test cyber assets is supported and enforced for High Impact changes. The validation of baselines for production cyber assets post-change ensures baseline compliance and automated evidence generation produces the evidentiary documentation required for compliance.
Identity Access Management
CIP v5 has changed many of the requirements for physical and logical access rights management, with new time-sensitive rules that are strictly enforced. Depending on the type of access rights request, actions may be required to be completed in as little as 24 hours. The SigmaFlow solution now automatically calculates and displays the time allotment for each access right change ticket, collects the data required to show each ticket was completed on time, and produces the evidence for each access change ticket in the solution.
ESP High Water Mark
The ESP (Electronic Security Perimeter) High Water Mark rule is another major change in CIP v5. The rule applies to all ESPs that contain BES Cyber Systems with different Impact Ratings. With this rule, BES Cyber Systems and Cyber Assets that are not the same impact rating as the highest system in the ESP must be protected by a different set of requirements than would normally apply to them. This can be complicated and difficult to manage, often introducing significant work and risk into the compliance practice. With Compliance Manager, the ESP High Water Mark rule is automatically enforced, ensuring that all BES Cyber Systems and Cyber Assets are classified properly. The enhancement provides utilities with the assurance that even in the most complicated scenarios, BES Cyber System and Cyber Assets will be classified and managed correctly against the appropriate compliance standards.
Automated Evidence Generation
CIP v5 defines new and more advanced evidence requirements compared to CIP v3. Evidence must be collected for each applicable requirement for CIP compliance, and that evidence is not just limited to policies and procedures. The most difficult evidence for utilities to produce requires data to be combined from multiple sources into composite reports for a specific date range. These reports have long been problematic, time-consuming to produce and error-prone. The new SigmaFlow Evidence Generation control creates these reports with the click of a button. Automated Evidence Generation includes preconfigured reporting that produces the evidence for over 50 of the most challenging requirements in CIP v5.
Cyber Asset/BES Cyber System Mapper
Further automating compliance, the mapper automatically determines and tracks what requirements apply to each BES Cyber System and Cyber Asset. Requirements can be reviewed for any BES Cyber System or Cyber Asset with the click of a button. Conversely, on requirements, the mapper automatically maintains the list of all BES Cyber Systems and Cyber Assets that apply to the requirement – again, accessed with the simple click of a button. The mapper identifies the specific sub-requirement that applies in all cases by including the Impact Rating, Connectivity Type, Cyber Asset Classification, and BES Asset type in its mapping engine.
For more information about the SigmaFlow Compliance Manager Solution or for a demo of the solution please contact us today. Pricing options make the Compliance Manager affordable for small utilities a scaling to meeting the largest utilities.
About SigmaFlow
SigmaFlow is a leading provider of process execution solutions for electric and renewables utilities and the upstream oil & gas industry. The company’s solution portfolio includes Compliance Manager for CIP & 693 and Upstream Well Delivery Solution. For more information,visit www.sigmaflow.com.… more…Press Release - Date: July 08, 2015 |
July 7, 2015 – N-Dimension, the leader in innovative cybersecurity solutions protecting distributed smart energy networks from cyber threats, today announced Central Florida Electric Cooperative (CFEC) is using its N-Sentinel Software as a Service (SaaS) solution. N-Sentinel delivers comprehensive cybersecurity monitoring, real-time alerts and threat information via in-depth reports, providing customers with visibility and specific information in an easy to understand format that enables them t
o take timely action to improve their security posture. In addition, N-Sentinel uniquely provides utility community cyber threat insights that gives visibility into security threats affecting other utilities, enabling timely proactive steps to be taken to protect their network, data and assets.
CFEC provides electric service to more than 32,000 customers across six less populated counties in north central Florida. It is a community focused, not-for-profit organization, which strives to offer affordable and reliable power as well as high quality service to its customers. CFEC’s Information Services Manager, George Buckner, identified cybersecurity as one of the essential building blocks they needed to ensure the utility continues to meet its goals. He realized that he needed more insight into cyber threats and guidance on what actions to take.
“As a result of having N-Sentinel in our network I feel like we have a granular filter to identify potential cyber threats plus provide us with specific guidance on what actions for our IT team to take to improve our security,” said Bucker. “We have learned that threat data is just that unless you turn it into something you can use to take action.”
CFEC had already installed a Unified Threat Management (UTM) device to monitor outbound network traffic for potential security threats. IT found that the alerts and logs from the UTM provided a lot of data, making it extremely time consuming to analyze it. As a result, IT was not able to review the data and determine actions to take to improve their security posture in a timely manner, reducing its value to the utility.
N-Sentinel was installed at CFEC to augment the UTM and monitor the utility’s network traffic around the network perimeter and inside the network. The benefits CFEC has seen with N-Sentinel are twofold. First, N-Sentinel provided 24 x 7 monitoring and its alerts identified the cyber threats detected by the perimeter UTM device. In addition, N-Sentinel provided a large amount of information that allowed CFEC to identify configuration issues that the UTM missed inside their network.
Oftentimes threats find a way to penetrate the network using legitimate communications channels - something that is difficult for some security devices to detect. These threats can then exploit configuration issues to further their foothold within the network. Further penetration into the network can then go unnoticed because the breach bypasses the initial security gate. N-Sentinel not only monitors internal traffic for attack patterns, but also gives the utility insight into the nature of the communications in their network – including communications that are being made via insecure or vulnerable protocols. This type of advanced warning into vulnerabilities can enable the utility to take action to avoid the risk of threats.
Secondly, an integral part of N-Sentinel is a combination of cloud-based intelligent threat analysis and in-depth actionable threat reports. In addition to identifying and classifying security alerts, N-Sentinel provided CFEC with detailed analysis of the cybersecurity issues and systems affected. N-Sentinel reports offered recommendations on actions the utility could take to reduce their risk. Access to N-Sentinel cybersecurity experts provided CFEC IT with additional support and expertise to help them improve their security posture.
“Cyber threats and protecting against them requires ongoing vigilance,” said Tom Ayers, CEO N-Dimension. “N-Sentinel provides the continuous threat monitoring, in-depth data and analysis by security experts that enables utilities to take timely action to improve their security posture. We help utilities make sense of security data so they can take a proactive stance against cyber threats.”
About N-Dimension Solutions
N-Dimension is a market leader in the development of innovative cybersecurity solutions that protect distributed smart energy networks from cyber attacks, improving system reliability and safeguarding critical infrastructure, data and assets. The company’s N-Sentinel is a cloud-based SaaS offering that delivers real-time threat detection and alerts in addition to uniquely combining utility community cybersecurity data and security intelligence to enable utilities to take action in protecting themselves against cyber threats. N-Dimension is the exclusive cybersecurity partner of Hometown Connections, the utility services subsidiary of the American Public Power Association (APPA) and an associate member of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA).
For more information about N-Sentinel and to request a free on-site trial, visit our website at www.n-sentinel.com. Please follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn and check out our blog.
Media Contact
Denise Barton
N-Dimension
denise.barton@n-dimension.com
(408) 219-3403
… more…Mobile Billing and Payments: Recommendations for Utilities White Paper - Date: May 19, 2015 |
We invite you to download our free white paper where you’ll learn:
- Technical trends influencing the rise of mobile billing and payments
- Why customers are increasingly paying bills through their mobile devices
- Strategies for maximizing customer adoption and bill pay
To download the white paper, visit
http://www.ifactorinc.com/resource/white-papers/.
You're not alone... Press Release - Date: April 30, 2015 |
If you're starting to get stressed out regarding NERC CIP v5 compliance, you are not alone.
Encari is no longer primarily a consulting service company; Encari is now offering cost-effective and incredibly intuitive NERC CIP compliance management products.
Encari has performed numerous NERC CIP compliance program documentation gap assessments, NERC CIP compliance mock audits and NERC CIP cyber vulnerability assessments for diverse generation and transmission utilities, municipalit
ies, and cooperatives. We understand the trials and tribulations associated with managing and sustaining compliance with NERC CIP Reliability Standards which is why we are excited to be offering four NERC CIP compliance management products, NERC CIP Compliance Minder, NERC CIP Account Manager, NERC CIP Acccess Certifier, and NERC CIP IronBox.
All four NERC CIP compliance management products are cloud-based, subscription-based products designed to help individuals and organizations stay in compliance with NERC CIP standards.
NERC CIP Compliance Minder enables Responsible Entities to quickly and easily translate its NERC CIP compliance management processes and procedures into automated workflows. NERC CIP Account Manager provides a simple means for Responsible Entities to maintain an inventory for all accounts configured on Cyber Assets in the scope of their NERC CIP compliance programs.
NERC CIP Access Certifier provides a simple means for Responsible Entities to know at any point in time the current status of PRAs, cyber security training and the granting of CCA access. NERC CIP IronBox enables customers to securely share highly sensitive information related to Critical Cyber Assets / BES Cyber Assets via the web.
Encari is offering free subscriptions to NERC CIP Compliance Minder, NERC CIP Account Manager, and NERC CIP Access Certifier through August 31, 2015 with NERC CIP IronBox being heavily discounted until then as well. Reach out to demos@encari.com or Molly Decker at mdecker@encari.com to schedule your demo today!
Molly Decker
mdecker@encari.com
(919) 495-9725
… more…N-Dimension Used by NMPP Energy to Protect Joint Action Agency Against Cybersecurity Threats Press Release - Date: March 17, 2015 |
Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada – March 17, 2015 – N-Dimension, the leader in innovative cybersecurity products protecting distributed smart energy networks from cyber attacks, today announced the Nebraska Municipal Power Pool (NMPP Energy) adopted the N-Sentinel solution for continuous cybersecurity monitoring, alerts and reporting providing them with the visibility and guidance they needed to improve their security posture. Uniquely, N-Sentinel’s utility community cyber monitoring provides cus
tomers with insights into threats affecting other similar utilities enabling them to take respond proactively and reduce their risk.
NMPP is one of the largest Joint Action Agencies (JAA) in the U.S., and is headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. They provide electric power, natural gas and utility related services to nearly 200 member communities across six Midwestern and mountain states. As a JAA their communication networks connect to member utilities so cybersecurity is a critical issue affecting not only NMPP but all their members to which they connect as well.
With the increasing frequency of cybersecurity breaches among utilities, Bob Selzer, Director Retail Utility Services at NMPP, was concerned they did not have adequate security protection in place, despite firewalls and other perimeter security devices protecting their core network. After a security audit was conducted, an N-Sentinel cybersecurity appliance from N-Dimension was installed as part of a free trial. N-Sentinel is a comprehensive early-warning system that non-intrusively monitors network traffic and uses cloud-based intelligent threat analysis and real-time alerts to quickly identify and classify threats. In-depth actionable threat reports offer details about the type and severity of threats helping IT prioritize actions to improve their security posture.
“I was surprised and concerned to see the high number and severity of threats hitting our network on a daily basis,” said Selzer. “I knew right away we had work to do to improve our security posture and armed with the detailed information from N-Sentinel plus guidance from N-Dimension’s team of security experts, we have made significant improvements. Utilities need to face the fact that threats are coming fast and furious – whether or not they’re ready.”
During the trial period, N-Sentinel identified and generated alerts on an overwhelming number of security events that bypassed NMPP’s existing layers of network security. For example, N-Sentinel detected 3.8 million Priority 1 high risk and Priority 2 medium risk alerts that included viruses, remote access trojans, malware, exploit attempts and reconnaissance. A fact often misunderstood, is that a single threat can generate hundreds to thousands of alerts giving an inaccurate perception of how many real threats are present. N-Sentinel uses cloud-based threat analysis to cluster these alerts into 12 unique security concerns and provided recommendations on mitigation. Understanding these security concerns enabled NMPP to address them as high priority and improve their security posture.
NMPP has expanded use of N-Sentinel and is now using it to protect their core network as well as their SCADA network. With the increasing adoption of smart grid devices and applications such as advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), distribution automation (DA), and outage management systems (OMS) the need for increasing security protection on operational networks has quickly escalated.
“We find that many utilities don’t know they are vulnerable to cybersecurity threats…until after an incident,” said Tom Ayers, CEO N-Dimension. “Hackers are upping their game and we are ready to work with utilities to deploy a cybersecurity monitoring solution that adds an essential layer of protection that which many utilities don’t have today and which leaves them exposed.”
About N-Dimension Solutions
N-Dimension is a market leader in the development of innovative cybersecurity products that protect distributed smart energy networks from cyber attacks, improving system reliability and safeguarding critical infrastructure, data and assets. The company offers N-Sentinel, a cloud-based, real-time threat detection and alert product that uniquely combines utility community context and security intelligence enabling utilities to take offensive action in protecting against cyber threats. N-Dimension is the exclusive cybersecurity partner of Hometown Connections, the utility services subsidiary of the American Public Power Association (APPA).
For more information about N-Sentinel and to learn about how to get your free on-site trial, visit our website at www.n-sentinel.com. Please follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn and check out our blog.
Media Contact
Denise Barton
N-Dimension
denise.barton@n-dimension.com
(408) 219-3403
… more…Safe Electricity Offers Tips on Safely Using Space Heaters and Electric Blankets Press Release - Date: February 23, 2015 |
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - February 23, 2015 - This week has started out with more frigid temperatures. In fact, many have reported daily record lows, and winter’s arctic blasts aren’t over yet. When the temperatures get this cold, many turn to space heaters and electric blankets to stay warm. The Safe Electricity program reminds consumers to make sure to use these devices with caution in order to keep homes and families safe.
“When winter temperatures get frigid, electric blankets and space hea
ters are very helpful in helping many stay warm. However, they can also cause fires if they are not used with care,” explains Molly Hall, executive director of the Energy Education Council and its Safe Electricity program.
According to a National Fire Protection Association study, in 2010 space heaters accounted for 32 percent of the 57,100 reported home fires and 80 percent of deaths caused by home heating equipment.
Don’t become a part of these statistics. Begin by checking space heaters and electric blankets before use. Cords should not be frayed, brittle, or cracked. Always remember to turn off space heaters and electric blankets when not in use. Never leave one of these devices on unattended or after going to bed.
Other guidelines for the safe operations of space heaters include:
- Many fires start when flammable products are placed too close to heating devices, such as space heaters. Space heaters should be kept at least 3 feet from blankets, clothing, paper, and other flammables.
- Place space heaters out of high-traffic areas and on a level, hard, non-flammable floor surface — NOT on carpets, furniture, or countertops.
- Look for a space heater that has guards from heating elements and automatically shuts off if it is tipped over or overheating.
- Do not attempt to warm your entire home using only space heaters. Space heaters are useful in small areas, such as a study or living room. However, if you need to keep large areas warm, your home heating system will do the job more efficiently.
- Plug space heaters directly into the outlet, and never use an extension cord.
For the safe use of electric blankets, Safe Electricity offers the following additional tips:
- Only use electric blankets with an automatic shut off designed to prevent the blanket from overheating.
