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.
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.
