Improve Your Energy Data Infrastructure:

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1 Electric Gas Water Information collection, analysis, and application 2818 North Sullivan Road, Spokane, WA Tel Fax Improve Your Energy Data Infrastructure: Why data warehousing may be right for your organization June 2003

2 Market and Operational Realities Drive Energy Data Management Needs As electric and gas utilities move into the future, they are realizing that in order to better serve customers and operate in regulated and deregulated markets, they must improve management of customer meter data. The timing and magnitude of utility consumption (load) and it s uncertainty at any given time, is the largest cost driver for a distribution utility. In the near term, understanding load helps reduce unnecessary costs. In the longer term, managing load can set new profitability standards for the industry. In the past, customers were viewed as captive, their usage was treated as unchangeable in real time, and the smallest level of aggregation considered relevant was regional usage by rate classification. Accordingly, the only uses of meter data were for monthly level billing and occasional use by utility personnel doing long-term system growth planning and rate design. All users of the information were internal to the utility, the information was rarely used for real-time operation decision making, and customers generally did not have the right, much less the opportunity, to access their own consumption data. Silos of data and systems were then, and still are, the norm. While existing approaches met the old needs, meeting the challenges of new markets and changing realities requires significantly different technology. In virtually all cases, energy distribution, commodity suppliers, and customers do not have the necessary data collection and data management infrastructure in place. Creating this infrastructure represents a critical and valuable market opportunity. In addition to being a base for revenue processing, information about energy consumption is critical for commodity/asset management optimization. It should be treated accordingly and made readily available to meet business requirements promptly and reliably. -- Zarko Sumic, META Group Energy Information Strategies

3 Load data warehousing is an important emerging strategic initiative for utilities. Managing meter data as an asset requires an inventory to be kept (warehouse), requires a plan to maintain value (including accuracy, security and timeliness) and rewards asset owners that develop the asset by increasing access to the data and combining it with other data to maximize value. To participate in the changing markets, utilities and customers needs timely, accurate and detailed information on individual customers, and the ability to create flexible aggregations of customers that match time of day profiles, buying groups, delivery zones and distribution rate schedules. In meeting this need, Internet-based distribution of the information is the only practical means of responding to the needs of a dynamic and geographically dispersed group of users. Without exception, existing utility customer information systems are ill-suited to this task and customers themselves generally do not have their own capability. A successful energy data management system then will require these features: Collection of data from multiple sources. Over time, customer data will come from a variety of systems, and these systems will change in manner and timing that is typically out of the data manager s control. Internet-Based. Both in data collection and dissemination, the Internet is the only cost-effective means of accessing and distributing customer information in a timely and flexible way. Adaptability. The system will often exist within a mix of legacy and emerging systems, and customer needs will evolve rapidly. The system must adapt to a unique environment and be easily updated to provide new products and services. Integration. Future needs are difficult to anticipate, but will likely involve integrating information from many sources. Only a single, integrated system can respond quickly to new market demands.

4 A Sensible Solution It only seems reasonable that the multiple sources of load (meter) data within a utility should be centrally accessible for the many users who rely on that data for back office and front office operations. The solution? An energy data warehouse that creates a common repository for data collection, data warehousing and information distribution for utilities and energy service providers. A solution that offers an open, scalable, expandable, Web-based platform that can support multiple uses over time and one that leverages industry-standard technologies (relational database, OLAP, Excel, ASP). An efficient energy data warehouse should be easy to learn and use, quick to deploy and require minimal training on tools. An energy data warehouse must handle a large customer base and frequent interval data collection. It should find gaps in interval data and check for the validity of data found. Applications that provide access to data in real time, with alarm capabilities and bi-directional control of management systems and devices are also ideal. As is integrating complex issues like aggregating data across time zones, managing intervals across daylight savings time, and converting data from one energy unit to another. Besides streamlining data collection, an effective energy data warehouse impacts an organization s bottom line. One efficient way to curtail expenses is by reducing the time to gather, manipulate and reconcile energy data. The purpose is to create a common view of energy data and decrease data integration complexity. As a result, data managers can focus more on meeting the strategic needs in their organization, thereby providing value-added services while making end users self-sufficient. Successful energy companies will focus on interval meter data as an enterprise resource that provides value to both internal and external users. --Rick Nicholson, META Group Energy Information Strategies A single flexible energy data repository will:

