New Orleans-based Entergy Corp has decided to outsource most of its computer
operations to Science Applications International Corp with a clear-cut mandate
to reduce costs and automate the procurement process. Once the systems are in
place, Entergy will be able to reduce its procurement cycle as well as cut down
on inventory.
Hot summer days don’t tax the power generation capacity of the
Pittsburgh-based natural gas utility Equitable Resources Inc anymore. The use of
IT-enabled power management systems has ensured that the gas supply is
sufficient at all times, besides providing controls for the utility to predict
loads and the influence of temperature on them.
Tennessee Valley Authority’s operation in Chattanooga, Tennessee involves
working with customers who want to save on energy costs by working during times
when power is cheapest. The company uses its automated telephone system to
notify customers when it is necessary to cut back on power supplies during
emergencies. The phone system also notifies billing systems of any change in
charges due to curtailment.
What Can India Offer?
Consulting—both management as well as IT
Professional IT services—application maintenance and development of new applications
Products or customization of third-party products
BPO/ITeS—bill processing, customer contact center management
Engineering services—from SCADA and GIS to CAD/CAM
Utilities are also finding ways to use IT to work more closely with
customers. St Louis-based electric and gas utility Ameren Corp offers a Web
service called Amerenabacus that shows customers how they can get price breaks
if they don’t use energy during peak periods.
There is more interesting data from Nasscom’s market intelligence service
report... The utilities market in the US is estimated to have spent $16 billion
on IT services in 2001 and is expected to grow at the rate of 12% per annum till
2005.
Deregulation drives change Historically, the US utilities industry value chain comprised three
monopolistic elements. Power generation companies that were responsible for
operating the generation stations, transmission companies that maintained and
controlled transmission networks, and distribution majors that managed
distribution, metering and billing.
However,
new legislation is breaking down these natural monopolies. To begin with, power
generation is being liberalized. Third parties now have access to transmission
lines. And customers now have the freedom to choose their service provider.
These regulations are creating new entities such as independent system operators
(ISO), power exchanges (PX) and scheduling co-ordinators (SCs). Deregulation is
also radically transforming the roles of existing entities and the results are
evident. With several states on the West Coast—California, Texas, New Mexico,
Washington—already enacting restructured legislation, the de-regulation
process seems to be moving ahead in full swing. According to the Nasscom report
on the US utilities market, over 50% of US electric customers would have retail
choice by 2003, up from under 20% in 2000.
New IT requirements The Nasscom report suggests that in the wake of de-regulation, all
categories of utilities companies will have significantly new IT requirements.
The need for improving operational efficiency will first drive the power
generation companies to implement plant optimizers, geographic information
system (GIS), supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) and create asset
maps. These companies will also need to implement enterprise applications such
as enterprise asset management (EAM) and work management systems (WMS) to
streamline business processes. They will then need to integrate the EAM and WMS
to the plant optimizers, GIS and SCADA to create a shared plant information
network.
Similarly, power exchanges and exchange service providers will need to
implement front and back office systems for trading, risk management tools and
carry out web-enablement of key systems to participate in energy markets.
Utilities distribution companies, on the other hand, will need to invest in
systems for CRM, Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) and also for
billing and collection.
Opportunities for India These IT requirements at different utility companies translate into at least
three key near term opportunities for Indian companies," says Nasscom
vice-president (research and KM) Sunil Mehta.
What are Top Indian Firms Doing?
Competition in the utility space is already beginning to heat up and several prestigious utility players are already working with Indian players.
TCS recently won a well-publicized deal with United Utilities worth nearly $50 million
Infosys has been serving large companies such as Dynergy, Vivendi and Schlumberger across a wide range of service lines. They have developed an integrated oil trading system for an oil major, built a comprehensive customer service system for a North American utility and implemented Passport 8.0 as the work management system for a North American T&D entity
Wipro has been serving companies such as Energy.com, Transco and Npower on activities such as post merger regulatory compliance and implementing data warehousing solutions
Patni Computers has long standing relationships with Southern California Edison and AGL Resources and has helped automate special contract handling and implemented billing solutions for these and several other gas and water companies
Mehta explains that ERP related opportunities will come first. Indian
companies are already well positioned in integration and implementation of ERP
systems in traditional areas like financial accounting. In addition, by building
an understanding of generation plant operations, Indian firms can venture into
areas such as EAM and WMS. SAP, JD Edwards and Oracle are the leading
applications in this space. Second, Indian companies can perform
intra-enterprise and cross enterprise integration across generation,
transmission, distribution companies and traders. This will require skills in
middleware platforms such as TIBCO, MQ Series and Mercator. Third, Indian
companies need to build skills and capabilities in applications such as
Peace-Software, SAP-ISU-CCS, Lodestar and Orcom to implement billing systems and
integrate retailers’ systems with those of credit bureaus and banks.
Finally, there will also be small opportunities for companies that can build
skills in Altra, Solarc, Cell Net and Ketek to implement risk management and
plant optimization tools.
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