- Pets should never be allowed to sleep on top of electric blankets.
- Electric blanket wires should never be bent or tucked under a mattress.
- Replace old or damaged electric blankets. The blanket should not have any charred or dark areas.
When shopping around for space heaters or electric blankets, be sure to check for safety certification marks to verify that the product has been tested for safety. Look for UL, ETL, or CSA marks, for example. Once you have made a purchase, make sure to fully read and follow the user instructions before using either product.
To learn more, visit SafeElectricity.org.
# # #
Contact: Kyla Kruse, 217-546-6815, kekruse@illinois.edu
… more…Uncertainty is Clouding the Energy Trading Outlook White Paper White Paper - Date: February 11, 2015 |
The global energy markets are undergoing an unprecedented period of near unrelenting change, as technology innovations, regulation, and geopolitical upheaval are shifting the fulcrum under the energy supply and demand balance. For energy commodity producers, traders, and consumers the implication of these changes is a prolonged period of market uncertainty.
As the United States continues to rapidly grow its production of oil and gas from shale, and Canada increases production from its oil
-rich tar sands, these new volumes are helping to support world oil markets as crude production outside the US declines due to increasing conflict in the Middle East and North Africa. Should these conflicts widen, the global markets will be increasingly volatile as supply disruptions outpace the growth in North American production.
Though US natural gas production has not yet impacted the global market space via LNG exports, there is no doubt that those exports will happen. While the impact on US prices is unclear at this time, these exports will be yet another variable with which to contend in a US market already unsettled by increasing regulations that will, by design, reshape the US energy mix.
Dealing with this uncertainty will require increasing market vigilance, with a constant view on both the near and long-term energy outlook, and supported by a commodity trading and risk management solution that facilitates analytics, market visibility and regulatory compliance, such as Eka’s InSight CM platform.
Read the complete White Paper: www.ekaplus.com/uncertainty-clouding-energy-trading-outlook-white-paper
… more…Press Release - Date: September 29, 2014 |
Bellwether Management Solutions has been selected by Canoochee Electric Membership Corporation, in Reidsville, GA, to provide AMI Meter Installation and Project Management services as part of Canoochee EMC's Smart Grid Project. The deployment of 22,000 meters will begin in January of 2015 and is anticipated to be complete in December of 2015.
Huntsville Utilities Selects Excergy Corporation for Next Generation Technology Consulting Services Press Release - Date: September 17, 2014 |
Denver, CO, September 16, 2014 – Excergy Corporation, the emerging leader for consulting and systems integration to the utility and government sectors, announced today that the company was selected by Huntsville Utilities to provide business and technical consulting services to assist with its acquisition of Advanced Meter & MDM technologies and prepare the city for the next generation of smart grid. The utility provides electric, gas, and water services to its service territory of approximately
175,000 customers.
Over the next year, Huntsville Utilities will acquire and plan for the deployment of flexible and robust advanced metering as well as customer engagement with web portal technologies. “These technologies will serve as a foundation to enable new customer benefits, operational improvements, and a platform for future initiatives” said Stacy Cantrell, Engineering Services Manager. “Excergy has the personnel, skills, vision, and client perspective to guide us in that planning and execution.”
Excergy Corporation, a leading provider of consulting and systems implementation/integration services to the utility sector, is comprised of expert consultants, project managers, engineers, and IT professionals who have planned and implemented utility solutions across North America. Excergy’s vast experience in utility system planning and delivery is particularly well suited for municipal utilities.
Jim Ketchledge, CEO & President of Excergy, said “Huntsville Utilities is a customer service focused utility and the benefits of these advanced technologies and the electric, gas, and water operational improvements will be substantial. We’re very proud that Huntsville Utilities has placed its confidence in Excergy to be their partner in this project. Excergy offers a compelling value proposition, deep and broad expertise, and a “customer first” mindset that resonates with valued clients like Huntsville Utilities.”
… more…Regional Crane Operator and Rigger Skills Competitions Planned for 2014-2015 Press Release - Date: July 30, 2014 |
July 15, 2014--Crane Institute Certification (CIC) announces that it will plan and manage at least eight Regional Crane Operator and Rigger Skills Competitions from Fall 2014 through Fall 2015.
Tentative locations include North Carolina and Alabama in the Southeast; as well as Northeast, Southwest, Northwest, and Midwest locations.
In addition, CIC is pleased to announce that the Western regional competition will take place in Las Vegas, to be held in conjunction with World of Con
crete, Feb. 3-6, 2015. The Western regional event is hosted by Crane Institute of America.
More than 50,000 professionals attend the show, which is dedicated to commercial concrete and masonry construction. In addition to the mobile crane operator competition, at World of Concrete, CIC will feature a tournament for knuckleboom crane operators.
“World of Concrete is the perfect venue in which to showcase CIC’s new certification program for operators of articulating boom cranes,” said Jim Headley, President of Crane Institute of America, Sanford, Fla. “Knuckleboom cranes are often used by foundation contractors for setting forms.”
Top qualifiers from the CIC Regionals will advance to a Championship, to be held at a high-profile venue in late 2015. The Championship is co-hosted by CIC and Crane & Rigging Hot Line magazine. Regional hosts will sponsor the travel and hotel expenses for the finalists to compete at the Championship.
About Crane Institute Certification
Crane Institute Certification (CIC), Villa Rica, Ga., is an independent certifying organization providing OSHA recognized, NCCA and ANSI accredited certifications for mobile crane operators according to type and capacity, as well as rigger and signalperson certifications. CIC is committed to serving construction, utility and power generation, underground construction, manufacturing, and heavy industry by providing efficient and relevant certifications to meet or exceed OSHA requirements and industry best practices.
With CIC one Practical Exam can earn up to five certifications. Among the certification programs that CIC has recently released are for operators of Multi-Purpose Equipment, including Digger Derricks, Articulating Boom Cranes, and Service/Mechanics Trucks. Exam questions and tasks are relevant to real-world work sites. Exams are available in English and Spanish.… more…How Certification Contributes to the Safety of Digger Derrick Operators Utility Construction Supplier Article - Date: July 30, 2014 | |
Do Digger Derrick Operators ever have to be certified? Yes, digger derrick operators have to be certified when performing lift work that does not fall under Subpart V.
Jerry Rivera, Director of Safety for the National Electrical Contractor Association, provided explanation in a January 2013 issue of Electrical Contractor magazine. He said: “Digger derricks used in construction related activities, such as installation of traffic signals, lighting and other work not meeting the Subpart V d
efinition, fall outside the exemption . . . employers still have to ensure that digger derrick operators have been trained and are proficient in the safe operation of such equipment prior to use.”
Should Digger Derrick Operators be certified when performing work that does fall under Subpart V? No, unless . . . the operator’s work occasionally, rarely, sometimes falls outside of the realm of Subpart V.
Each employer will have to evaluate the work being performed by the derrick digger operators in their company. Is the operation purely and exclusively limited to work that is covered by Subpart V? If so, the operator does not have to be certified. If, however, the work occasionally, rarely, sometimes falls outside of the realm of Subpart V, the operator does have to be certified.
Regardless, there is a more important factor to consider. The employer’s first responsibility is to the safety of the workers and the people near the work in progress. If the digger derrick is commonly used for construction work, the employer should also consider that certified operators have significantly better safety records. The average cost of certification is a few hundred dollars a year over the five year life of a certification. Clearly, that is a good business and moral investment when fewer accidents and deaths are the result of quality training and accredited certification.
OSHA regulations are rules based on “Do this” or “Don’t do this” to avoid citations, fines, and OSHA’s Wall of Shame. OSHA compliance alone does not make a well-defined safety program that prevents accidents and increases productivity. Numerous studies show that construction projects using qualified personnel are more likely to be completed on time, on budget, and with fewer accidents.
If the operators in your company operate a digger derrick for its primary function, to auger holes and set poles, there may be little need or value in the certification of that operator. If the operator and machine, are used for construction work that requires the knowledge, skills, and abilities of a crane operator–safety–not regulations, should be the determining factor. Saving lives, and preventing accidents is the smart business and life decision.
Your decision to certify should consider the following questions.
● What is our company’s safety standard?
● Do our digger derrick operators ever perform lift work that does not fall under Subpart V?
● What is the skill difference in the lift work the operators do under Subparts V and CC?
● For the lift work covered under Subpart V, would our safety program be better if operators were certified?
Compare the wording. Know the regulation but make your decisions based on safety.
For your reference
1. The exemption: 1926 Subpart CC part 1400 Scope (c) Exemptions (4) Digger Derricks when used for auguring holes for poles carrying electric or telecommunication lines, placing and removing the poles, and for handling associated materials for installation on, or removal from, the poles, or when used for any other work subject to subpart V of this part. To be eligible for this exclusion, digger-derrick use in work subject to subpart V of this part must comply with all of the provisions of that subpart, and digger-derrick use in construction work for telecommunication service (as defined at Sec. 1910.268(s)(40)) must comply with all of the provisions of Sec. 1910.268.
2. Relevent Subpart V section: 1920.268(a)(1) sets forth safety and health standards that apply to the work conditions, practices, means, methods, operations, installations and processes performed at telecommunications centers and at telecommunications field installations, which are located outdoors or in building spaces used for such field installations. Center work includes the installation, operation, maintenance, rearrangement, and removal of communications equipment and other associated equipment in telecommunications switching centers. Field work includes the installation, operation, maintenance, rearrangement, and removal of conductors and other equipment used for signal or communication service, and of their supporting or containing structures, overhead or underground, on public or private rights of way, including buildings or other structures.
3. Subpart V section referenced in the exemption:1910.268(s)(40) Telecommunication Service–The furnishing of a capability to signal or communicate at a distance by means such as telephone, telegraph, police and fire alarm, community antenna television, or similar system, using wire, conventional cable, coaxial cable, wave guides, microwave transmission, or other similar means. See also 1910.168(j) (4) Derrick Trucks and Similar Equipment.
About Crane Institute Certification
Crane Institute Certification (CIC), Villa Rica, Ga., is an independent certifying organization providing OSHA recognized, NCCA and ANSI accredited certifications for mobile crane operators according to type and capacity, as well as rigger and signalperson certifications. CIC is committed to serving construction, utility and power generation, underground construction, manufacturing, and heavy industry by providing efficient and relevant certifications to meet or exceed OSHA requirements and industry best practices.
With CIC one Practical Exam can earn up to five certifications. Among the certification programs that CIC has recently released are for operators of Multi-Purpose Equipment, including Digger Derricks, Articulating Boom Cranes, and Service/Mechanics Trucks. Exam questions and tasks are relevant to real-world work sites. Exams are available in English and Spanish.
Crane Institute Certification (CIC), Villa Rica, Ga., is an independent certifying organization providing OSHA recognized, NCCA and ANSI accredited certifications for mobile crane operators according to type and capacity, as well as rigger and signalperson certifications. CIC is committed to serving construction, utility and power generation, underground construction, manufacturing, and heavy industry by providing efficient and relevant certifications to meet or exceed OSHA requirements and industry best practices.
With CIC one Practical Exam can earn up to five certifications. Among the certification programs that CIC has recently released are for operators of Multi-Purpose Equipment, including Digger Derricks, Articulating Boom Cranes, and Service/Mechanics Trucks. Exam questions and tasks are relevant to real-world work sites. Exams are available in English and Spanish. More info at www.cicert.com.
… more…Press Release - Date: July 17, 2014 |
CHARLOTTE, N.C. – July 14, 2014 –
SOS Intl (SOS) and APT Global (APT) have partnered to provide training, compliance and education services to the electric power industry. The partnership provides clients with experience in the areas of generation, transmission, distribution and telecommunications. Training topics include system operations, engineering, security, planning, renewable energy, and smart grid technologies.
“We believe this partnership will provide a powerful and comprehensive
training opportunity for our clients,” said Rocky Sease, owner and CEO of SOS. “By combining our efforts, SOS and APT can offer a complete array of electric power courses, in addition to certifications, continuing education and college credit training our students need.”
Through this partnership power companies and students will now have an expanded range of subjects to select in both online and classroom training. Delivery platform options include online, instructor-led webcast, and traditional classroom training.
“By partnering with SOS, students will have many more options to meet their professional goals and technical training needs,” said Steve Blume, Founder of APT.
About SOS Intl:
Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., SOS Intl is a leading provider of training and consulting to the power industry. Founded by CEO Rocky Sease, SOS rigorously tracks and interprets NERC Reliability Standards and expertly translates them into customized education and compliance consulting, helping to manage risk and ensure reliability for the North American power grid.
SOS offers NERC system operator certification, classroom and online courses, accompanied by sophisticated computer simulation. Since 2002, SOS has provided NERC-approved continuing education and compliance consulting to thousands of employees of the Bulk Electric System across the United States and Canada. All are designed using the latest systematic approach to training, as required by NERC.
About APT Global:
Founded in 1993 by Steven W. Blume, APT offers a variety of electric power and telecommunications training options for both credit and non-credit recognition. In 2003, APT became a Distance Education and Training Council accredited institution. Through APT Global’s subsidiary APT College, student’s training, educational courses and experiential credit can now apply towards an Associate’s Degrees in Applied Sciences in Electric Power Systems.
Since APT Global’s inception, the institution has gained the reputation as being a premier provider for the electric power, renewable energy, and telecommunications industries.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. September 30, 2013 – Rocky Sease, CEO of SOS Intl LLC announces new hires and an internal staff promotion.
Sharon Love joins SOS Intl as a full time Instructional Designer. Sharon has more than 20 years of experience working as a business analyst, learning strategist, and learning consultant for such companies as Wachovia/Wells Fargo, IBM, Toronto Dominion Bank, Piedmont Natural Gas, and Ingersoll-Rand. Sharon attended Herzing University in Winnipeg, Ontario and is a Fellow of the Institute of Canadian Bankers.
Susan McGowan has been promoted to an Instructional Designer. Susan worked as an Operations Assistant at SOS since 2011 and has assisted with both training and compliance consulting activities, and has assisted the instructional designers in performing training development activities. Susan holds a BA degree in History from Montclair State University.
Diana Rayburn joins the SOS Intl team as an Administrative Assistant. Diana has more than 10 years of experience as an administrative assistant, event planner and business analyst. She holds an Associate in Applied Science Degree in Executive Secretarial Technology and a Regents Bachelor of Arts Degree with an emphasis in Business Administration.
About SOS Intl:
Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., SOS Intl is a leading provider of training and consulting to the power industry. SOS rigorously tracks and interprets NERC Reliability Standards and expertly translates them into customized education and compliance consulting, helping to manage risk and ensure reliability for the North American power grid.
