ed malemezian president, ed malemezian consulting, inc. amr is much more than amr o utage...

Ed MalemezianPresident, Ed Malemezian

Consulting, Inc.

AMR is Much More Than AMR

Outage Management, Reliability, Call Centers, and Asset Utilization

All Win Big

Metering America 2005 – Beyond AMR !!!

http://www.spintelligent.com/


Presentation Outline

●AMR Benefit Categories●Operational Savings●Supply Side & Resource Savings●New Revenue Opportunities

●The New Frontier●Outage Management●Care Center Support●Asset Optimization

●Show me the money !!


Quantifiable Benefits - Hard $$$

●Reduced expenses●Avoided losses●More effective planning ●Reduction in capital expenditures●New revenue opportunities


Intangible Benefits - Soft $$$

●Customer service benefits●Improved relations with regulators●Enhancement of your “brand” ●Strategic benefits

●We really won’t go into these today


Operational Savings

●Meter Reading●Estimated Bills●Meter accuracy - NT●Meter maintenance - NT●EMR equipment - NT●LP communications – NT●Load research - NT●Outage care center - NT●Outage dispatch - NT

●Outage investigation - NTH●Outage follow-up - NTH●Reliability indices - NTH●Care center support - NT●Current diversion●Connect/Disconnect - NTH●Collections – NTH●Revenue assurance - NTH●Usage / inactive acct - NTH

NT denotes Non-Traditional and NTH denotes NT Huge


Supply Side & Resource Savings

●Distribution Planning - NTH●Transmission Planning - NTH●Generation Expansion - NTH●Load Forecasting - NTH●Demand-Response – NTH●Asset Optimization - NTH


New Revenue Opportunities

●Power Quality Monitoring - NT●Power Outage Notification - NT●kW Demand Monitoring - NT●kW Threshold Alerts - NT●Load Profile Data Services


The New Frontier

●Outage Management & Reliability●Care Center Support●Asset Optimization


Outage Management (OM)

●Consists of four interrelated sub-systems●Outage Detection●Outage Extent Mapping●Outage Restoration Monitoring●Momentary Interruption Monitoring


Outage Management - cont

●Integrated with utility CIS, OMS, GIS & WMS systems

●Must be highly automated●Little operator intervention●Runs in real time●Effective filtering


Outage Detection

●Runs constantly in the background●Detect outages in near-real time●Detection goals

●Feeder & Line Section: less than 5 minutes with strategically placed meters

●Transformer & individual customers: less than 10 minutes to cover 100% of meters

●Must be reliable with few false positives


Outage Extent Mapping

●Once triggered, determines the extent of each outage

●Must know distribution network connectivity model and escalation rules

●Triggered by●AMR Outage Detection sub-system●Utility OMS, VRU, call center, or other related

systems

●Smart enough to identify separate outages in the same geographic vicinity vs. rolling up into a single, larger outage


Outage Restoration Monitoring

●Works very closely with Outage Extent Mapping

●Runs in near-real time to monitor the progress of outage restoration activity

●Verification that all customers have actually been restored●Before restoration crews leave the area●Before trouble ticket is closed out●Eliminates the “stragglers”●Proactive customer service


Restoration Monitoring - cont

●Eliminates the need to make follow-up phone calls●Manual / care center●Predictive dialers & associated systems

●Tremendous tool for follow-up on multi-day outages - hurricanes, ice storms, floods, etc.

●Particularly beneficial when people are not home●Vacation, summer home, mountain cabin, etc. ●Left to ride out the storm somewhere else

●Feeds data to reliability indicators


Momentary Interruption Monitoring

●Works closely with Outage Detection●Monitor Momentary Interruption counters in

each meter (blink / power down counter)●Monitoring frequency can be

●Near-real time - best●Historical - good

●Feed tickets into utility Work Management or Outage Management Systems

●Identify and reduce very annoying situations


Momentary Monitoring - cont

●Momentary interruption counts can be aggregated to isolate the specific area where the problem is occurring

●Troubleshooting can include more frequent monitoring (hourly) to isolate when the problem is occurring

●Eliminate momentary problems (tree branches) before they become permanent outages


OM - Operational Savings

●Care center call reduction - NT●AMR with real-time or near real-time

communication provides the means to notify the utility of outages and PQ problems before the customer feels the need to call the utility

●Calls to the care center will be reduced●Care center calls typically cost $1.00 to

$10.00 per call to handle


OM - Operational Savings - cont

●Trouble dispatch savings - NT●AMR with real-time or near real-time

communication provides the means to verify the problem to be real before generating a trouble ticket and sending it to the trouble dispatcher

●Calls handled by dispatch will be reduced●Tickets typically cost $0.50 to $10.00 per

call to handle



●Investigation savings - NTH●AMR with real-time or near real-time

communication provides the means to verify the problem to be real before sending a trouble ticket to the field for investigation

●Outages can be more precisely defined●Investigators can be sent directly to the

proper location to effect the most speedy (less costly) service restoration

●Trouble tickets typically cost $25 to $150 per ticket to investigate



●Restoration follow-up savings - NTH●AMR with real-time or near real-time

communication provides the means to verify that all customers are back in service before closing out the trouble ticket

●All customers can be checked to have power and the expected voltage before the troubleman or field crew leaves the area

