Utility Resource Management Blog

ARCOS loves it when a plan comes together but we love it even more when utilities unite under a common cause.

There is no group who is more giving and willing to go the extra mile than today’s union linemen and women. We see it time and time again when a hurricane blows into America’s coast. They put their lives and families on hold to help other families and communities in need, often hundreds of miles away from their own. They risk life and limb to serve others without a concern for overtime or the hazards they are about to face.

There is no other industry who has this dedication to resource sharing and the dispatch of mutual assistance convoys to the weather-stricken places where there are needed most. Business competition and trade secrets are put aside for the common good – and even though capes are not permitted on the job, we can still see them flapping on the backs of these heroes in defiance to the crushing strength of the hurricane wind.

Thank you. Thank you for making your job look easy. Thank you for your long hours, the time spent without your children, and the sacrifices your spouses make. Thank you for making our lives easier through your hard work and incredible diligence to restoration efforts. Thank you for being true first responders and facing the things you see with courage, strength and a commitment to making lives better as soon as possible.

ARCOS is proud to serve this industry and provide solutions that not only turn the power back on faster but make situations safer for the men and women doing the work.

Hurricanes like Dorian don’t stand a chance when we face them together.

Bring it on Mother Nature. We’re ready for you.

The ARCOS Sunday Read has talked before about defining the responsibilities of a utility company to their community. It’s more than restoring power. It’s about restoring lives. And it’s going on right now in Dayton, Oh.

After Memorial Day tornadoes ripped through the city, the Vectren Foundation – part of CenterPoint Energy – awarded Habitat for Humanity of Greater Dayton and Rebuilding Together Dayton $300,000 each toward their disaster recovery efforts. This money is designated for survivors without means to get their homes repaired.

Utilities care about their customers. There’s no doubt about it. ARCOS salutes the Vectren Foundation and CenterPoint Energy for being there for the communities they serve.

Recently, when Pugent Sound Engery’s CEO, Kimberly Harris, stepped down, the investor-owned utility hired, Mary Kipp, former president and CEO of El Paso Electric. The transition is marked as a rarity since a woman CEO is being replaced by another woman CEO, but another striking note is Kipp’s advocacy to combat climate change. As Kipp said in a recent Seattle Times article, “As a utility, we don’t set public policy, but we find the very best ways to comply with it.”

Sustainability is a major issue for utilities and an uphill business and economic struggle. Con Edison took it seriously and with forethought in 2013 when they began building a sustainability strategy. Through an EPRI report, they defined 20 issues they must face. Safety and health, cyber and physical security, energy reliability and resiliency are some of the essentials that need to be addressed.

ARCOS is helping by providing full situation awareness. Through our suite of products, utilities can gain data that can share how many crews are out there, where, and what teams may be closest to the problem. If the data is analyzed, work flows can be established that save on fuel costs, emissions and could answer other sustainability questions.

What does sustainability mean to your utility? Is it on your radar? Are you dedicated to addressing concerns about the future now?

How is your organization driving User Adoption of new technology, especially if it is for mobile workforce management? The key to eliminating a sea of questioning faces, fuzzy logic, and an adherence to old processes starts with a strategy. ARCOS has a few suggestions on how to make the transitional road to a different technology successful and a little less bumpy.

• Share an outline with the entire company of any changes way before deciding on an implementation date. This ensures that everyone from the receptionist to those traveling or in the field will know what’s coming.
• Tell them why. Define exactly why a certain piece of technology is being brought in, how it will impact what they do, and the benefits of having it. Buy-in is most successful when staff realize how it will make their life easier.
• Schedule a Q&A with all employees. Take note of anyone who is fearing the change or is having issues with someone moving their cheese. This is the time to share training, implementation dates, and when roll-out is expected to be completed.
• Train the employees who had the most problems accepting the incoming technology first. Give them special care and make the questioning group evangelists for the product by the time training is over. Consider allowing them to become the technology leads on the new system with the responsibility to train others.
• Provide a schedule of feedback and sharing. Let your team know that you care about how the new tech is working for them in their environments. Let them share any problems they are having – but always drill down to a solution during any discussion of dissatisfaction. Don’t let questions dangle. Listen to their input and really contemplate what they say could bring a resolution to their issues. Act upon what they share. Make the meetings happen weekly, then monthly and finally every 3 months.

User adoption can be tricky but if you have a plan in place, any problems that bubble to the surface won’t come as a surprise. You can create a smooth transition for every member of  your crew and team. Seamless user adoption is possible.

Learn more about ARCOS’ implementation methods here.

Seattle City Light has it right. Substations provide reliable power but why not use the energy hubs to add to a community’s life, character and aesthetic?

The Denny substation is a new take on what substations can be. It’s a 44,000 square foot, solar paneled architectural wonder that includes event spaces, public art and even has an off-leash dog park.

