npower (Worcester, England), one of the United Kingdom's largest retail energy companies, has successfully implemented SPL WorldGroup's (London) customer management application. Meeting an aggressive six-month timetable for implementation, npower is now able to provide its new gas and electricity customers with a single bill for both energy products.

As a result of the de-merger of National Power in 1998 and the integration of several subsequent acquisitions, Innogy, a U.K. FTSE Top 100 company, was formed. Innogy has been quick to exploit opportunities in the newly re-regulated U.K. market. It formed npower with a specific purpose of pursuing an aggressive vertical integration strategy that focuses on commercial and industrial (C&I) and residential retail markets. Ultimately, npower will provide all customers with combined electricity and gas bills and, at a later stage, the ability to receive their telephone charges on the same bill.

An independent big five consultancy that worked with npower to help manage its transition to a competitive energy services company recommended SPL's customer management solution to meet this commitment. In March 2000, SPL and npower began a three-month proof-of-concept project for its dual-billing functionality. Following that successful trial, npower selected the SPL WorldGroup software as its customer management platform.

npower has expanded through organic growth and the acquisition of four companies over the last 18 months. It was important for the company to develop a core customer management platform that was flexible enough to accommodate its changing product portfolio as well as adjust to accommodate its expanding customer base. Subsequent phases of the project ran through January 2002, bringing 500,000 small and medium-sized enterprise customers on board and migrating the company's current seven-million retail customer base to the SPL product.
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