SOS offers classroom and online courses, accompanied by sophisticated computer simulation. All are designed using the latest systematic approach to training, as required by NERC. Since 2002, SOS has provided NERC-approved continuing education and compliance consulting to thousands of employees of the Bulk Electric System across the United States and Canada. www.sosintl.com
… more…Metering Equipment and Services Supplier Article - Date: March 27, 2014 | |
“Learned this morning that Mark with Bellwether finished installing all of the electric meters, as contracted. I would like to commend the Bellwether Staff and Harry. They coordinated and worked so well together, it can only be described as “poetry in motion”, it was Team Work in every sense of the word. I always received the changeout information in a timely matter and the information was accurate. I only requested a few photos because of customers insistence that the old meter read was wr
ong and each time I was able to show them a picture of the meter with the same ending read as the read on their bill. Bellwether is a very professional outfit and it was an absolute delight and honor to have them assist us in this very important project.”
Tammie Simmons
Consumer Billing Supervisor
City of Laurinburg, NC… more…Toshiba LED Lighting Wins Top Honor for Outdoor Product Design Lighting & Accessories Supplier Article - Date: January 28, 2014 | |
January 27, 2014 – Toshiba International Corporation’s LED Lighting division announced today that the TLS-RTLM roadway luminaire has been recognized by Next Generation Luminaires Solid State Lighting (SSL) Outdoor Design Competition for ingenuity in lighting design.
The Next Generation Luminaires SSL Design Competition seeks to encourage technical innovation and recognize and promote excellence in the design of energy-efficient LED luminaires for commercial, industrial and institutional a
pplications.
“Being recognized by Next Generation Luminaires is a great accomplishment,” said Tammy Impagliazzo, Director of Marketing for Toshiba’s LED Lighting Division. “The inclusion of our TLS-RTLM roadway luminaire is among several recent testaments to Toshiba’s commitment to innovation in the outdoor lighting and design space, and we look forward to continued leadership within the industry.”
The TLS-RTLM features a NEMA twist-lock photocell system which provides automatic dimming capabilities and reduces energy costs by automatically adjusting light output at dusk and dawn. It is designed to deliver superior optical performance compared to conventional high-intensity discharge (HID) lighting.
The 2013 Next Generation Luminaires Outdoor Competition judging event took place on Dec. 9-11 at Virginia Tech Transportation Institute. Winners will be formally announced at Strategies in Light on Feb. 26.
About Toshiba International Corporation
Toshiba International Corporation (TIC) is a Toshiba America Inc. (TAI) Group Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation. TIC is headquartered in Houston, Texas and employs approximately 2,000 people. TIC provides application solutions to a wide range of industries including industrial, power systems, transmission and distribution systems, and lighting systems. For more information about TIC, please visit www.toshiba.com/tic.
About Toshiba International Corporation’s LED Lighting Systems Division
TIC’s LED Lighting Systems Division provides the North American market with a variety of high-efficiency LED products. Drawing upon Toshiba’s 125-year heritage of lighting innovations in Japan and world-class electronic and semi-conductor technologies, the LED Lighting Systems Division is emerging as a leader in solid state lighting. The LED Lighting Systems Division is committed to providing lighting solutions that enhance the quality of life and meet the diverse needs of its customers. The team at Toshiba LED Lighting takes the real world approach to give an exceptional customer experience like no other, and that means backing a trusted brand and quality products with unparalleled and uncompromising service. Further information is also available online at www.toshiba.com/lighting.… more…Ambient Corporation Expands Vodafone Network Test Certification to Entire Smart Grid Node Family Product Line Press Release - Date: November 20, 2013 |
Facilitates deployment on international partner carrier networks
NEWTON, MA, November 20, 2013 - Ambient Corporation (NASDAQ:AMBT), provider of a secure, flexible, and scalable smart grid communications and applications platform, announced today that it has expanded Vodafone network test certification across the entire range of Ambient Smart Grid® Nodes. This certification allows international customers to deploy the Ambient Node™, Ambient MiniNode™, and Ambient MicroNode™ for utili
ty communications and provide connectivity for multiple assets and applications over Vodafone’s significant global Machine-to-Machine (M2M) roaming footprint.
John J. Joyce , President and CEO of Ambient Corporation, commented, “The Vodafone certification confirms the performance, reliability, and security of our products for multiple grid modernization applications, including gas, water, and electric metering; demand response; and distribution automation. Extending the certification to all Ambient Smart Grid Nodes facilitates quicker and easier deployment of the Ambient Smart Grid Platform.”
The Ambient Smart Grid Node family comprises of purpose-built network devices with advanced processing capability, memory, and the form factor and functionality to match the price performance required for different applications on the distribution grid. Each node is a modular device that can be configured for different roles within the network to deliver upstream and/or downstream high-speed data communications using a variety of wired and wireless technologies, including serial, Ethernet, PLC, Wi-Fi, RF, and cellular.
Ambient Corporation helps utilities modernize the grid with IP-based networking products and applications that integrate and connect existing and future grid assets on a single, secure, flexible, and scalable smart grid communications platform.
Please contact Ambient for additional information regarding Ambient Smart Grid Node, AmbientNMS®, or AmbientPQM™.
About Ambient Corporation
Ambient designs, develops and sells the Ambient Smart Grid® communications and applications platform. The Ambient Smart Grid products and services include communications nodes; a network management system, AmbientNMS®; integrated applications; and maintenance and consulting services. Using open standards-based technologies along with in-depth industry experience, Ambient provides utilities with solutions for smart grid initiatives. Headquartered in Newton, MA, Ambient is a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: AMBT). More information on Ambient is available at www.ambientcorp.com.
Except for historical information, this press release contains statements that may be deemed to be “forward-looking statements” made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include statements relating to the diversification of our customer base, further development and marketing of our communications platform and cultivating projects with potential customers, among others. These forward-looking statements are based upon our current expectations, estimates and projections about our business and our industry and reflect our beliefs and assumptions based upon information available to us at the date of this release. We caution readers that forward-looking statements are predictions based on our current expectations about future events. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Our actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors, which could have a material adverse effect on our operations and future prospects including, but not limited to, continuing compatibility of our platform with new utility applications and requirements, our ability to retain and attract customers, particularly in light of our dependence on a single customer for substantially all of our revenue; our expectations regarding our expenses and revenue, including our expectations that our research and development expenses and selling, general and administrative expenses may increase in absolute dollars; anticipated trends and challenges in our business and the markets in which we operate, including the market for smart grid technologies; our expectations regarding competition as more and larger companies enter our markets and as existing competitors improve or expand their product offerings; our plans for future products and enhancements of existing products; our anticipated cash needs and our estimates regarding our capital requirements; and our anticipated growth strategies. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. Further information on the company’s risks and uncertainties is available in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Ambient and Ambient Smart Grid are registered trademarks of Ambient Corporation.
Ambient Smart Grid Node, Ambient MiniNode and Ambient MicroNode are trademarks of Ambient Corporation.
For more information please contact:
Media Contact
Joanna Hamblin
jhamblin@ambientcorp.com
(617) 614-6793
# # #
… more…Lighting San Antonio’s Future White Paper - Date: November 07, 2013 |
When it comes to energy efficiency, San Antonio, Texas, is a forward-thinking community. And when it decided to replace more than 20,000 of the city’s high-pressure sodium (HPS) street lamps with a durable product that would use less energy, require less maintenance and offer superior light quality, the city asked CPS Energy to investigate the best options available. After many hours spent on exhaustive research and experimentation with new lighting options, CPS selected Toshiba TGT LED Roadway
Luminaires as the right choice for San Antonio.
CHOOSING BETWEEN HID AND LED LIGHTING
Conventional high-intensity discharge (HID) lighting (such as HPS and metal halide lighting) requires frequent maintenance and consumes up to 70 percent more energy than LED lighting.
In contrast, Toshiba TGT LED Roadway Luminaires:
• Have a rated life of 100,000 hours*
• Feature photocells with a rated life of 15 years**
• Last up to five times longer than metal halide and twice as long as HPS products
• Use only 100 watts each – compared with San Antonio’s previous 250-watt HPS luminaires
• Toshiba LED lighting brightens the streets of San Antonio.
A FEATURE AS UNIQUE AS SAN ANTONIO
When it comes to LED lighting, one of the most frequently ordered and replaced components is the photocontrol – in fact, photocontrols typically fail long before LED end of life, and can account for half of all roadway lighting service calls. CPS kept this in mind while examining the many lighting options on the table.
Because the Toshiba TGT LED Roadway Luminaire’s unique integral photocontrol system features a durable housing with long-lasting photocells and a microchip that controls automatic dimming, it offered CPS an alternative to standard NEMA twist-lock models. In part, CPS made its final recommendation based on the advanced functionality provided by integrated digital photocontrols, knowing that it would save CPS money and minimize costly maintenance and replacements in the future.
KEEPING AN EYE ON PUBLIC SAFETY
In addition to satisfying cutting edge technology, the Toshiba TGT LED Roadway Luminaire provides more accurate color rendering to help drivers and pedestrians identify surroundings, see colors with more clarity and detect contrast – allowing cars, small objects or obstructions to be seen more clearly. In addition, the luminaire uniformly directs light where it’s needed with less light loss. Finally, the Toshiba TGT LED Roadway Luminaire outperforms conventional HID lighting by providing superior vertical luminance, which affects the ability to see faces when in a parking lot or on sidewalks.
“We were incredibly pleased with the quality of light from the Toshiba product. The change-outs implemented to date have resulted in a marked improvement on light distribution and color rendering,” said Richard Lujan, Manager for Standards and Specification at CPS Energy.
For more information, visit www.toshiba.com/lighting.
*based on 9,000 hours of LED testing per LM-80-08. LED life based on projected values per IESNA TM21-11
**photocell life of 15 years based on an average of 24 operating hours per day at 40°C ambient… more…Toshiba Launches Newly Improved RTL LED Roadway Luminaires Press Release - Date: November 07, 2013 |
Toshiba International Corporation, November 5, 2013-- Toshiba International Corporation’s LED Lighting Systems division (TLS) recently released its newly enhanced, even higher efficacy RTLM and RTLS LED Roadway Luminaires, which serve as a direct replacement for 70 to 400-watt HID luminaires. The RTL comes in two sizes, the short deck RTLS and the medium deck RTLM, and is now available with Type II, III, IV and V distributions.
“The new and improved RTL is now available in more light di
stributions to better meet our customers’ needs,” said Tammy Impagliazzo, Director of Marketing for TLS. “Toshiba has designed this versatile product to be durable and energy efficient while providing superior optical performance to keep roadways and outdoor areas safe, bright and aesthetically pleasing.”
Notable features include:
• Consumes up to 50 percent less energy than typical HID roadway lighting to effectively illuminate the same area
• Integral photocell system or NEMA twist-lock receptacle options
• Rated life 100,000 hours on the LEDs, 25°C ambient L85
• 15-year rated life on the integral photocell
• Available in 4000K and 5700K color temperatures
• Color rendering index (CRI) of 70
• Zero uplight (full cutoff)
• Standard color is silver. (Black or bronze finish available upon request; longer lead times may apply.)
• Contains no mercury or lead
• Manufactured to ANSI standards
• Five-year limited warranty*
* Full warranty details available at http://www.toshiba.com/lighting/resources/warranty.jsp
About Toshiba International Corporation
Toshiba International Corporation (TIC) is a Toshiba America Inc. (TAI) Group Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation. TIC is headquartered in Houston, Texas and employs approximately 2,000 people. TIC provides application solutions to a wide range of industries including industrial, power systems, transmission and distribution systems, and lighting systems. For more information about TIC, please visit www.toshiba.com/tic.
About Toshiba International Corporation’s LED Lighting Systems Division
TIC’s LED Lighting Systems Division provides the North American market with a variety of high-efficiency LED products. Drawing upon Toshiba’s 125-year heritage of lighting innovations in Japan and world-class electronic and semi-conductor technologies, the LED Lighting Systems Division is emerging as a leader in solid state lighting. The LED Lighting Systems Division is committed to providing lighting solutions that enhance the quality of life and meet the diverse needs of its customers. The team at Toshiba LED Lighting takes the real world approach to give an exceptional customer experience like no other, and that means backing a trusted brand and quality products with unparalleled and uncompromising service. Further information is also available online at www.toshiba.com/lighting.… more…HOMETOWN CONNECTIONS AND POWERSECURE FORM ALLIANCE Press Release - Date: September 23, 2013 |
September 23, 2013
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
HOMETOWN CONNECTIONS AND POWERSECURE FORM ALLIANCE
TO OFFER PUBLIC POWER UTILITIES BACKUP AND PEAK SHAVING DISTRIBUTED GENERATION, SOLAR POWER, LED LIGHTING
----------------------------------------------------------------------
—Will team with public power utilities to provide distributed generation,
solar power, outdoor LED lighting to commercial & industrial customers—
EVERGREEN, Colo. and WAKE FOREST, N.C. — T
o help public power systems provide standby power generation for use during outages and during costly periods of peak demand, and to deliver energy and maintenance savings from outdoor LED lighting to their commercial and industrial customers, Hometown Connections will market distributed generation, solar power and lighting solutions from PowerSecure International, Inc. (NYSE: POWR), the two companies announced today.
Hometown Connections is the utility services subsidiary of the American Public Power Association (APPA). APPA member organizations will receive a discount on all PowerSecure services and solutions. PowerSecure partners with municipal electric systems to offer customers true turn-key engineered-to-order backup power systems (stationary or mobile) which integrate a peak-shaving energy efficiency capability and provide critical power protection to many vital industries, hospitals and military facilities. PowerSecure also designs and installs solar energy systems which use photovoltaic panels to generate power without moving parts or fuel, and has energy efficient LED parking lot, street and area lighting solutions for utilities, municipalities and local businesses.
“We are thrilled to join with Hometown Connections to expand our service to public power utilities,” said Sidney Hinton, chief executive officer, PowerSecure. “Our distributed generation solutions provide on-site standby power and peak shaving capabilities to support utilities and their commercial, institutional and industrial customers. Our public power utility partners and their large customers benefit from our system’s highly dependable backup power supply during outages, and more efficient, environmentally friendly source of power during high cost periods of peak power demand. And our LED area light has been specifically engineered for public power customers to reduce maintenance and operating costs, while delivering a superior quality of light.”
PowerSecure tracks the status of more than 1,300 distributed generation systems across the country every minute of every day from its command centers in North Carolina and Georgia for its utility partners and their commercial and industrial customers. PowerSecure also actively monitors load profiles and pricing in real time, and remotely activates units during peak demand periods. The system can utilize a variety of fuel sources, including diesel, natural gas, landfill gas and others as customers require.
“We chose PowerSecure as our official distributed generation and LED lighting provider because the company offers advanced technology and round-the-clock support to customers in partnership with utilities,” said Tim L. Blodgett, president and chief executive officer, Hometown Connections. “Public power’s large customers want access to distributed generation and new lighting technologies, and they trust their municipal utility as a community resource. We are pleased to engage the team of expert professionals from PowerSecure because they are dedicated to working hand-in-hand with APPA member utilities to meet the needs of their customers and never in competition with them.”
