Back to metering.com
Articles
Smart Grids: Strategic Planning and DevelopmentWithout strategic executive leadership and involvement of all departments, utilities embarking on Smart Grid projects risk near-term revenue loss, less-than-optimal service delivery, and long-term excessive IT costs that customers and communities may not tolerate. Executive leadership and top-down design of Smart Grid projects can ensure maximum benefits at minimum long-term costs.
Mobile Workforce Management and the Aging Utility WorkforceUtilities face the imminent retirement of many of the most dependable and experienced workers, hired from the large cohort of the population born immediately after World War II. Maintaining utility efficiency, reliability, and safety during this period of change is particularly challenging for those managing field service technicians, whose skills and depth of experience are difficult to duplicate among new hires. Read more on how utilities can use mobile workforce management applications to maintain and improve efficiency, reliability, and safety as substantial numbers of experienced field technicians and supervisors transition to retirement.
Smart Grid BasicsThe Smart Grid is a vision of a better electricity delivery infrastructure. Smart Grid implementations dramatically increase the quantity, quality and use of data available from advanced sensing, computing and communications hardware and software. As a result, they help utilities address two of today's most important business drivers: environmental concerns and power delivery constraints and disturbances.
Serve Prepaid Customers Without Prepayment MetersPrepayment for electric, gas, and water is a way of life for many countries - and for good reason. It helps customers budget their utility money and helps utilities avoid bad debt without the need to collect and track deposits. Prepayment has gained increased attention in the last several years. The primary reason is that customers switching from credit card billing to prepayment almost always reduce their electricity consumption.
Green BillingBilling has always been a mission-critical operation for utilities. For the utility with environmentally-aware customers, its importance is increasing. By combining environmental and financial information, "green billing" helps customers understand the long-term environmental effects of their personal energy and water use.
Strategic MeteringUtility missions are changing. Yesterday, they focused on delivery of reasonably priced energy and water. Tomorrow, they will encompass both supplies and the services that facilitate sustainable use. Long-term strategic technology planning, led from the top, is the only way to control the cost of change. When CEOs lead initiatives like AMI, the results help ease all stakeholders into energy and water realities.
Upgrading a Customer Care and Billing SystemYour customers are always changing. New business models. New facilities. New technologies. To keep pace, you will need to upgrade your customer care and billing system. Over the entire life of your customer care and billing system, upgrades are a significant cost. You can vastly reduce those costs, however, by choosing a product whose architecture is specifically designed for easy upgrades.
Smart Metering for Electric and Gas UtilitiesUtilities are seeking ways to keep electricity affordable despite rising demand that creates upward price pressures. Some jurisdictions have meter regulations that make it impractical to use a single meter for both gas and electricity. Removing those restrictions can increase the use of smart metering for gas and electric utilities. Oracle's staff of utility experts can provide extensive advice and guidance on smart metering pilots and projects.
Smart Metering for Water UtilitiesFor most water utilities, the most important smart metering benefit is the role it can play in conservation. Utilities can appropriately value some aspects of conservation, such as the effects on chemical use and equipment at water treatment plants. Oracle's staff of utility experts can provide extensive advice and guidance on smart metering pilots and projects.