●Done remotely vs. visiting each customer



●Restoration follow-up savings - cont●Typical savings of $5 to $10 per customer

affected●Stragglers, or those inadvertently

overlooked, will be eliminated●A very embarrassing situation will go away●Eliminates return visit at $25 to $150 per

ticket●Eliminates the expense of follow-up phone

calls


Power Quality

●Closely related to Outage Management

●Enabled by AMR system deployment●Tremendous impact on customer

satisfaction●Facilitates improvement in Reliability

Indicators reported to the utility commission


Power Quality - cont

●Power outage detection●Voltage monitoring

●High / low voltage●On demand checks - care center,

customer service & account managers●Sags & swells●Voltage imbalance

●Momentary interruptions●Harmonics


PQ - Operational Savings

●Investigation savings●Voltage and Power Quality problems

can be diagnosed remotely●Calls investigated in the field will be

reduced●Trouble tickets typically cost $25 to

$150 per ticket to investigate


PQ - New Revenue Opportunities

●Upon receipt of PQ and outage calls, utility can offer “premium” services●Digital message - Customer notification

via pager, cellphone, fax, and email, with the details of the problem

●Automated generation of trouble tickets

●CI customers willing to pay $25 to $100 per month per meter for these services

●Customers love it !!!!


Reliability Improvement

●Improvement in Reliability Indices - NTH●AMR with real-time or near real-time

communication provides the means to reduce outage duration by speeding up the whole outage detection, investigation and restoration process

●Reduced outage duration improves reliability indices such as SAIDI, CAIDI, ASAI, and others


Reliability Improvement - cont

●Reliability Indices - continued●Improved reliability indices save maintenance

and restoration $$$ - one can achieve reduced outage duration through brute force (more crews on duty, shotgun facility upgrades, etc.) or by faster outage detection, investigation & restoration

●Improved reliability indices can bring in big $$$ with Performance Based Rates and related regulatory programs


Care Center Support

●AMR systems and AMR data provide great assistance in solving customer problems●Historical usage data●Real-time information with the customer

on the phone●Meter reads – billing issues●Final reads, move-in, and move-out●Power on or off – inside trouble or utility

problem●Voltage – high, low, or flickering condition


Care Center - Historical Usage Data

●Provide daily or hourly usage data●Easily posted on the web

●Self-service for customer inquiries●Reduces call volume answering questions

●Data readily available for care center rep●Helps explain customer usage●Compares present usage against past

patterns●Visual tools help identify anomalies


Care Center - Real Time Data

●Meter reads with customer on the phone●Identify or refute meter reading errors●Explain billing questions●Allows the rep to talk with authority –

good data removes most uncertainty from the explanation

●Final bills can be generated “on the spot”●Eliminates the need to send someone to

field on customer move-in and move-out


Care Center - Real Time Data - cont

●Power Problems●Can tell instantly if utility power is

present at the meter or not●Identifies inside trouble or utility problem●Ask customer to check his breakers, etc.●Can eliminate a utility service call

●Some AMR meters provide accurate voltage measurement at the meter●High, low, or flickering voltage●Inside trouble or utility problem●Can eliminate a utility service call


Care Center - Operational Savings

●Care center call reduction●Calls to the care center will be reduced●Care center calls typically cost $1.00 to

$10.00 per call to handle

●Trips to the field will be reduced●Final / special meter reads typically cost

$25 to $75 per read to obtain●Crew / trouble visits typically cost $25 to

$150 per trip to investigate


Asset Optimization

●AMR systems can provide hourly load profile data on some or all customers

●With hourly load profile data on all the customers under a utility device you can determine the peak, coincident loading on that device●Distribution transformer●Line section (wire & fuse)●Recloser, Feeder, Substation, etc.


Asset Optimization - cont

●Knowledge of peak loading in real time ●Allows operation closer to maximum

capabilities●The margin of safety can often be reduced

- less uncertainty●Assists decision making for field switching

during emergencies●AMR can provide accurate inputs to VAR

management and related power optimization systems



●Knowledge of historical peak loading●Identifies underutilized utility devices

(transformers, wire, fuses, etc.), thereby extending their useful life

●Identifies overloaded utility devices – upgrade on regular time vs. burn-up

●Provides valuable input to the utility planners making system improvements

●Provides inputs into the utility design models used to engineer utility facilities



●Distribution Planning Savings ●Better data provides for better, more

effective planning, and better utilization of resources

●Policies, practices, standards, and models can be fine-tuned to better reflect reality

●Small improvement to the planning process results in huge savings

●An improvement of 1.0% on an annual distribution budget of $200M is $2.0M



●Transmission Planning Savings ●AMR systems allow the utility to collect

detailed consumption and demand data on every customer up through the transmission system

●Transmission planning processes and benefits are similar to those discussed for distribution

●An improvement of 1.0% on an annual transmission budget of $150M is $1.5M



●Generation Expansion Savings ●AMR systems allow the utility to collect

detailed consumption and demand data on every customer up through the generating system

●Generation expansion processes and benefits are similar to those discussed for distribution

●An improvement of 1.0% on an annual generation budget of $250M is $2.5M


Conclusions

●There are a myriad of benefits that bring value to AMR business cases – many are traditional – many are non-traditional

●Outage Management, Care Center Support, and Asset Optimization are part of AMR’s New Frontier

●The New Frontier is real: it is far beyond just talk and theory – FPL and a number of utilities are deriving these benefits today


Conclusions - continued

●A key “lesson learned” is to get all the other utility groups involved at the outset – traditional utility silos are bad

●Interface standards like MultiSpeak and IEC 61968 are helping with system integration issues – support them

●Don’t overlook the New Frontier just because it is hard to get people on board - it adds tremendous value (more than meter reading) ... Go for it !!!


Questions ????

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ed malemezian president, ed malemezian consulting, inc. amr is much more than amr o utage...

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