PowerSecure’s Proven Success Serving Public Power Customers
“ElectriCities of North Carolina has endorsed PowerSecure as a trusted provider of distributed generation and other products since 2001. Our utility members have completed hundreds of distributed generation projects with PowerSecure, saving their large customers millions of dollars in electricity demand costs. We are impressed with how well PowerSecure partners with the utility, always willing to work with the utility to offer solutions to a customer. This truly has been a win-win-win situation. The customer lowers their electric costs and has emergency generation available, the utility keeps customer rates competitive and the demand costs low, and ElectriCities maintains wholesale power costs at a reasonable level while providing a value-added service to the membership. I recommend the PowerSecure solution to all of my colleagues in public power. With its headquarters in Wake Forest, one of the public power communities in North Carolina, we are proud to welcome PowerSecure as Hometown Connections’ newest partner,” said Graham Edwards, chief executive officer, ElectriCities of North Carolina.
About Hometown Connections International
Hometown Connections is the utility services subsidiary of the American Public Power Association (APPA). Hometown Connections offers public power utilities advice and access to quality products/services from a trusted entity with public power’s best interests in mind. Hometown Connections is a resource to APPA members large and small, providing discounted pricing on technology, services, and other solutions from industry-leading companies. The products and services offered through Hometown Connections include the full range of smart grid solutions, as well as financial and organizational management tools and consulting. For details, see www.hometownconnections.com.
About PowerSecure
PowerSecure International, Inc. is a leading provider of utility and energy technologies to electric utilities, and their industrial, institutional and commercial customers. PowerSecure provides products and services in the areas of Interactive Distributed Generation ® (IDG®), energy efficiency and utility infrastructure. The company is a pioneer in developing IDG® power systems with sophisticated smart grid capabilities, including the ability to 1) forecast electricity demand and electronically deploy the systems to deliver more efficient, and environmentally friendly, power at peak power times, 2) provide utilities with dedicated electric power generation capacity to utilize for demand response purposes and 3) provide customers with the most dependable standby power in the industry. Its proprietary distributed generation system designs utilize a range of technologies to deliver power, including renewables. The company’s energy efficiency business develops energy efficient lighting technologies that improve the quality of light, including its proprietary LED lighting products for area/street lighting for utilities/municipalities and grocery, drug and convenience stores. PowerSecure also provides electric utilities with transmission and distribution infrastructure maintenance and construction services, and engineering and regulatory consulting services. Additional information is available at www.powersecure.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of and made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are all statements other than statements of historical facts, including but not limited to statements concerning the outlook for the company's future revenues, earnings, margins, cash resources and cash flow and other financial and operating information and data; the company's future business operations, strategies and prospects; the company’s cost reduction plan; and all other statements concerning the plans, intentions, expectations, projections, hopes, beliefs, objectives, goals and strategies of management, including statements about other future financial and non-financial items, performance or events and about present and future products, services, technologies and businesses; and statements of assumptions underlying the foregoing.
Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and are subject to a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that are difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed, projected or implied by such forward-looking statements. Important risks, uncertainties and other factors include, but are not limited to, the on-going downturn, disruption and volatility in the economy, financial markets and business markets and the effects thereof on the company's markets and customers, the demand for its products and services, and the company's access to capital; the size, timing and terms of sales and orders, including the company's revenue backlog, and the risk of customers delaying, deferring or canceling purchase orders or making smaller purchases than expected; the potential adverse financial and reputational consequences that can result from safety risks and hazards such as accidents inherent in the company’s operations; the impact of the company’s recent acquisitions of the ESCO business, the Solais business, and the commercial and industrial solar business; the company’s ability to reduce and control its costs and expenses; the timely and successful development, production and market acceptance of new and enhanced products, services and technologies of the company; the ability of the company to obtain adequate supplies of key components and materials of sufficient reliability and quality for its products and technologies on a timely and cost-effective basis and the effects of related warranty claims and disputes; the ability of the company to successfully expand its core distributed generation products and services, to successfully develop and achieve market acceptance of its new energy-related businesses, to successfully expand its recurring revenue projects, to manage its growth and to address the effects of any future changes in utility tariff structures and environmental requirements on its business solutions; the effects of competition; changes in customer and industry demand and preferences; the ability of the company to continue the growth and diversification of its customer base; the ability of the company to attract, retain, and motivate its executives and key personnel; changes in the energy industry in general and the electricity, oil, and natural gas markets in particular, including price levels; the effects of competition; the ability of the company to secure and maintain key contracts and relationships; the effects of pending and future litigation, claims and disputes; and other risks, uncertainties and other factors identified from time to time in its reports filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, as well as subsequently filed reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K, copies of which may be obtained by visiting the investor relations page of the company’s website at www.powersecure.com or the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov.
Accordingly, there is no assurance that the results expressed, projected or implied by any forward-looking statements will be achieved, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements in this press release speak only as of the date hereof and are based on the current plans, goals, objectives, strategies, intentions, expectations and assumptions of, and the information currently available to, management. The company assumes no duty or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason, whether as the result of changes in expectations, new information, future events, conditions or circumstances or otherwise.
Contacts:
Tim Blodgett
Hometown Connections
303-526-4515
tblodgett@hometownconnections.com
John Bluth
PowerSecure International, Inc.
919-453-2103
jbluth@powersecure.com
… more…A conversation with Robert Fishman of NAES Corp. Power Generation Equipment and Services Supplier Article - Date: July 08, 2013 | |
Source: BIC Magazine, June 2013
As the new president and CEO of NAES Corp., Robert (Bob) Fishman’s goal is to make NAES a great company. He is excited not only about the future of NAES but also the future of the American power industry. BIC Magazine recently visited with Fishman to discuss the importance of providing strong leadership and the new initiatives taking place at NAES.
Q: What led to your position at NAES?
A: This position builds on my leadership experience of more
than 30 years in the power industry including plant operations, engineering and construction, and project development. The ability to be able to use all of my experience in this role and grow the business is very appealing.
I have held several positions in the power industry including CEO at AUSRA (AREVA Solar), executive vice president of Operations, Engineering and Development at Calpine, and president of PB Power Inc. at Parsons Brinckerhoff.
Q: What is the most important part of your position?
A: Leadership and vision. It is my strong belief a successful company has a vision, and a leadership team and employees committed to achieving that vision. My role is to create and communicate that vision, and provide executive leadership to drive vision attainment. It is also my role to make NAES a fun and exciting place to work. Building and maintaining open communication and trust builds commitment. Informed employees are more productive, empowered and motivated. Providing the necessary leadership and vision for NAES, motivating our people and empowering them to act will result in satisfied customers, corporate and personal growth, and make NAES a really enjoyable place to work.
Q: What are your goals for your position?
A: My goal is to make NAES a great company. We will build and expand on the solid foundation of current operations. At the same time, we will add several profitable business lines, which will complement and broaden the current NAES portfolio. We can look forward to strong business leadership, growth and industry diversification, and a dynamic, customer-focused organization that drives results and adds value. The initiatives we will execute will be good for our customers, provide growth for our employees and be of benefit for the shareholders of the company.
Q: Are you looking to grow in new markets or expand in current ones?
A: NAES is recognized in the industry and by its customers as a leader in the business lines in which it currently operates. We will expand and broaden our range of services to power industry customers and grow our business in adjacent industries. We intend to offer our core expertise into those industries that have similar characteristics, require similar processes and hold similar expectations of sophistication in safety, compliance, productivity, performance and cost that we have today. We see opportunities in biofuels, oil and gas, petrochemical and other process industries.
Q: How do you plan to address changes in the work force/economy/emissions/etc. in the coming year?
A: NAES has energetic and committed employees. Our growth and diversification plans will build on their knowledge, capacity to grow and commitment to NAES. We are in good hands. The exploitation of shale gas has led to the lowest natural gas pricing in the industrialized world, and that in turn is causing massive change in power generation, and spurring redevelopment and expansion in energy intensive industries and those that use natural gas as a feedstock. That is where our focus will be. This promises to be one of the greatest periods of transformation in the American power industry and process industries in decades. We believe the future looks bright. NAES intends to be part of that future.
… more…New Landis+Gyr eZine: Smart Grid Tips, Advice and More. Press Release - Date: April 30, 2013 |
Today’s utilities continue to deal with complex challenges. How can they engage consumers in efficiency programs? How should they prepare the grid for electric vehicles? In this issue of "FutureReady", we explore these smart grid challenges — and others. Read it now!
http://gurl.im/2e744itAchieve True AMI Scalability: Read the New White Paper. White Paper - Date: April 30, 2013 |
Advanced smart grid applications like distribution automation and demand response require significant scalability –– in processing speed, network bandwidth, storage capacity and more. But adding headroom after an AMI deployment is difficult; it must be built into the system from the start. In our new white paper, Landis+Gyr’s experts explain how to ensure your AMI system is optimized for:
• New levels of transaction load and throughput
• Greater performance management and storage chal
lenges
• Real-time event response
• And more
Prevent scalability pitfalls today –– access our new white paper!
http://gurl.im/ec354is… more…Survalent Technology Commissions HMI System for Compañía Minera Nevada’s La Mesa Substation in Chile Press Release - Date: March 20, 2013 |
MISSISSAUGA, ON — March 20, 2013 — Survalent Technology, the most trusted provider of smart grid solutions for the control room, announced today that it has commissioned an HMI System for Compañía Minera Nevada’s (Barrick Corporation CHILE) La Mesa Substation in Chile.
In November 2012, Survalent’s integrators, Sienco and Ingema, commissioned their first control and protection system at La Mesa Substation in Chile. La Mesa’s system consists of a control and protection system with Siemens
equipment and Survalent software with Control Center Level 3, in connection via ICCP protocol with National Control Centers in Chile (CDEC-GDE) and SYNAPSIS. Survalent’s SCADA controls and supervises four 230kV substations (Tres Quebradas, Lama, La Mesa y Punta Colorada) plus various clusters of 23kV. This substation serves the largest Binational Mining project in the world, called PASCUA LAMA which holds 8,000 miners. La Mesa is considered today as the world's highest substation to 4825 msnm.
The new system features Survalent’s highly available, open-architecture system based on Windows Server. It includes several of Survalent's open system applications, including: WorldView, SCADA Explorer, Command Sequencing, Event Data Recording, IED Wizard and Control Panel, SCADA Add-In, IEC 61850, IEC-870-5-104 Slave and ICCP.
“Nevada Mining Company is an important new client in the mining sector,” states Harold Novoa, Vice President of Sales for South America. “Adding projects in the regions of Colombia, Peru and Argentina has positioned Survalent as a key player.”
About Survalent Technology
Survalent Technology is the leading provider of real-time smart grid management systems for enabling visualization, optimization and improved operations for utilities. For over five decades, we have helped more than 400 utilities use operational data to increase reliability, efficiency and customer service. With our proven and reliable SCADA, Outage Management System (OMS), Distribution Management (DMS), Demand Response (DR), Distribution Automation (DA), Substation Automation (SA), SurvCentral Mobile Applications, Smart VU Visual Utility, and i-Surv Hosted SCADA, utilities transform data into actionable intelligence. We partner with utilities across the globe to create mission critical solutions that will achieve the promise of the Smart Grid. Learn more at www.survalent.com.
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Contact:
Dalana Morse
Marketing Manager
dmorse@survalent.com
… more…Michael Steward Appointed Projects Manager for Spectrum Engineering Corporation Press Release - Date: March 07, 2013 |
Spectrum Engineering Corporation announces that Michael Steward has joined the company as its new Projects Manager. Mike will be involved in project scope, schedules and budgets as well as assisting with substation and line design, and field work of all types.
Mike served the City of Garrett, Indiana for over 28 years as the Superintendent of Garrett Municipal Utilities and has extensive and diverse experience in the electrical distribution field.
Spectrum Engineering, located in
Auburn, Indiana, offers professional engineering services related to power engineering, substation and line design, system and arc flash studies, business planning, project management, smart grid applications, and relay coordination, as well as FTTx design and planning.
… more…FirstFuel Finds that Operational Improvements Can Double Energy Efficiency Savings in Commercial Buildings Press Release - Date: February 14, 2013 |
FirstFuel Software, the market-leading building energy analytics company, today announced that half of all energy efficiency savings in commercial buildings are achievable through operational improvements, at little or no cost to building owners and operators. This finding is drawn from an analysis of a representative sampling of buildings from FirstFuel’s utility and government customers.
The FirstFuel analysis revealed that 51 percent of all energy efficiency opportunities from the samp
le – representing over $12 million in savings– could be achieved through low and no-cost operational improvements. When extrapolated to the entire U.S. commercial building market, the total savings potential for operational improvements represents a $17 billion opportunity.
For the full press release, please view: http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon/20130206005560/en/FirstFuel/Energy-Efficiency/Operational-Improvements
For the FirstFuel Operational Savings Infographic, please view: http://firstfuel.com/FirstFuel_operational_savings_infographic.html… more…HPC America creates real-time FERC solution for SAP New General Ledger at We Energies Data Management Systems Supplier Article - Date: February 05, 2013 | |
Wisconsin utility company gains improved SAP regulatory and management reporting, immediate access to FERC data, and a faster monthly close from the original developer of the SAP FERC solution.
We Energies provides electric service to 2.2 million customers in portions of Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and also serves natural gas customers in Wisconsin and steam customers in downtown Milwaukee. We Energies is the trade name of Wisconsin Electric Power Co. and Wisconsin Gas LLC,
the principal utility subsidiaries of Wisconsin Energy Corporation. The company maintains more than 45 thousand miles of electric distribution lines and over 350 substations.
*Challenges and Opportunities*
We Energies first implemented SAP and the IS-U/FERC module in 1997, guided by HPC America, the original developer of the FERC solution. Fast-forward 15 years later, and the utility company began a review of its financials within SAP to simplify business processes and increase transparency between natural and FERC accounts.
"We faced a number of reporting challenges, primarily because the original FERC module did not provide a drill down to the original source of charges," explained Steve Mueller, Team Leader of Applications at We Energies. "Our Wisconsin and Michigan auditors are increasingly particular, and want to know who did what work. We needed a solution beyond the FERC module itself to meet their requirements easily."
In addition, like many utilities, We Energies found it difficult to determine capital versus expense splits from natural accounts alone. As such, it relied on FERC reporting for this information--but that meant waiting 30+ days for each monthly close. A solution that accelerated the close or otherwise improved access to key data would address management's capital and expense reporting needs.
*The Solution*
While We Energies had briefly considered a homegrown solution involving UI Planner, it quickly turned to HPC America for the next generation of its SAP FERC configuration.
"We read about HPC's development of a real-time FERC solution utilizing Functional Areas in the New General Ledger, which wasalso under consideration by our team," said Mueller. "Based on that new solution, plus our prior experience with the firm, we were confident that HPC had the right knowledge of FERC, finance, and utilities to meet our needs."
