IT and the Utilities Industry (Philadelphia, Jan 2013)

BDPA State of the Chapter Meeting Presented by : Eloise N. Young

PGW VP & CIO

January 16, 2013

IT in the Utilities Industry

Exploration and Production Transportation Storage Distribution

Natural Gas - From Wellhead to Burner Tip

Source:www.northeastgas.org/aware/images/pipelines.jpg

PGW – In Brief

Largest Municipal LDC in US

1700 employees

Customer Base – 503,000

477,000 Residential

26,000 Comm./Indust./PHA/Municipal

503,000 Total Customers

Revenues ($000) – 2011 - $766,279

$ 749,268 Natural gas revenue

17,011 Other revenue

$ 766,279 Total revenue

Customer Support Programs

LIHEAP/Crisis – 79,000 Grants

City & State Grants – 1,150

Customer Assistance (CRP) – 76,235

Conservation Workshops

- 2,700 Homes/Year

- 50 Weatherization

Senior Citizen Discounts – 42,000

Customer Services

Gas Delivery – 74.5 Bcf (Firm & Transportation)

Parts & Labor Ins. Plan (PLP) – 57,822

Mission StatementA financially viable enterprise providing safe, reliable gas service.

Vision StatementIndustry leader in customer service and operational excellence.

IT Spend as a Percent of Revenue

2.8%Utilities

Business Challenges• Safety and Reliability• High Availability (24 x 7)• Cyber security• Customer Satisfaction• Operational Excellence• Consumerization• Aging Workforce – looming retirements• Funding

Customer Systems

Field Technologies

Office

Systems

From Smart Meters to Smart PhonesTechnology Designed to Meet Business Challenges

• Billing • Self-service via web & IVR• Lien delinquent residential

and commercial customers• Collections• Cash Remittance• Customer Choice

• Radios• Cellular phones• GPS• GIS• AIMS• Smart phones• Tablets• AMI• SCADA

•CMS

•IVR

•Predictive Dialer

•Workforce

Management

•Full Time Recording

•Virtu

al Hold

•Wallboards

Office

Systems

• Business Planning

• Metrics

• eHelpdesk

• Knowledge Mgmt.

• GEIR

• TLM

• SuccssFactor

• LMS

Infrastructure

• VM• Novell

• Oracle

• Cisco

Field Technologies Optimize Workers, Service and Assets

Flex Maps• ArcMap Desktop• Oracle geodatabase

Telogis OnTrack• Tracking 526 vehicles• SAAS

AIMS • .NET with Oracle

backend; MSMQ• Custom app• View/Modify order

Mobile Voice Communications

Cellular• 938 phones (100 iPhones)• 2012 BYOD program

Radio

FCC mandated move to narrow band by 1/1/2013

Legacy system unreliable – 20+ years old; no longer manufactured; spares not available– Investment required to mitigate current system roughly $5.2m

2012 City Radio System Backup to current communications Able to use in plants and hazardous situations Managed by larger, professional City staff Potential for future coordination with City emergency agencies

Meter Technologies

Advanced Meter Infrastructure• 2-way communications• Remote reads, turn-ons, shut offs • Real time energy usage data for consumer

Automatic Meter Reading• Drive-by meter reads

CollectorGas Meter with ERT

Office Systems

Innovation Blog - Employees submit suggestions, accumulate points and are eligible for cash awards.

Knowledge Center –Interview soon-to-retire employees

Metrics –Monitor and publish corporate stats