When you are building something for the city it serves, shaping the power structure to attract business and promote neighborhood togetherness is a great way to show you care and are serving your customers well. Bravo, Seattle City and Light! ARCOS salutes you!

What do you think the future of power utilities will be? Is it the responsibility of a utility to take on the role of being more than just a power hub in their communities?

Summer can be brutal. The demand for power can cause all kinds of fluctuations, critical failures, and customer frustration. We know as heat waves roll in, problems are inevitably going to pop up but are they more manageable than initially thought? Is technology allowing us to be more flexible in distribution and demand methods and taking care of hot spots?

Yes and Yes. The smart grid and smart meters have made a huge difference in how energy is consumed and administered. New software is even being developed to handle peak loads by analyzing the data from both and giving us control right where and when it’s needed. And it’s not just in the power industry- this technology is also being appropriated for the water and gas industries.

Looking forward, a system like this can be easily integrated with the ARCOS suite. A special kind of forecasting could be forged where an upcoming outage could be predicted and crews automatically called out and managed to fix it instantaneously. Can you already see the smiles on customers faces? Air conditioners stay on and everyone stays cool in more ways than one.

It’s very smart to be smart about our smart grids and meters.

The case for renewable energy has been made time and time again. And while wind has made strides in becoming a bigger contributor to the over-all energy landscape, other new ways of energy production must be found to supplement the world’s ever-growing consumption needs.

Enter: Renewable Natural Gas.

Yale Environment 360 takes a look at the whole process and discusses how business is starting to boom. It’s an amazing idea and one that could supplement current supply and demand issues. It’s something we take seriously at ARCOS as we look to expand our products and re-tool current ones to fit the wants of our customers. Can you image Resource Assist re-imagined to pull in BioGas farms as well as contractors? Regulation of gas flow would be a simple matter to maintain as farms are put on-line and off with a quick callout request.

What do you see as vital for the future of thew world’s energy needs? Can renewables scale up and be saviors to a planet in power fluctuation peril?

Wildfires continue to be an issue. Electric Utilities are facing the problem in innovative ways, trying to minimize costly damage, customer outages, and avoiding becoming the next PG&E. The latest idea is something that’s been used before but some want to see it implemented on a larger scale – Blackouts are being used to mitigate fire risk.

Being proactive means thinking outside of the box and while the jury is still out on whether or not a blackout can actually be a successful tool in stopping the spread of a wildfire, everything and anything must be considered.

While burying lines is a story that continues to be talked about in wildfire mitigation circles too, being able to respond quickly is equally as important. Check out ARCOS Incident Manager for more on how an ICS structure can called up and facilitated in minutes instead of an hour, two hours or more.

What are more ways that utilities can prevent, manage and mitigate wildfires?

The morning shuffle (or whatever time of day you start) can be rough for most people, even early birds. We’re often tired, unfocused, and disorganized. ARCOS has a few tips to help keep things in line, tamed and less stressful. 

1.    Keep It Mobile

After your good night’s sleep, rise and shine ready to take on the day ahead full of energy, extreme vigor and renewed focus! Okay, well at least get the coffee going and take a shower as your blurry eyes focus on what’s next. And how? Reach out for your mobile device. As you crunch into the cornflakes or brandish that bran muffin, you can quickly check for any surprises that happened overnight. Keep it to only checking messages and the weather. Too much information overload as you just get up can change your attitude and derail your day. Just know that ARCOS has your back and is ready to spring into action. In a crisis situation, you can use our mobile app but otherwise wait until you hit the office to fire up the best resource management tools available.  

2.    Discover if you are In or Out 

So you parked the truck and head into your workspace. All the lights are on but are they on everywhere? Check to see if there have been any outages overnight. Were crews dispatched by  Callout and Crew Manager to take care of any emergencies? Do you have an emergency now or is that just the caffeine kicking in and making you a bit paranoid? Assess your current situation and breathe. You got this with ARCOS’ help.

3. I know you’re out there 

After discovering if outages have played a number on your carefully laid out daily operation plans, it’s time to see if everyone is there. Has there been a call-off? Was there a sudden need for somebody to take PTO? Did an event cause members of your team to go on rest period? ARCOS  Crew Manager can help provide full situational awareness in milliseconds. If needed, you can rearrange assignments and put together new work teams on the fly. Callout can send the word out that you need support and in less time than it takes brew another pot of coffee, your crews will be assembled. In one of ARCOS’ latest callouts, it only took 20 minutes and 10 seconds to make 4,105 calls. 707 shifts were filled. If you need more outside help for a bigger job or development, use Resource Assist to bring contractors into the fold.  

These rituals will help make your morning shuffle more manageable. No one will ever see you sweat. Work can be something you look forward to when you have an ARCOS solution and the right tools in place. Crew manager, Callout and even Resource Assist are the wake-up call you need so you can have a better noon, afternoon and night. Schedule a demo of the whole ARCOS suite including Incident Manager. Learn more at https://www.arcos-inc.com/solutions/.