In early 2012, We Energies engaged HPC to develop its real-time FERC solution on the SAP New General Ledger as a precursor to the utility's GL migration planned for 2013. "Our solution-agnostic approach to FERC includes several alternative designs based on each utility's specific requirements," said HPC CEO Jerry Cavalieri. "Due to Wisconsin's commitment to the New GL and desire to phase out the FERC module, our real-time FERC design was obviously the most suitable." HPC's other solutions for utilities include optimizing existing FERC module installations, and implementing HPC Utility Financials Accelerator (UFA), a solution certified by SAP as powered by the NetWeaver(R) technology platform.
At Wisconsin, HPC set up the SAP New GL in a development environment, configuring Functional Areas to deliver desired FERC results in a "real time" manner. HPC tested different scenarios based on a large range of transactions to ensure the correct sequence of rules were applied to each transaction type, such as benefits and payroll taxes, capital expenditures, and the equivalent of direct postings.
Moving to a real-time FERC solution that leverages functional areas in the New GL would ordinarily mean the loss of some SAP FERC functionality, but HPC established a number of ways to retain all of that, plus detailed data for all transactions. Unlike configurations that result in an "hourglass" flow of information that sacrifices granularity, HPC's design maintains as much detail as possible for greater business intelligence.
During the project, the team ran into one notable surprise when running overheads, due to SAP's handling of derivation rules. To solve the matter, HPC utilized the New GL's extensibility features to keep the Controlling module and the General Ledger in sync when showing more than one functional area for a single COobject. As a result, when looking at standard CO reports or FI financials, the same FERC account is shown in real-time. No FERC derivation at the end of the period is required.
*Initial Results*
In the fall of 2012, HPC completed its real-time FERC solution for the SAP New General Ledger at We Energies. The cutting edge solution allows a utility to replace the classic IS-U/FERC module through the use of four different derivation methods for functional areas. In this design, both primary and secondary cost elements post to the New GL. Functional Area derivations can be defined during document entry, if desired. And cost objects with pre-assignments to FERC functional areas can be cost centers, IO's, PM orders, WBS elements or Networks. This flexibility accommodates the need for overriding translations as necessary. In addition, We Energies can get FERC data anytime during the month, without having to run the FERC module, and with zero manual intervention or separate processes to update FERC accounts.
Based on successful results in testing, the project team presented the solution to its review committee and Chief Financial Officer. Management agreed that HPC's real-time FERC solution and the New General Ledger would meet the utility's immediate regulatory reporting objectives, and approved the next steps to production.
Looking forward, We Energies can migrate to the New GL and phase out the FERC module, while moving to a real-time FERC ledger. Users will be able to make journal entries and translate GL accounts to FERC functional areas on-the-fly when entering a document. Using the New GL with the cost of sales ledger active and real-time CO/FI integration running results in a faster close. And the design eliminates differences in orders between the FERC and Controlling modules, providing "one version of the truth" for both regulators and management.
HPC CEO Cavalieri commented that, "Our real-time FERC solution for the SAP New GL is the latest evolution in HPC's thinking since we first created the FERC module in 1995. It's an ideal design for utilities new to SAP, as well as for long-time users open to a major change. But there is no one-size-fits-all approach, since an optimized FERC module alone or one supplemented by HPC UFA is also proven to be effective for utilities in today's more demanding regulatory environment."
*About HPC America*
HPC America is a utility industry expert and certified SAP partner with nearly 20 years of experience implementing SAP and developing back-office solutions in accounting, regulatory reporting, billing, supply chain management, plant maintenance, and business intelligence.
HPC is also the original developer of the IS-U/FERC module, which SAP acquired from us in 1996. Since then, we have pioneered advanced solutions for regulatory reporting on SAP, including HPC Utility Financials Accelerator, certified by SAP as powered by the NetWeaver(R) technology platform, and the Real-Time FERC solution for the SAP New General Ledger.
Some of our customers include Pacific Gas & Electric, Southern California Edison, We Energies, RPU, PHI, Sonoma County Water Agency, Trans Bay Cable, NTUA, AEPCO, and City of Palo Alto.… more…Alcatel-Lucent and Luxembourg utility Creos enhance the efficiency of power transmission with a new ‘smart’ communications network Press Release - Date: January 29, 2013 |
Paris, Jan 29, 2013 - Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) is making the communications network of Luxembourg power utility company Creos ‘smarter’, using its Internet routing technology to lower costs and enhance the reliability and efficiency of power transmission.
Alcatel-Lucent has used its IP/MPLS (Internet Protocol/Multiprotocol Label Switching) technology to replace Creos’s existing TDM-based communications system, bringing a new level of intelligence to its power transmis
sion network – from power generation to the substations. The new technology will allow Creos to consolidate vital services, such as teleprotection, current differential protection, closed circuit TV (CCTV) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems - supporting remote monitoring, fault isolation and system safety and reliability - onto a single network.
The ability to converge all services on to one communications network not only enhances operational performance but will also help Creos to save the costs associated with managing multiple networks. This includes extending Creos’s intranet to support communications between control centers and the remote substation sites, enabling engineers to remain connected as they visit those sites.
Patrick Colling, Communications Expert at Creos said: “Creos is an innovative company and we want to utilize the latest technologies to ensure reliability and effectiveness of our business, now and into the future. The new communications system will form the basis of our smart grid and ensure the network is always available to meet demand. We are very pleased to leverage Alcatel-Lucent’s considerable expertise in IP/MPLS technology to help us accomplish this.”
Lynn Hunt, Global Vice President, Utility Solutions, Alcatel-Lucent of Alcatel-Lucent said: “Alcatel-Lucent is a leader in transforming power utilities networks around the globe. We have proven the performance of our IP/MPLS technology in delivering services such as teleprotection and it allows us to give utility companies such as Creos a more complete view of their network to make power transmission more efficient and cost-effective.”
About Alcatel-Lucent’s solution for Creos
Alcatel-Lucent will provide Creos with its leading 7705 Service Aggregation Routers, with the SAR-8 and SAR-18 variants, as well as the 7210 Service Access Switch and 5620 Service Aware Manager.
Interoperability and performance testing with third party current differential protection equipment was successfully conducted over a distance of 104km using 10 gigabit per second (10G) and 1 gigabit per second (1G) fiber links passing through 11 routers. During testing Alcatel-Lucent’s IP/MPLS technology consistently delivered results of below 5 milliseconds latency across the network and less than 200 microseconds jitter, meeting the requirements for essential service support such as differential protection and teleprotection.
Alcatel-Lucent and Smart Grid
Alcatel-Lucent is bringing communications technology to the Smart Grid allowing customers to make energy choices - in real time, online, from anywhere - empowering them to save energy and money every day. All while helping support the mission-critical operations with uncompromising reliability and security. With solutions running in more than 80 power grid networks, Alcatel-Lucent’s deep expertise is enabling smarter energy management and usage with smart technologies. Learn more about our Dynamic Communication Solutions for the Smart Grid.
… more…ArcGIS API for Android App Streamlines Field Inspections Mapping, GIS Supplier Article - Date: December 13, 2012 | |
An electric cooperative developed an app with ArcGIS API for Android that moved its field equipment inspection process from a paper-based one to a streamlined one using GPS-enabled tablets.
Tri-County Electric Membership Corporation (TCEMC) serves more than 53,000 members in central Tennessee and southern Kentucky. For several years, TCEMC has been moving GIS into more and more areas of the cooperative's operation. One of the last untouched processes was inspections of field equipment.
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Everything regarding inspections was being tracked on paper and often in multiple ways, from lists of poles beginning at the substation to the more recent printouts of circuits. The process was inefficient and frustrating to both operations personnel and engineering staff members who had to interpret the field notes. Follow-up trips were often needed to correctly identify facilities with issues. This delayed corrective actions. The large amount of data collected on paper made reporting and tracking impractical.
The paper process had endured for one reason: ease of use. Until recently, mobile devices and software were awkward and cumbersome to use. Training users who might not be familiar with computers was difficult, and equipment was expensive (not to mention problems with battery life and data synchronization). The new iPad and Android tablets were cheaper than laptops and provided a new platform for building easy-to-use solutions that can be operated with two fingers. With ArcGIS API for Android, TCEMC's entire basemap and data on all equipment to be inspected could be placed on an Android tablet and taken into the field. Each tablet has GPS capabilites so it can show the user's current location and a camera that can be used to document problem areas.
ArcGIS for Desktop is used to create a basemap, convert it to a tiled map cache by ArcGIS for Server, and automatically downloaded to each tablet each day along with pending inspection requests. Inspections are overlaid onto the basemap using the touchable graphics in the inspection app. The user simply touches the piece of equipment he would like to inspect, and the appropriate form for recording the inspection is displayed. The inspector's name is logged for each inspection, as well as the last good GPS coordinate, the time the form was submitted, the current known attributes of the equipment, and any issues identified during the inspection. At the end of the day, network connectivity is restored, and the completed inspections are automatically uploaded to the GIS database.
System administration is minimal, because every effort was made to automate tasks. Pending inspections are identified by comparing GIS data to the list of inspections that have been recently completed. Identified problems are automatically routed to the appropriate department.
A web-based application was created to manage the resultant corrective actions for the departments as well as incorporating the information into the engineering staking package. Engineering staff can be assigned individual tasks, or tasks can be assigned in bulk based on territories. Operations supervisors can manage their corrective actions based on service areas. Correction tickets can be printed with an included map provided by the same ArcGIS for Server service that the tablets use. Each assignment is tracked, and additional notes can be added at any point. Finally, each department can separately resolve its own issues without affecting the other.
The completed inspections are stored in a Microsoft SQL Server database that is used for reporting and analysis. Since all information is time stamped, the progress of the inspection cycle can be observed using the new query layer and time-aware layer features of ArcGIS 10. By storing the equipment attributes at the time of inspection, changes in equipment between inspection cycles can be tracked.
TCEMC has taken advantage of newly available hardware and Esri APIs to provide an easy-to-use yet powerful inspection tracking system. By building on common consumer-based equipment, TCEMC can choose from among many vendors and different price points. This solution also benefits from custom app deployment and a standard Windows PC development environment.
… more…Esri Technology Enables Utility to Upgrade Billing System Press Release - Date: December 13, 2012 |
Holy Cross Energy Saves Money, Improves Customer Service with Street and Security Light Project
Redlands, California—Holy Cross Energy, a member-owned electric cooperative utility that serves more than 55,000 consumers in western Colorado, recently used Esri technology for a street and security light project that has helped update and correct its billing system.
"We have saved $442 per month for one of the towns we serve, as they were paying for devices that no longer existed and w
ere paying for higher wattage bulbs than they should have been," said Holy Cross Energy meter supervisor Tonya Warmenhoven. "An association in our service area, on the other hand, had been getting free street lighting and the address marker power for at least 10 years. They are now billed $600 per month for 178 new devices we have added."
The utility's security and streetlight project involved digitally mapping security lights and streetlights within its service area using GPS, aerial photographs, and a custom web mapping application powered by Esri's ArcGIS technology.
Holy Cross Energy can now provide correct information to its consumers and its billing department. Service and billing personnel now have precise data about devices in the field. In the past, field crews would have had to call the billing department to get information about street and security lights. Now they have access to that data via laptops in the line trucks.
Read more about how Holy Cross Energy implemented its street and security light project at http://www.esri.com/news/arcwatch/0912/utility-saves-money-by-mapping-street-and-security-lights.html… more…Summit Line Construction Helps Restore Power to the East Coast Press Release - Date: November 19, 2012 |
LONG ISLAND, NY (Nov.1 9, 2012) – Summit Line Construction, headquartered in Heber City, Utah, is helping out in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the largest Atlantic hurricane on record. 15 Utah-based Summit Line Construction employees have been working day and night to get the lights back on in the New York area.
Crews from the company had been working on the National Grid project near Lockport, New York, for close to a year when Hurricane Sandy forced management to put that project on ho
ld. “Our crew is here, we have the equipment necessary and we are willing to help,” said Summit Line Construction General Foreman and Utah resident Brett Beverage. “LIPA reached out to us for some much-needed disaster cleanup on the Long Island seaboard, and for the last week we have been restoring overhead distribution feeders and taps, sub transmission and URD, and cutting out fallen trees. It has been a long road, but we have the knowledge, capability and determination to get the job done.”
Summit Line Construction’s line crews are a skilled team of professionals from the West with expertise working on high-voltage transmission systems. “Crews are working extremely long hours and in very dangerous conditions. Lack of resources such as materials and accommodations have made this very difficult on my men,” said Operations Manager, and Utah resident Loren Chandler.
As a cold winter storm hits the already devastated East Coast, Summit Line Construction is sending its unique linemen and electrical skills where there are most needed to ensure the people of the East Coast are well taken care of. “I know the capabilities and the work ethic of these crews and how diligently they will work until power is restored,” said Heber City resident Redgie Probst, director of Summit Line Construction. “No one deserves to be left in the dark. We will be persistent until the lights are back on.”
Summit Line Construction is a privately owned entity, specializing in transmission and distribution projects throughout the United States. Its corporate office is located in Heber City, Utah.
For more information, please contact:
www.summitlineconstruction.com
Holly Mair: holly@summitlineconstruction.com, 875 South Industrial Parkway, Heber City, Utah 435.657.0721
###
… more…Niagara Peninsula Energy Inc. empowers consumers with CustomerConnect Press Release - Date: October 16, 2012 |
Ottawa, ON – October 16, 2012 – Niagara Peninsula Energy Inc. (NPEI) has selected CustomerConnect—Harris Utilities’ customer engagement solution—to promote energy conservation and teach consumers how to manage their own resources.
NPEI knew they had to put consumers in control of their own resource use in order to succeed in decreasing peak demand. The utility wanted to provide a one-stop shop for consumers to help them understand their consumption patterns, recognize the impact of chang
es they make, and show them how their usage compares to others in their community.
“We want customers to get involved. We want them to be educated about energy use and savings. We want them to understand what they’re using, think about how they can change consumption to decrease their bill,” says Margaret Battista, vice-president of customer service and information technology at NPEI.
CustomerConnect was appealing to NPEI because it puts resource control in their users’ hands. Customers can now resolve the majority of their issues online—saving time for both utility staff and end users. The utility used to do manual reads and follow-ups as a value added service to customers who had a large volume of high bills. CustomerConnect will allow for self-service, which means improvements to both the customer and the utility’s staff.
“Utilities see how powerful it can be to put control in the hands of consumers,” says Normand Daigle, executive vice-president of Harris Utilities. “Putting end users in command of their own resource use is the quickest and most comprehensive way for utilities to achieve demand management.”
A longtime Harris Utilities’ customer, NPEI decided to adopt CustomerConnect as the next step in their pursuit of better service and greater customer satisfaction.
