The No. 1 Thing Customers Want from Their Electric Utility is a safe, reliable supply of electricity. They want the lights to come on when they flip the switch.

Hydro Ottawa Limited (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) is consistently among the top industry performers in providing uninterrupted electricity service and restoring power quickly when outages do occur. In order to maintain this record of reliability for existing customers and serve new ones, Hydro Ottawa is continuously investing in upgrades to the distribution assets across its service area. In 2007, the electricity distribution company invested $41 million to maintain the reliability of its existing system and $24 million to ensure consistent service to growing communities.

While a reliable supply of electricity may be at the top of the list, quality service does not stop there. Customers also want timely and accurate information about issues that affect them and access to someone who can answer their questions and resolve problems that arise.

In 2007, Hydro Ottawa made several improvements to meet these expectations. It increased communication with customers about planned work in their neighborhood through community newspapers and letters delivered to their doors. It also improved communication with customers during service interruptions by creating a dedicated phone number for outages. As soon as new information becomes available, the recorded messages are updated to ensure customers have quick and easy access to the latest information. Live call agents are available 24/7, as well.

Hydro Ottawa also has sharpened its focus on resolving customer-service inquiries on the first call, becoming one of very few utilities in its country to track and target performance in this area. As a result, 74% of customer queries are resolved on the first contact and 93% are resolved within two calls.

BUILDING A TECHNOLOGY FOUNDATION

Hydro Ottawa continues to leverage new technologies to enhance service to its customers. Backed by strong leadership from its COO, Norm Fraser, and working with Intergraph Corp. (Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.), the completion of Hydro Ottawa's geographic information system (GIS) in 2007, the utility's most ambitious project to date, provides a technological foundation for continued customer-service enhancements. This project involved the conversion of more than 25 million data points to digital format, from paper records inherited from five predecessor utilities.

At the time of the merger, each of the five distinct utilities had its own data, drawings, recording system and standards. Some of the utilities were using digital mapping, while others used paper maps or no maps at all. Retrieving information presented challenges. The information was not accessible; it was there, but the effort to find it was overwhelming. Accessibility issues were magnified in light of the increasing number of experienced personnel nearing retirement and the potential loss of undocumented historical information.

After determining that existing methods used by the different utilities were not compatible or sustainable, Hydro Ottawa began to search for a single electronic solution that would combine distribution system data from each of the utilities. Hydro Ottawa selected Intergraph for this project, because it offered the only utility solution that truly integrated GIS with an outage management system (OMS).

In 2003, Hydro Ottawa began using Intergraph's InService suite of products for outage management and mobile workforce management. Then in 2004, Hydro Ottawa began implementing its GIS based on Intergraph's G/Technology product, to aggregate all of the utility's disparate data. Completed in 2007, Hydro Ottawa's GIS system now provides a comprehensive and interactive map of its distribution system, including information about the age and type of every component. The utility is now leveraging its GIS to enhance asset management, system design and numerous other functions within the company.

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE

In November 2007, Hydro Ottawa began filtering intelligence from its GIS into its OMS. As a result, the OMS is now able to identify, by premise, which customers are experiencing outages and the probable cause of the interruption, as well as recommend the course of action that should be taken to restore power. When fully integrated with the OMS and system-control technology, Hydro Ottawa will be able to provide a faster diagnosis and response to problems in the distribution system when they arise, and enhance communication with customers during outage events. Successful outage management and a reliable mobile workforce management system are important steps in improving communications and reducing restoration time during power outages. As a result, the implementation of these systems has translated into significant time and cost savings.

Financial strength is critical to Hydro Ottawa's long-term business objectives, including the creation of long-term value for its customers. The GIS project was a culmination of more than four years of hard work, at a cost of more than $15 million. However, the utility sees the ability to document all data in one easy-to-access location as an investment in its future. By providing instant access to detailed information about any Hydro Ottawa asset on the city's electricity grid, the operations staff is able to provide faster service to customers in any part of the service area. This is a monumental achievement for Hydro Ottawa, and it places the utility at the forefront of spatial technology in its sector.

ADVANCING PRODUCTIVITY

For Hydro Ottawa, Intergraph also automated a manual process the utility had been using to deliver customer disconnect and reconnect notices. Previously, Hydro Ottawa employees had to manually enter a field activity request in the customer information system in order to initiate the delivery of paper orders. With the new and more advanced system in place, these customer communications are now sent electronically. Automation has increased the productivity of this function by 29%, allowing for quicker responses and better service to customers.

These efforts and those of previous years are showing results. In 2007, Hydro Ottawa received awards in recognition for its commitment to delivering value. Hydro Ottawa ranked second nationally among medium-sized utilities and second among all utilities in Ontario in the J.D. Power and Associates 2007 Canadian Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction Study. Similarly, in a third-party-administered annual customer satisfaction survey, Hydro Ottawa maintained its overall satisfaction rating at close to 85% for the second straight year. Hydro Ottawa once again exceeded all of the Ontario Energy Board's service-quality indicators.

MEETING FUTURE CUSTOMER NEEDS

In the future, Hydro Ottawa will use Intergraph's G/Technology to manage its construction and design efforts, which will lead to further time and cost savings and more up-to-date information. Hydro Ottawa also is planning to upgrade its GIS with aerial photo images, so that it can better understand specific areas and prepare more thoroughly for planned work projects.

Like many other electric utilities, Hydro Ottawa soon will face the inevitable challenge of replacing millions of dollars worth of aging infrastructure. This task would not be possible without a consolidated asset model. The strong technology foundation Hydro Ottawa has built will enable it to meet this challenge as a customer-service leader in the utility industry.