5 Reduce errors and discrepancies from managing multiple systems Prepare for an environment where customer meter data needs to be shared with third parties such as ESPs, agencies or meter data management agents Gather data from multiple and varied legacy data collection systems Aggregate near real-time meter data Avoid future obsolescence with scalable architecture Provide flexible analytics and reporting capabilities Be optimized to collect time-series data Contain actual data reads and an audit trail of the VEE process An energy data warehouse may include a variety of components. For example, data marts allow for rapid report creation based on data within the warehouse and can be subject-oriented or aggregated to make them more relevant to users analysis needs. OLAP technology provides the infrastructure to build relationships between customer information systems, data warehousing, billing, distribution, planning and other systems. A validation, editing and estimation engine is the infrastructure that bridges and fills in any missing and incorrect data stemming from the primary meter reading system. This engine continuously reviews and repairs problem data, flags corrections and triggers manual review where the data cannot be repaired using standardized logic. Additional components include extraction, translating and loading tools that cooperate with existing legacy systems to create a comprehensive data repository for customers and systems. An energy data warehouse could also incorporate some or all of these elements: Gateways to acquire interval meter data An energy management platform to house the data A validation, editing and estimating engine to cleanse and estimate missing data Rate engine to model utility billing rates according to utility definitions Baseline calculator Forecasting engine Reporting and analysis tools A robust database technology that can aggregate data for data mining and ad-hoc analysis

6 Packaged solutions and applications provide energy data formatted in meaningful ways for a variety of users and skills. Common meter data management solution functions include: Collection system integration C&I data management Monthly and TOU data management Analytic repository A Multitude of Benefits There are a host of benefits in employing an energy data warehouse application for utilities, service providers, ISOs and RTOs. With a toolset designed to increase customer intimacy by offering web-based analytics on consumption data, end-use customers are better able to understand their energy expenses, curtailment activities and impact on the bottom line. Analysts can comprehend complex billing and rate comparisons while procurement specialists determine how much energy to purchase based on real usage and load shapes generated over time. Customer service associates can help utility customers understand their bills and energy usage, and how better to serve them. Other key user benefits incorporate effective energy-saving strategies for demand-side management, meter management, load research and distribution operations. ISOs and RTOs additionally can gain improved real-time visibility into energy demands for system planning and a uniform repository of customer data required for settlement purposes.

7 Other market participants can benefit from and drive the need for Internet-based energy data management. These needs include: Scheduling coordinators benefit from: Highly granular, rapidly updated load forecasts with flexible aggregation levels Single source for high quality settlement data Reduced imbalances resulting from market participants having better information about customer loads Power exchanges can increase liquidity because: Customer better understand their usage Can easily provide load information in standardized formats High quality usage data is available for all customers Power producers can gain value for their facilities by: More easily transacting directly with customers for both long- and short-term purchases Providing balancing capability directly to customers With all things considered, is an energy data warehouse appropriate for your organization? Typically, those considering installing such systems have: 1) Spent copious resources on patching, integrating and manipulating multiple source systems and do not want to maintain this integration or these systems in the future. A single repository of energy data upon which to build applications and file extracts is a must. 2) Multiple users or groups that need access to meter data (internal and external). Often, utilities must retrofit systems to communicate with other retailers, suppliers, billers, and meter readers, etc.

8 3) Diverse sources of energy data (MV-90, AMR, handheld meter reading devices and individual meter dialing). A consistent way of communicating with and retrieving data from multiple devices is essential. 4) Experienced issues with data quality and desire a solution where data can be cleaned and maintained in one central location. 5) Users demanding ad-hoc access to data to perform analysis and no mechanism available to do so. 6) Experienced large enterprise-wide software implementations (ERP, data warehouse) and do not want to build from scratch. 7) Outsourced IT departments and do not want to maintain applications. 8) Silos of data and systems that make combining data for analysis purposes nearly impossible and add support cost. 9) Individual departments seeking their own costly solutions when they realize they cannot get what they need from existing applications. Possible political issues result when owners of the data are reluctant to share it with other stakeholders. 10) Decided not to outsource key strategic information. They do not want an ASP/hosting model where they pay for access to their own data. 11) Realized the potential for errors and confusion, especially as the frequency of data collection and intervals increase.

9 2111 North Molter Road Liberty Lake, Washington U.S.A Tel Fax To determine if energy data warehousing is right for your organization, please visit Itron provides the market leading solution for meters, AMR, meter data collection from multiple sources, Internet-based energy information distribution and analysis tools and industrial strength interval data management. As the need for a more comprehensive meter data solution has become apparent, Itron has made a strategic commitment to bringing key technology to the solution for utility energy data management and is backed by significant customer pull into this area. Itron offers a fully integrated solution for data collection, meter data management and energy information distribution for energy distributors and marketers. Itron is pleased to provide this Energy Data Management report to you. Do you have further questions? Please call Itron Energy Management Solutions at WP-02 12/06