“It was a natural progression. It’s a solution that speaks to our customers’ needs,” Battista says. “We wanted to give them a solution that’s easy to navigate. We wanted something that was educational, personal and interactive. It’s very important for us to match our customers’ wishes with the resource management tools of industry-leading technology.”
“Consumers expect to access their data quickly and easily. The tools in CustomerConnect were built to do just that,” says Daigle. “It helps businesses and homeowners measure, monitor and manage usage patterns, access targeted educational materials and address account questions without ever needing to contact utility’s customer service representatives.”
NPEI is proud of the leadership it has shown among utilities across Ontario in developing and distributing innovative programs that promote resource conservation. It has almost fully deployed its smart grid infrastructure and has about 49,000 smart meters in production. It has less than 1,000 more to implement as it rolls out CustomerConnect.
About Niagara Peninsula Energy Inc.
Niagara Peninsula Energy Inc. (NPEI) provides local electricity distribution and related services to residential and business customers in the City of Niagara Falls, Town of Lincoln, Town of Pelham and Township of West Lincoln. Niagara Peninsula Energy Inc. is jointly owned by Niagara Falls Holding Corporation and Peninsula West Power Inc., which is also a Holding Company who is jointly owned by the Town of Lincoln, the Town of Pelham and the Township of West Lincoln.
For more information, visit www.npei.ca
About CustomerConnect
CustomerConnect is an engagement solution that transforms the way utilities interact with their customers. Designed in close collaboration with a range of consumer groups, the solution gives customers direct, web-based access to account information and unprecedented insight into resource use. Built for utilities, it helps demonstrate the value of, and power behind, smart infrastructure investments to help shift customer behavior and deliver rapid results from conservation programs.
For more information, visit www.custconnect.com.
Contacts
Harris Utilities
Kristy Strauss
Communications Specialist
T: +1-613-226-5511, ext. 2097
C: +1-613-850-3657
KStrauss@metersense.com… more…Press Release - Date: October 04, 2012 |
Sept. 13, 2012, Lake St. Louis, Mo...National Information Solutions Cooperative (NISC), a national software and IT cooperative, has been awarded a grant by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to deploy a “Green Button” solution.
Green Button is the DOE initiative designed to provide advanced technology that gives consumers convenient, computer-friendly access to their energy use information so they can better manage power consumption.
NISC will focus its Green Button efforts on
its SmartHub platform, an integrated software solution that lets utilities offer consumers usage data, real time alerts, secure payments and a communications link to the utility through a website and iOS (Apple) and Android devices.
NISC will collaborate with two electric cooperatives -- Sawnee Electric Membership Corporation of Cumming, Ga., and Kootenai Electric Cooperative (KEC) of Hayden, Idaho -- to address the project's key goals of helping consumers better manage electricity use, and learning the best ways to develop, deploy and promote Green Button technology. The project partners will also explore how to make the solution available to other electric utilities and the ten million households that NISC serves.
According to NISC's CEO Vern Dosch, NISC’s SmartHub will use MultiSpeak to interface with the Green Button standard. MultiSpeak is the software standard widely used by electric cooperatives and developed by the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA) and its research arm, the Cooperative Research Network (CRN).
Michael A. Goodroe, CEO of Sawnee EMC, which has offered its consumers real-time, hourly energy data for almost 3 years, said, "Our members want to use their energy dollars wisely and by providing them this data through their smart devices, we know they will.”
At Kootenai EC, General Manager Doug Elliott said, "In this project, we will continue to improve how we engage our members to save electricity using technology."
"Our combined efforts will benefit our members and will give us Green Button experience that will be incorporated into our SmartHub platform," said NISC's Dosch. "We look forward to sharing project information, implementation, consumer education lessons and best practices.”
About the Project Partners
NISC (www.nisc.coop) provides its more than 600 utility and telecom members located in 47 states, Canada and the South Pacific a full line of fully integrated enterprise software.
The Cooperative Research Network is the research arm of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the national service organization representing the nation’s more than 900 private, not-for-profit, consumer-owned electric cooperatives.
Sawnee Electric Membership Corporation is an electric distribution cooperative headquartered in Cumming, Ga. It provides energy services to 153,000 consumer accounts.
Kootenai Electric Cooperative, Inc. is an electric distribution co-op based in Hayden, Idaho, providing energy services to its 22,000 member accounts.
… more…Virtual Peak Plant Key to a Diversified Energy Portfolio White Paper - Date: July 12, 2012 |
With more than 700,000 electric and 300,000 gas customers, CPS Energy in San Antonio, Texas is one of the largest municipal utilities in the United States. While CPS customers enjoy some of the lowest electricity rates in the country, the City of San Antonio and CPS Energy, under the direction of CEO Doyle Beneby, have set aggressive goals for energy efficiency and diversification of their generation portfolio.
The complete white paper may be downloaded from consert.com.
Press Release - Date: May 16, 2012 |
May 15, 2012 – SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, California and Austin, Minn. –Cooperative Response Center, Inc. (CRC), a leading nationwide contact center and central station, has teamed up with TextPower, Inc., a text messaging (SMS) business solutions provider, to use TextPower’s SmartAlerts™ texting solution to enable customers of CRC’s utility company members a fast and easy way to report power outages via text messaging. CRC will use TextPower’s texting service to allow consumers to initiate a power ou
tage report and verify outage restoration back to consumers via text message.
"We are delighted to work with CRC to provide an innovative technology offering to their utility members that we believe is fast, effective, and practical particularly when the power goes out," said Mark Nielsen, TextPower's executive chairman."CRC's use of our text outage notification greatly enhances the personalization and immediacy of customer service its utility members can now provide. In a recent survey of utilities, the overwhelming top priority for texting was text notification of outages."
“Our partnership with TextPower is another example of CRC’s continual efforts to provide innovative, value-added services for our membership,” said Brad Fjelsta, CRC’s senior vice president of operations and project manager for the text messaging initiative. “TextPower’s technology helps us offer a relevant solution that meets the needs of today’s tech-savvy consumers, enabling them to report a power outage quickly and easily and verify the power is back on before line crews leave the area.”
For more information about CRC and its outage texting service, contact CRC at 507.437.2400 or info@crc.coop or TextPower at 818-222-8600 or sales@textpower.com.
About CRC
CRC is a nationwide, cooperatively owned and operated, 24/7 contact center and central station. Founded in 1992, CRC has steadily increased the size and scope of its operation with offices currently in Austin, Minn., Dunlap, Tenn., and Abilene, Texas. CRC serves over 280 members and associate members in 40 states, representing 4.3 million consumers. Visit CRC on the web at www.crc.coop.
About TextPower, Inc.
TextPower, Inc. provides alerts and authentication solutions to a variety of industries worldwide using text messaging (SMS). The company's software and text messaging services allow companies to use texting to enhance their revenues, decrease costs and improve customer service. TextPower's authentication product, TextKey™, replaces the token or security fob previously needed to verify the identity of online users for password-protected applications. TextPower’s mission-critical infrastructure employs geo-redundancy for the industry’s highest reliability, providing delivery to virtual every cell phone in the United States and connections to most recognized wireless operators around the world. Visit http://www.TextPower.com, email Info@TextPower.com or call 888.818.1808 for more information.
# # #
For more information contact:
Dan Chmielewski
Madison Alexander PR
714-832-8716
dchm@madisonalexanderpr.com
… more…E Source White Paper: The What, Why, and How of Customer Experience Management White Paper - Date: May 15, 2012 |
The concept of customer experience management (CEM) is simple, but understanding, measuring, and enhancing CEM can be difficult. Utilities across North America are challenged with finding ways to make their customers’ experience a positive one—from redesigning the customer bill to increasing first contact resolution and adopting consistent self-service methods across all contact channels. We examine what CEM is, why it’s important for utilities, and how you can start implementing it within your
organization. To download the white paper, go to www.esource.com/Customer_Experience_Management_Excerpt.
Public Relations Contacts
Wendy Bloechle, Vice President of Marketing, E Source
wendy_bloechle@esource.com
303-345-9158… more…Peninsula Light Company Selects SmartGridCIS for Prepay Press Release - Date: April 02, 2012 |
Gig Harbor, Washington – SmartGridCIS, an emerging leader in the field of AMI enabled prepay and time-of-use billing and CIS solutions for utility companies, announced today that Peninsula Light Company (PenLight) has chosen SmartGridCIS to support its residential prepay business.
PenLight wanted a flexible technology solution that could meet their unique requirements for an Advance Pay, or Prepay electricity offering that will ultimately serve as a platform for a broader energy efficien
cy initiative in the future. They plan to market this to residential customers interested in an alternative to traditional post-pay billing, and see SmartGridCIS as a solution partner that will enable this success. “We selected SmartGridCIS as much for their willingness to meet our unique requirements, as for their robust feature set,” said Jonathan White, Manager of Member Services for PenLight. “We can already tell they are team players.”
SmartGridCIS offers a low risk, low cost opportunity to implement a prepay energy program. In addition to multiple deployment options, from stand-alone to a fully integrated solution that exchanges data with legacy billing/CIS systems, they provide a technology platform that easily integrates with other energy solutions. “We know that cooperatives are trying to offer creative energy programs to their members, but concerned with passing through costs,” states John Bastian, President for SmartGridCIS. “So our intent is to enable maximum flexibility, a rapidly deployable platform, and a very attractive price point.”
About SmartGridCIS
SmartGridCIS (www.SmartGridCIS.com) is a leading provider of prepaid utility billing and CIS solutions designed specifically for regulated utilities, cooperatives, municipalities and deregulated retail energy companies utilizing smart metering infrastructure. SmartGridCIS provides their clients with a powerful, integrated enterprise platform that includes innovative secure web-based software, providing true integration to the smart grid via leading MDM and AMI platforms. SmartGridCIS is privately owned and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information, call 1-866-678-1110.
About Peninsula Light Company
Peninsula Light Company is a member owned cooperative located in Gig Harbor, WA and is a
full requirement utility of the Bonneville Power Administration. The utility began in 1925. Since then, the cooperative has grown to be the second largest cooperative in the Northwest, with 26,000 members and serving over 31,000 meters on the Gig Harbor and Key Peninsulas. The utility provides electric power and water services.
… more…SAIC Awarded Contract To Design Academic Building For The Department Of Defense Press Release - Date: March 28, 2012 |
(McLean, Va.) April 11, 2012 – Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) [NYSE: SAI] announced today that its wholly-owned subsidiary, SAIC Energy, Environment & Infrastructure, LLC, was awarded a prime contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) – Mobile District to provide architectural and engineering services for the design of the Joint Special Operations University (JSOU) at MacDill Air Force Base (AFB). The single award firm fixed price contract has a two year period o
f performance. The design work will be performed primarily by SAIC’s Oklahoma City, Okla. office.
The USACE provides vital public engineering services in peace and war to strengthen the nation’s security, energize the economy, and reduce risks from disasters. Co-located with the U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill AFB, JSOU is the designated agency within the U.S. Special Operations Command to conduct joint education. They are tasked with providing relevant, realistic, leading-edge education opportunities to military and civilian special operations forces personnel around the world.
Under the contract, SAIC will provide architectural and engineering design services for the state-of-the-art 90,000 square foot JSOU facility that employs advanced classroom technology systems. The building will feature one auditorium, two lecture halls, a library, classrooms and seminar rooms, faculty and staff offices spaces, media development areas, conference rooms, and student break/holding areas.
“SAIC specializes in designing technology-rich buildings that accommodate blended teaching approaches, including video-conferences, smart boards, tele-presence, and other innovative learning management systems,” said Ron Reid, SAIC design project manager.
“We look forward to providing the USACE-Mobile District with architectural and engineering design services for the construction of the Joint Special Operations University at MacDill Air Force Base,” said JT Grumski, SAIC senior vice president and business unit general manager.
About SAIC
SAIC is a FORTUNE 500® scientific, engineering, and technology applications company that uses its deep domain knowledge to solve problems of vital importance to the nation and the world, in national security, energy and the environment, critical infrastructure, and health. The Company’s approximately 41,000 employees serve customers in the U.S. Department of Defense, the intelligence community, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, other U.S. Government civil agencies and selected commercial markets. Headquartered in McLean, Va., SAIC had annual revenues of approximately $10.6 billion for its fiscal year ended January 31, 2012. For more information, visit SAIC: From Science to Solutions®… more…Industry Insights from Baker Tilly White Paper - Date: February 03, 2012 |
Regulatory accounting and GASB 62 applications
(with specific example for contributions in aid of construction)
Russell Hissom, CPA, Partner
January 2012
With the issuance of Government Accounting Standards Board (GASB) Statement 62, utilities required to follow governmental accounting standards will no longer be allowed to follow any Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) guidance, including that for regulatory accounting (FAS 71/ASC 980). GASB 62 Codification of Accounting
and Financial Reporting Guidance Contained in Pre-November 30, 1989 FASB and AICPA Pronouncements is effective for financial statements for periods beginning after December 15, 2011.
This article explores the answers to some of the allowable uses of regulatory accounting under GASB 62.
FAS 71/ASC 980 lives on in GASB 62
FAS 71/ASC 980—Accounting for the Effects of Certain Types of Regulation
ASC 980 is the accounting tool used by public utilities where strictly following GASB does not necessarily meet their business model and the intent of certain accounting transactions that will benefit future periods or be charged against future periods. This is also the manner in which public utilities recover their costs through rates charged to their ratepayers, make their operating benchmarks comparable to their investor-owned peer utilities, and also match their accounting to utility industry standards.
GASB 62 has codified ASC 980 in a form that will allow public utilities a seamless transition without change to their current application of regulatory accounting under ASC 980. GASB 62 discusses using these regulated accounting rules in paragraphs 476–500 of the standard.
Regulated accounting under GASB 62
GASB 62 uses the term “Regulated Operations,” and discusses regulated accounting rules under paragraphs 476–500 of the standard.
Regulated accounting defined
The standard states that regulated accounting rules … “may be applied to business type activities that have regulated operations that meet all of the following criteria:
1. The regulated business-type activity’s rates for regulated services provided to its customers are established by, or are subject to approval by, an independent, third-party regulator or by its own governing board empowered by statute or contract to establish rates that bind customers;
2. The regulated rates are designed to recover the specific regulated business-type activity’s costs of providing the regulated services, and;
3. In view of the demand for the regulated services or products and the level of competition, direct and indirect, it is reasonable to assume that rates set at levels that will recover the regulated business-type activity’s costs can be charged to and collected from customers. This criterion requires consideration of anticipated changes in levels of demand or competition during the recovery period for any capitalized costs.”
These are substantially the current rules followed under ASC 980.
Application of ASC 980 rules under GASB 62
GASB 62 goes on to discuss how regulators may adjust rates for cost or revenue deferrals and the related accounting considerations that will be in play, depending on those regulator actions. Remember, for most public utilities the regulator is the city council or utility governing board.
