Utilities Discuss Benchmarking Cost Optimization at EUCG Fall Meeting
30 10월 2009 - 2:04AM
PR Newswire (US)
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The economic recession is
impacting many facets of electric utility operations, including how
to best benchmark performance for the lowest incremental cost,
mused industry professionals at EUCG's fall workshop in San Diego
this month. EUCG, a global association of energy and electric
utility professionals, meets semiannually to discuss current and
emerging industry issues, share best practices and exchange data
for benchmarking purposes. The association is in its 36th year of
existence. "This recession has wiped out huge swaths of industrial
load for many of our member utilities," reported EUCG President
Mark Derry of Exelon (NYSE: EXC). "Revenues are down almost across
the board, which puts pressure on each utility to reduce costs
where they can." However, Derry added that budgets devoted to
benchmarking activities are being optimized by relying more heavily
on not-for-profit, industry associations such as EUCG for
benchmarking and performance-related information. "Our membership
costs are a fraction of what private consultancies often charge for
similar data. In essence, many of our members are hunkering down
and reviewing enterprise benchmarking costs, and they're feeling
pretty good about the value EUCG is providing their companies,"
said Derry. John Fielder, president of Southern California Edison
(NYSE:EIX), provided the keynote address, which focused on SCE's
challenges and successes, including its ability to control costs.
"SCE is investing in new technologies and infrastructure projects
to support California's growing renewable energy leadership while
continuing to provide safe and reliable service to customers," said
Fielder. "SCE plans to invest about $20 billion over the next five
years in new transmission, distribution and generation projects.
We're working closely with industry organizations such as EUCG to
meet our performance objectives." The recession has increased
interest in EUCG membership, reported George W. Sharp, EUCG vice
president from American Electric Power (NYSE:AEP). "We've added new
members to our family during a period of significant financial
stress," said Sharp. "We're fortunate that our nonprofit,
industry-focused business model is relevant throughout the entire
economic cycle, and especially during deep downturns such as we're
experiencing now." EUCG's industry committees - including Nuclear,
Fossil, Hydroelectric, Transmission and Distribution, and
Information Technology committees - discussed benchmarking database
enhancements with their respective memberships. "The Nuclear
Integrated Information Database, or NIID, has been enhanced year
after year based on member feedback," remarked David Ward, Nuclear
Committee chair from Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK). "We rolled out
significant enhancements that make our database the most
comprehensive and powerful benchmarking database in the industry."
Kelly McNair, Information Technology Committee chair from Oncor
Electric Delivery, said his committee is focusing on the impact
that "smart grid" and new industry security standards will have on
utility IT departments. "Information technology is rapidly changing
in the electric utility industry, and our members are investigating
issues like enterprise information systems rationalization, network
security and best practices that surround the implementation of
each." Fossil Committee Chair Robert Dool reported that cost
control, particularly capital optimization, remains an important
topic for his committee. "We wrapped up successful and interesting
analyses that centered on the cost of scrubbers and other
environmental controls, optimum staffing levels for power plants,
and the process for grouping and selecting in rank order capital
projects that give the most return to a utility." The Transmission
and Distribution Committee, by comparison, focused its energies on
discussing the impact on both disruptive and common utility
technologies. "We are discussing ways to measure the success of
smart grid programs and how to enhance data collection, analysis
and reporting of not only smart grid, but also renewable energy
programs and the impact of power outages on all utility
stakeholders," said Joseph Martucci, committee chair from PSEG
(NYSE:PEG). Database enhancements, data collection and analysis and
overall plant performance were the overriding topics of interest
for the Hydroelectric Committee, said Jim Miller, committee chair
from TVA. "Our benchmarking database is an extremely valuable asset
for our members, and we practice a policy of continuous improvement
to keep it cutting-edge." EUCG's newest, and equally promising,
industry committee is its recently sanctioned Safety Committee,
which is chaired by AEP's Ken McCullough. "The EUCG Safety
Committee is off to a fast start with a successful fall workshop
that included the finalization of our charter and discussions
around standard health and safety metrics we plan to track and
report for the benefit of our members," said McCullough. "We
discussed recent health and safety issues that our members are
facing, and shared best practices that help each member take a new
and perhaps more holistic perspective about health and safety back
to their companies. The value and potential of this forum are
tremendous. We encourage all utilities who are not currently
members of our committee to consider joining to take advantage of
this unique opportunity to take safety to a new level in our
industry." EUCG will hold its 2010 spring workshop in St. Louis,
Mo., April 11-14. All energy professionals are invited. Interested
parties should visit the EUCG website at http://www.eucg.org/ for
more information about the organization's next event. About EUCG:
EUCG is a global nonprofit association of energy and electric
utility professionals who discuss current and emerging industry
issues, share best practices and exchange data for benchmarking
purposes. The 36-year-old association is organized into committees
that represent specific utility functions: Transmission and
Distribution (T&D), Fossil Plants, Hydroelectric Plants,
Nuclear Plants, Information Technology (IT) and Safety committees.
Members attend semiannual workshops that focus on strategic
planning, maintenance practices, operations management, outage
management and various other aspects of the electric utility
business. Membership is open to all utility companies and
professionals worldwide. Interested parties should contact Pat
Kovalesky, EUCG Executive Director, at 1-623-572-4140. Email: .
Website: http://www.eucg.org/ . DATASOURCE: EUCG CONTACT: George W.
Sharp, EUCG Vice President, 1-614-716-2791, Web Site:
http://www.eucg.org/
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