Pedernales Electric Cooperative
America’s Largest Electric Distribution Cooperative Drives Clear Operational Awareness for Outage Management
Pedernales Electric Cooperative (PEC) bridges disconnected information systems to power real-time operational dashboards and gain a clear view of outages, resources, and reliability.
Inspiration For Change
Disconnected Digital Ecosystem
Increasing digitization of the electric utility has led to information sprawl. PEC’s outage management team was burdened with managing siloed IT/OT systems and workflows, including Outage Management (OMS), SCADA, Crew Management, Advanced Metering (AMI), and Distribution Fault Anticipation (DFA).
Daily Reporting Complexity
Due in part to data siloes, the PEC operations team often lacked consistent visibility into the equipment and systems most likely to fail in the future and impact reliability metrics. Manual data wrangling and reporting also required time to compile and share updates for managers and supervisors to start their day.
Resource Information Bottlenecks
Like many electric providers, PEC experienced delays in adding resources where they are most needed during an event due to information bottlenecks and manual processes. Its operations and management teams wanted up to date, comparable metrics to identify high-performing and lagging areas of operation in normal conditions and during storms to optimize response times and efficiency.
Access to Reliability Metrics
Operations and management relied on manually compiled metrics for SAIDI/SAIFI/CAIDI and the number of outages, customers affected, consumer minutes that produce them. PEC wanted a centralized, self-service system of record for reliability calculations that is widely accessible, up to date, and allows users to drill down into outage details.
When my team saw Utility Insight in action at another large Texas utility and what it is capable of, we knew that this is how we are going to accomplish our goal of centralizing dispatch from 40 regional staff to 10 while streamlining outage response processes.
ARCOS Platform Benefits
Connecting the Field and Control Room
PEC partnered with ARCOS who deployed Utility Insight, a suite of cloud-based dashboards purpose built for electric transmission and distribution, to create a full view of operational data with powerful integrations that bring disconnected systems together. With Utility Insight control room and mobile tools, PEC takes full advantage of its existing investments while creating new opportunities for operational awareness and efficiency.
Poised for Success Each Morning
Utility Insight provides the PEC operations team a complete view to start their day. The Daily Report dashboard provides a detailed lookback on the previous day’s operations and outcomes – including availability, crews working, and outages – plus, quick ways to research and prioritize work.
Crew Key Performance Indicators
The Utility Insight Resource dashboard provides multiple crew KPIs and benchmarks PEC operations by district with staffing curves, ramp rates, and availability. It helps identify areas where improvement is needed and those utilizing best practices, e.g., peak driving speed.
Self-Service Reliability Reporting
Utility Insight automatically generates a running average for reliability metrics alongside other data trends for context, including meter growth by district. Using the Reliability dashboard, PEC operations can quickly drill down into root causes of an outage (e.g., animal outage, broken pole) with the ability to analyze major events and understand the impact with a time-lapse playback of outages as they occurred.
Company Background
An industry-recognized leader providing outstanding and reliable service, Pedernales Electric Cooperative was founded in 1938 by then-Congressman Lyndon B. Johnson. PEC is a member-owned electric cooperative serving 390,000 accounts across Central Texas with 24,510 miles of distribution lines.
Related Success Stories
- Case Study
One of the Nation’s Most Efficient Electric Utilities Restores Service Faster
- Case Study
Electric Utilities Restore Quickly and Safely After Devastating Hurricane
- Case Study
Minnesota’s Largest Electric Coop Looks to Manage Work & Crews in One Solution