The standard states that, “Rate actions of a regulator can provide a business-type activity with reasonable assurance of the existence of an asset. A regulated business-type activity should capitalize all or part of an incurred cost (that otherwise would be charged to expense) if both of the following criteria are met:
a. It is probable that future revenue in an amount at least equal to the capitalized cost will result from inclusion of that cost in allowable costs for rate-making purposes, and;
b. Based on available evidence, the future revenue will be provided to permit recovery of the previously incurred cost rather than to provide for expected levels of similar future costs. If the revenue will be provided through an automatic rate-adjustment clause, this criterion requires that the regulator’s intent clearly be to permit recovery of the previously incurred cost.”
Finally, the standard provides for return of revenues to customers, stating that, “A regulator can require that a gain or other reduction of net allowable costs be given to customers over future periods. That would be accomplished, for rate-making purposes, by amortizing the gain or other reduction of net allowable costs over those future periods and reducing rates to reduce revenues in approximately the amount of the amortization. If a gain or other reduction of net allowable costs is to be amortized over future periods for rate-making purposes, the regulated business-type activity should not recognize that gain or other reduction of net allowable costs in the current period. Instead, it should be deferred for future reductions of charges to customers that are expected to result.”
Standard uses of regulatory accounting
Again, “intent” is the key element in the use of regulatory deferrals (i.e., how will we recover these costs from our ratepayers or defer revenue recognition to future periods to mitigate rate impacts). Typical uses of regulatory assets and liabilities include:
Regulatory assets
Extraordinary maintenance costs such as planned unit outages, weather damage, or other unforeseen events
Premature losses on asset retirements
Decommissioning of generating units
Future recoverable costs (i.e., the difference between depreciation and debt service on bond financed plant) used to smooth the earnings impact
Long-term deferred receivables
Deferred power costs to be recovered in the future
Mark-to-market derivative and investment losses
Advanced debt refunding losses
Regulatory liabilities
Rate stabilization (funded or unfunded)—the difference of earnings over bond coverage to be used in future periods to offset anticipated increases in power costs and other expenses
Deferred costs collected in rates now that will be expended in future periods—such as those for future maintenance projects or decommissioning expenses
Contributions in aid of construction
Use of regulatory accounting and contributions in aid of construction
The use of regulatory accounting is well suited for deferring recognition of contributions in aid of construction for utility plant additions.
Under GASB 33—Accounting and Reporting for Non-Exchange Transactions, utility plant received from customers or developers is required to be recognized as revenue in the period of the transaction. Under the utility business model this does not necessarily make sense, as the utility will record depreciation on these contributed assets in future periods, while recognizing the full revenue of the contribution in a single period.
The application of regulatory accounting in this instance allows the income impact of the transaction to be matched over the depreciable life of the contributed assets, resulting in an income impact of zero.
For example, let’s assume these events:
1. A subdivision developer constructs $1 million of utility infrastructure (services, mains, etc.) and turns this infrastructure over to the utility per the utility’s service territory rules. This infrastructure will be maintained and eventually replaced by the utility.
2.The useful life of this infrastructure is thirty years
The entries under two scenarios to record these events are as follows:
GASB 33 required method
1.Receipt of utility infrastructure—
Debit Utility Plant in Service $1,000,000
Credit Revenues $1,000,000
2. Record annual depreciation expense over thirty years
Debit Depreciation Expense $33,333
Credit Accumulated Depreciation $33,333
Using this method results in revenue recognition of $1 million in the year of the transaction, but recognition of the related expense over thirty years—violating the common accounting principle of matching.
Using regulatory accounting to reflect the impact of the transaction on utility income and rates
The impact above can be mitigated through the use of regulatory accounting, as follows:
1. Receipt of utility infrastructure—
Debit Utility Plant in Service $1,000,000
Credit Deferred Regulatory Liability $1,000,000
The regulatory liability is a balance sheet account
2. Record annual depreciation expense over thirty years
Debit Depreciation Expense $33,333
Credit Accumulated Depreciation $33,333
3. Record recognition of deferred revenue over thirty years
Debit Deferred Regulatory Liability $33,333
Credit Depreciation Expense $33,333
Using this method makes the annual impact to utility income zero—reflecting that the utility must recognize depreciation expense for a utility plant that it did not finance and which is offset by the contribution for
that infrastructure.
Replacement financing of that plant after thirty years when it is fully depreciated is a separate question from this accounting approach.
Other thoughts
As with ASC 980, Baker Tilly recommends that utilities document their cost or revenues for deferral and seek governing board approval for such items either through a blanket resolution for routine items, or through board action, passing resolutions for specific material items. Documentation should reflect the cost or revenues to be deferred, pertinent details of the transaction, and the intended rate recovery or revenue return period. Changes in any circumstances should be reflected in future accounting from the point of the change in circumstances.
Summary
GASB 62 Codification of Accounting and Financial Reporting Guidance Contained in Pre-November 30, 1989 FASB and AICPA Pronouncements appears to have addressed any concerns public utilities may have about their use of FASB pronouncements, especially ASC 980 for regulated accounting. While there will be a note needed in your utility’s financial statements about implementing GASB 62 (effective for periods beginning after December 15, 2011), there should be no change in your financial statements if you’re currently using ASC 980.
As always, we seek your input into practical application of the new statement. If you have comments or ideas, please respond to russ.hissom@bakertilly.com, or post your comments to our Utility Accounting Issues Forum on LinkedIn. For a link to the page, visit www. bakertilly.com/powerup.… more…energyOrbit Offers a Versatile Cloud Computing Solution to the DSM Sector Press Release - Date: May 16, 2011 |
SAN FRANCISCO – May 16, 2011 – energyOrbit, the leading cloud computing (
www.energy-orbit.com) company in the Demand Side Management sector, today announced the successful Implementation and roll out of energyOrbit at Santee Cooper, one of the country’s largest public utilities.
One of the leading utilities in the nation to promote and implement energy efficiency projects in its service territory, Santee Cooper u
ses energyOrbit to run its energy efficiency programs. With energyOrbit in place, Santee Cooper is poised to maximize energy savings and potentially offset the need for building more power generation capacity.
Santee Cooper’s traditional method for managing its energy efficiency programs was the use of a variety of paper forms, spreadsheets and multiple databases to track various costs savings. The installation and deployment of energyOrbit was timely for Santee’s Cooper’s new residential and commercial energy efficiency 2010 & 2011 program rollouts. energyOrbit enables Santee Cooper to quickly adapt to business and regulatory changes. Managers and staff members have complete visibility into the performance of their programs and are able to proactively implement adjustments as dictated by market acceptance levels and other key performance indicators.
“energyOrbit delivers power and flexibility for managing our residential and commercial energy efficiency programs and the energyOrbit team has proven to be a responsive and committed partner,” said John Steedly, Director Program Development of Santee Cooper.
With energyOrbit Santee Cooper is now able to:
• Support rapid setup, deployment and modification of programs and conservation measures by business users
• Streamline and automate project business processes and communications for the full project lifecycle – from initial outreach through payment and verification
• Extend current workflows and the configuration of validation rules for tracking complex processes
• Calculate savings and incentives for a wide variety of prescriptive and custom measures
• Enable users to quickly and easily generate high-impact reports and dashboards
• Provide secure, customized on-line access for different user roles, profiles, and hierarchies
• Collaborate with third-party program implementers
"Collaboration with our customers have been a key factor in the development and propagation of energyOrbit,” said Udi Merhav, Founder and CEO of crmOrbit, Inc, the developer of energyOrbit. Merhav also added that “there is no greater testimonial than receiving an endorsement from your customers on your product and implementation service. Santee Cooper has on several occasions graciously agreed to serve as a reference to several substantial opportunities in various parts of the country”.
About Santee Cooper
Santee Cooper is South Carolina’s state-owned electric and water utility, and the state’s largest power producer. The ultimate source of electricity for 2 million South Carolinians, Santee Cooper is dedicated to being the state’s leading resource for improving the quality of life for the people of South Carolina. For more information, visit www.santeecooper.com.
About energyOrbit
energyOrbit is the leading energy efficiency/DSM program and EE projects management cloud computing solution. Rapidly deployed and powered with a user-friendly customization engine, energyOrbit offers scalable measures libraries, wizard-driven reporting, EE Programs replication logic and advanced communication and marketing campaigns automation. energyOrbit seamlessly integrates trade ally and rate payers interfaces, as well as enterprise CRM. Powered on the salesforce.com cloud computing platform, energyOrbit is web-based, Software-as-a-Service solution, where hardware/infrastructure costs are eliminated.
For more information please email to information@energy-orbit.com
or call 866-628-8744 or visit www.energy-orbit.com
… more…City of Port Angeles teams up with Novinium for Third Year Press Release - Date: May 06, 2011 |
For the third consecutive year, the Port Angeles City Council has approved a contract, after requesting competitive bids, with Novinium of Federal Way, Wash., to provide cable rejuvenation services for the city’s electric department.
Many of the City's 30 miles of underground cables are more than 20 years old. Older cables have the potential of failing and causing unplanned outages. The sensible step is to rejuvenate these cables and extend their life; this will help Port Angeles and it
s residents continue to have reliable electric service for
many years to come at a fraction of the cost of replacing these older failure-prone cables.
Novinium will supply its Ultrinium® 732 rejuvenation fluid and employ the use of its unique Sustained Pressure Rejuvenation (SPR) method. The Novinium SPR process is the only one capable of extending the life of these older cables for 40 additional years and providing long-term reliable electric service. The
Ultrinium 732 fluid, combined with the SPR process, repairs the water damage in the cable, and also upgrades these old cables to like-new condition in only seven days. The SPR process seals the ends of each cable segment so that water cannot get into the cable strands in the future.
The rejuvenation project is anticipated to start in the spring of 2011 and will take about one or two months to complete this year’s work plan.
Electrical Engineering Manager Terry Dahlquist said, “We have had great success with cable injection over the last few years, applying it to our oldest and most failure prone cables. None of the cables have failed after being treated. The Novinium personnel have been very professional and have worked well with our
linemen. Their templates have made the process simple, and instructions to our crews have been excellent.”
Novinium was founded in 2003 in the Seattle area by some of the same people who conceived and commercialized the earlier generation of rejuvenation services. Novinium provides cable rejuvenation products and services to circuit owners and their service suppliers in the United States and around the
world. Novinium’s primary products are novel fluids, methods, and tools to inject stranded underground cable. The patented Novinium injection process rejuvenates and extends the reliable life of underground power cable up to 40 years. Novinium’s products address circuit owners’ infrastructure problems at a
fraction of the cost of existing methods, save energy, save natural resources, and reduce greenhouse gases by eliminating the need for additional production of aluminum and polymers for new cables. For more information visit www.novinium.com or contact Novinium at info@novinium.com or (206) 529-4828.… more…The Challenges Faced When Converting Solid Heavy Fuel Oil Fired Boilers To Bioma White Paper - Date: November 05, 2010 |
By: Thomas Stringfellow
Senior Consulting Engineer at Halcrow, Inc.
Introduction
In today’s world, biomass has become the golden word for Utilities, Municipalities and other industries that are examining ways to become carbon neutral or meeting Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) mandated by their State. However, converting existing boilers to biomass is not as simple as switching the fuel being burned in the boiler. There are impacts that need to be considered and addr
essed during the decision making process. These impacts will determine whether or not a boiler owner can convert their boiler to biomass and the following discussion provides some guidance in the decision making process.
Impacts
Firing biomass in boilers that were originally designed for coal and heavy fuel oil will have challenges for the boiler owner. First biomass usually contains higher moisture content than the other two fuels, second the ash chemistry of biomass is vastly different than the chemistry of coal and heavy oil ash. These differences alone will impact the boiler’s performance and overall operation of the boiler, if modifications are not performed.
Although the boiler is the main focus of this discussion, there will be other impacts to consider. These impacts will be on the fuel and ash handling systems, which may or may not require modification or replacement.
Halcrow analyzed the firing of biomass in the same size boilers designed to fire a sub-bituminous, a bituminous and a lignite coal. This analysis was also performed on a heavy oil or No. 6 oil fired boiler. In order to keep an apples to apples comparison all boiler conditions (steaming rate, steam temperature and pressure) were identical for each case.
Analytical Results
The results from the analyses show that firing biomass in an existing coal or heavy oil fired boiler will cause the boiler owner to make modifications to their boilers, or de-rate the boiler to lower steaming rates and or/conditions. The other option would be to dry the biomass to a 10% or less level. The table below shows the numeric results of our analyses.
Fuel Sub-Bituminous Bituminous Lignite Heavy Oil Biomass
MMBtu Output 500 500 500 500 500
MMBtu Input 588.5 565.3 601.7 572.2 623.9
Air Flow lb/hr 530,150 509,010 539,930 494,150 540,010
Flue Gas Flow lb/hr 596,140 549,610 617,950 525,700 630,480
Ash Flow lb/hr 3,140 4,560 8,000 300 8,060
Boiler Efficiency % 85.07 88.51 83.12 87.43 80.20
As expected, biomass and lignite performance are similar, yet the fouling and slagging indices for the biomass is higher than the lignite due to the amount of sodium and potassium in the biomass ash. In all cases, with the increased flue gas weight, the velocity will be higher in the convection pass if these boilers were converted to 100% biomass, without modifications.
So does this mean that boiler owners should not convert their boilers to burn biomass? Halcrow believes that the answer to that question is NO! Even though converting to biomass brings challenges and changes to the boiler, there are economic and environmental reasons and incentives to proceed with the fuel switching conversion.
The next questions are what do we do and how do we do it? The answer to these two questions and the possible solutions are discussed below.
First, if full load steaming conditions are not required the only change may be changing to a burner designed for biomass, adding strategically placed ash removal equipment (soot blowers) and operate the boiler with lower steaming conditions (de-rate). Second, if full load steaming conditions are required it may be necessary to add larger air and flue gas equipment (fans), opening the convection pass clear side tube spacing, replacing the burners and adding strategically placed ash removal equipment. Third, change the way the boiler is operated by installing overfire air and monitor the combustion process to mitigate the fouling and slagging conditions.
Conclusion
Every boiler is different and its design may hold potential for conversion. Boiler owners should employ qualified people to investigate converting to biomass and to provide them with an analysis that one, they can understand, two that they can use to make the optimum decision and finally put into their future planning for conversion. We believe this type of analysis is critical in the initial planning stages of any process of converting existing boilers to biomass.
… more…Sustainable Life Solutions helps utilities offer energy efficiency rebates Press Release - Date: October 14, 2010 |
Bolton, MA –10/14/10 – Sustainable Life Solutions LLC offers a turnkey program to help utility companies, municipal light departments, and energy efficiency providers offer incentives to their ratepayers to buy Smart Strip Power Strips. Sustainable Life Solutions is currently handling rebate programs throughout most of Massachusetts, and will soon be expanding to New York as well.
Bolton, MA October 14, 2010 -- Currently, Sustainable Life Solutions is supporting Smart Strip Power Strip incen
tive programs for all of the investor owned utilities in Massachusetts -- National Grid, NSTAR, Unitil, Western Massachusetts Electric Company, and the energy efficiency provider Cape Light Compact. In addition to working with the larger players, Sustainable Life Solutions is unique in providing their full suite of services to municipal electric departments as well. In Massachusetts, Georgetown Municipal Light Department has joined the ranks of Belmont Municipal Light Department, Braintree Electric Department, Hingham Municipal Lighting Plant, and Littleton Electric Light and Water Department in introducing their ratepayers to energy saving Smart Strip surge protector which helps eliminate wasted electricity.
According to Kevin Goddard, Customer Service Manager at Littleton Electric Light and Water Departments, “Sustainable Life Solutions has made implementing the Smart Strip Rebate Program easy by delivering the whole package, [including marketing and communications assistance]. Sustainable Life Solutions really has a turnkey solution and it’s been a great partnership.”
In addition to being the market leader in Massachusetts serving both public and municipal utilities, Sustainable Life Solutions LLC has been approved to offer incentives in New York. According to Sustainable Life Solutions’ President Laura Kischitz, “The Smart Strip program is very attractive to utilities and energy efficiency organizations that are trying to reach residents with easy ways to save energy. Each Smart Strip Surge Protector saves on average a minimum of $39.00 per year (according to the US Dept of Energy) and with the discounts and rebates available in Massachusetts, can cost as little as $15.95.”
About the Smart Strip Power Strip
Many homes consume electricity needlessly through “phantom energy drain” caused by printers, PC monitors, DVD players, VCRs, TVs, game stations, and other peripheral devices. These devices are also known as “energy vampires” because they continue to draw some power even when turned off. The Smart Strip power strip eliminates that problem. These uniquely designed surge protectors automatically shut off peripherals. When computers or TV are turned off, the Smart Strip shuts off all power to the peripheral devices. The Smart Strip even works when computers goes into hibernation or sleep mode; the power strip automatically stops all power to printers, speakers, monitors and other peripherals. Visit their site for more information about the Smart Strip Power Strip or for information about the energy efficient rebate programs for Massachusetts residents.
About Sustainable Life Solutions LLC
Established in 2009, Sustainable Life Solutions LLC is an innovative market leader offering information, products, and services, to help people make simple changes that will have a positive impact on reducing energy consumption one household at a time. For more information, visit www.sustainablelifesolutions.com.
- END –
… more…Utility Design Maturity Model Press Release - Date: October 12, 2010 |
ST. LOUIS, Sept. 1, 2010 – Spatial Network Solutions (SNS) is pleased to announce the release of a white paper titled Utility Design Maturity Model: A Tool for Understanding Design Improvement. This document is intended to be used as a tool for conceptually benchmarking your organization’s design processes and providing you with guidance for improvement of those processes. This white paper is available free of charge to the utility community.
The intended audience for this white paper is
utility engineering managers/directors, designers, planners, stakers, utility IT, and anyone else involved in the utility design process and related software. We hope that you find this model useful, and share your thoughts so that the model can be further developed and improved.
The idea of a maturity model is that every job can be improved by achieving key practices critical to that job. These key practices fall naturally into groups, which can be used to define maturity levels. These practices and levels provide a conceptual benchmark against which an organization can compare itself for improvement.
Utility Design Maturity Model: A Tool for Understanding Design Improvement is available in pdf format at http://www.spatialnet.net/resources.html
For paper copies contact Alan Duwa at alanduwa@spatialnet.net
… more…Utility Design Automation Press Release - Date: October 11, 2010 |
ST. LOUIS, Sept. 1, 2010 – Spatial Network Solutions (SNS) is pleased to announce the first in a series of white papers covering utility process and systems improvement/automation. These white papers deal with utility work processes and software engineering best practices for systems
implementation, while remaining vendor/product neutral. This series will be made available free of charge to the utility community.
The first document in the series, Automating Design for Utilities: Key Co
nsiderations and Success Factors, focuses on successful implementation of software automation for utility design/
staking work.
Automating Design for Utilities: Key Considerations and Success Factors is available in pdf format at http:www.spatialnet.net/resources.html
For paper copies contact Alan Duwa at alanduwa@spatialnet.net… more…Service Concepts Joins APPA - Brings Added Value Efficiency Programs Press Release - Date: August 09, 2010 |
Service Concepts, an Indiana based organzation created in 1999 by rural electric utilities, has joined the ranks of APPA as an Corporate Associate Member.
"We're excited about the opportunities we'll have to assist APPA members with tested and trusted energy efficiency ideas, new products and programs." stated Steve Thrash, Service Concepts CEO. "We've worked hard for over ten years now and grown to help hundreds of local utilities identify, evaluate and find best-in-class manufacturers o
f quality products and services. We have initiated or otherwise supported hundreds of energy related educational and value-added programs for the benefit of utility end-consumers. We'll now bring that experience and buying power to share in concert with APPA and it's municipal members across the U.S."
High quality street and security lighting, holiday lights and water conservation savers, weatherization kits and consumer oriented in-home monitoring and management devices are just a few of the programs offered to utilities and their local consumers by Service Concepts.
Steve added, "APPA is a tremendous resource for it's members and the industry at large. We welcome the opporruntiy to join forces for the benefit of member utilities and the local constituents and communities they serve."
… more…CoreTrace Announces Flexible Application Whitelisting Security Solution Press Release - Date: August 03, 2010 |
CoreTrace, the leading provider of secure and flexible application whitelisting solutions, announced today a powerful new version of its flagship product, BOUNCER™ 6.0. New functionality, including intuitive administration and application intelligence, positions CoreTrace at the forefront of application whitelisting innovation and offers enterprises an even easier to implement and maintain solution, leading to significant time and money savings.
"Despite application whitelisting's clear s
ecurity advantages over traditional approaches, some IT professionals have delayed adoption because of concerns around scalability and operational limitations," said Toney Jennings, president and CEO of CoreTrace. "BOUNCER has always been one of the most secure application whitelisting solutions. With version 6.0, BOUNCER has improved scalability and is now the most flexible solution too, including the industry's simplest approach to adding new applications with the most relevant application intelligence."
One marquee feature of this release is "application intelligence" including the new CoreTrace Software Intelligence (CSI) service. Administrators receive intelligence about installed and requested applications, including prevalence, usage, and "application assurance" information on both "known good" and "known bad" (malware) applications.
Another marquee feature of 6.0 is intuitive, transparent administration that is built upon CoreTrace's patent-pending Trusted Change technology. CoreTrace has added options for user privileges called "BlockQ™ and AllowQ™. When attempting to run an application that has not been previously approved or automatically authorized via other Trusted Change mechanisms, designated BlockQ users receive a notification that prompts them to provide a simple business justification for the application. Designated AllowQ users receive a similar notification, but they have the ability to temporarily run the application until IT can approve or deny adding it to the whitelist. These two new flexible user models facilitate easy installations and requests that drop right into a "queue" for administrators to approve or reject at will. Combined with a broad set of application intelligence tools, IT and security administrators can make more informed decisions and more easily manage the constantly changing application needs of an enterprise endpoint.
"Though whitelisting has long shown great potential, it may now be entering a new phase of maturity as leaders such as CoreTrace match its power to contain risk with the expanded ability to adapt to the realities of enterprise management," said Scott Crawford, Research Director for Enterprise Management Associates. "By taking the bull by the horns and integrating adaptive change control directly into BOUNCER, CoreTrace expands its leadership stake in defining trusted change for applications."
Additional features of BOUNCER 6.0 by CoreTrace also include:
* Advanced security — including memory protection, script controls, malware removal and self-defending endpoints.
* Improved deployment and scalability — shipping as a virtual appliance, and utilizing industry-standard architectural and open source components.
* Improved integration capabilities — addition of a client API to facilitate easier integrations into third party management systems.
BOUNCER 6.0 will ship in August 2010. Pricing starts at $35 per desktop.
About CoreTrace
CoreTrace® is the pioneer of client-based application whitelisting. The company's award-winning and patented high-security, easy-change BOUNCER solution is at the forefront of the movement in next-generation endpoint control and security solutions. Unlike other application whitelisting solutions that are simply lockdown technologies, BOUNCER's Trusted Change capability enables IT professionals to predefine multiple sources from which users can safely install applications and have them automatically added to the whitelist — all with minimal IT involvement. The result: full prevention of unauthorized applications, improved overall security, and lower total cost of ownership compared to alternative whitelisting and traditional blacklisting antivirus solutions. CoreTrace's customers include organizations in a wide variety of industries, such as energy, oil and gas, financial services, telecommunications, as well as government agencies.
Additional information may be found on the CoreTrace website and on WhiteSpace, the Application Whitelisting and Security Weblog.
… more…OSIsoft Announces Its Selection by AGL Energy for AMI Integration with SAP Press Release - Date: July 20, 2010 |
OSIsoft MDUS provides infrastructure for meter data collection, management and synchronization with SAP for Utilities
San Leandro, CA – July 20, 2010 – OSIsoft, LLC (
www.osisoft.com), the leader in real-time data infrastructure solutions, today announced it has been selected as the meter data unification and synchronization system (MDUS) for AGL Energy Limited (AGL).
AGL is Australia’s largest integrated rene
wable energy company with a wide range of renewable generation, serving more than three million customer accounts. In 2006, the Victorian Government mandated the deployment of advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) for all customers consuming less than 160 Megawatt Hours of electricity per year, meaning by the end of 2013 approximately 3.5 million AMI meters will be deployed across this service territory. To meet the requirements, AGL’s retail business recognized the need to efficiently manage the increased meter data requirements and ensure high performance integration with its core SAP retail customer information systems.
OSIsoft, LLC will deliver the real-time infrastructure for AGL’s advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). The OSIsoft MDUS product will provide the data capture and historical repository for meter data and the integration with SAP for Utilities.
OSIsoft was selected based on a history of delivering scalable technology, the flexibility of the PI System infrastructure, and its SAP partnership. AGL plans to go live with OSIsoft MDUS in September 2011, and the system could grow to 5 million meters by 2014 as new service territories deploy AMI meters.
“OSIsoft MDUS is a good choice due to the organization’s demonstrated capability in managing large volumes of real-time data in other industries, and a number of significantly larger international energy companies have made similar decisions,” said Owen Coppage, CIO, AGL.
“OSIsoft has been a leader in providing real-time infrastructure for the smart grid,” said Ron Kolz, senior vice president of Sales & Business Development of OSIsoft. “The OSIsoft MDUS product uses OSIsoft technology to provide a robust infrastructure for meter data collection and integration with the SAP back office functions.”
About OSIsoft, LLC
OSIsoft (www.osisoft.com) delivers the PI System, the industry standard in enterprise infrastructure, for management of real-time data and events. With installations in 107 countries spanning the globe, the OSIsoft PI System is used in manufacturing, energy, utilities, life sciences, data centers, facilities, and the process industries. This global installed base relies upon the OSIsoft PI System to safeguard data and deliver enterprise-wide visibility into operational, manufacturing and business data. The PI System enables users to manage assets, mitigate risks, comply with regulations, improve processes, drive innovation, make business decisions in real time, and to identify competitive business and market opportunities.
Founded in 1980, OSIsoft, LLC is headquartered in San Leandro, CA, with operations worldwide and is privately held. Learn more about OSIsoft and the PI System at www.osisoft.com.
Editorial contact
Larry Keefe
OSIsoft
585.721.2233
lkeefe@osisoft.com
© 2010 OSIsoft, LLC. All rights reserved. OSIsoft, LLC and the OSIsoft logo are registered trademarks of OSIsoft LLC in the United States and other countries. SAP and all SAP logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
… more…Milsoft and Cooperative Response Center (CRC): Increasing Customer Satisfaction! Press Release - Date: July 09, 2010 |
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Steve Collier, VP of Business Development
Milsoft Utility Solutions
800.344.5647
info@milsoft.comwww.milsoft.comABILENE, Texas – June 3, 2010 — Milsoft and CRC announced today a unique opportunity to drastically improve service levels for their joint customers. CRC is now offering Milsoft IVR customers the option to
include “opt out” live answer services. Additionally, CRC will provide enhanced dispatching services using Milsoft’s DisSPatch® Outage Management System. “Milsoft is very, very excited that CRC is now offering dispatch services using DisSPatch for our joint clients. The ability to have live answer services plus the level of data and detail in dispatching that DisSPatch provides, is really a world class offering. The utility customer enjoys a great experience during a difficult event (power outage), the CRC dispatcher can provide linemen or service personnel immediate details regarding point of failure and location thereby expediting the restoration, and lastly, the use of DisSPatch by CRC dispatchers actively maintains all data for utility reporting indices”, said Ed Carlson, Executive Vice President, Sales and IVR, Milsoft Utility Solutions.
”CRC’s offering of “live answer opt out” services for Milsoft IVR/CRC joint customers is also a very exciting opportunity to increase customer service levels. Through this offering, CRC has the ability to conclude unresolved calls or handle sensitive interactions like customers who have been disconnected for non-pay,” Carlson added.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to partner with Milsoft, a well known industry leader, to offer better solutions and service to our joint customers. This synergy with Milsoft will be an important step in CRC’s efforts to improve service levels on behalf of our shared customers”, stated Chris Holt, Chief Operating Officer of CRC. Holt added, “We need to look at establishing partnerships with leading edge companies such as Milsoft to better serve the industry and help our joint clients navigate ways to positively impact their bottom line and improve the overall customer experience. By offering DisSPatch and live answer opt out service, our joint clients can spend more time focusing on the challenges ahead with the knowledge that their customers are being taken care of by two industry leaders.”
About Milsoft Utility Solutions, Inc.
Milsoft has provided powerful software solutions for power system professionals in over 1,000 rural electric cooperatives, municipalities, educational institutions and consultant offices in the United States and abroad. Milsoft offers a suite of software solutions including Engineering Analysis, Outage Management, Integrated Voice Response, Geospatial Information Systems and Field Engineering to optimize utility performance and efficiency. Milsoft has developed an outstanding reputation for delivering quality products, services and support to the electric utility industry for over two decades and continues to thrive on product innovation and superior customer support. To learn more, start here: www.milsoft.com
About CRC
CRC is a nationwide, cooperatively owned and operated, 24/7 contact center and central station. Founded in 1992, CRC has steadily increased the size and scope of its operation with offices in Austin, Minn., and Dunlap, Tenn. CRC serves 253 members and associate members in 37 states, representing 3.3 million consumers. For more information, contact
Julie Schramek, Corporate Communications Manager at 507-437-2304 or email at julieschramek@crc.coop.… more…
The article is a guide for the utilities industry to build a strong social media strategy and how utilities can optimize their customer interactions by leveraging the social channel. Read More