In the sensitive balance between the reliable supply of electricity to customers and the need for responsible vegetation management and tree-trimming practices, the nation’s 1000-plus electric co-ops and municipal electric utilities have a fresh approach from Lewis Tree Service and Clearion Software, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lewis, to help them achieve their goals. The community-centric nature of electric co-ops and municipally-owned power companies implies that the trees and power lines sharing many of the streets and roads need to co-exist as important assets of the community. Recognizing this, Lewis and Clearion are announcing a software-and-services offering that will deliver both immediate benefits and long-term care focused upon the vegetation along the transmission and distribution lines throughout a utility’s service area.
“Over the years, Lewis has developed a solid base of electric co-op and municipal electric customers. Clearion has also made strong inroads into the sale of their configurable software solution for vegetation management to utilities of all sizes, including a number of electric co-ops. Now that we are operating as a combined leadership team, our organizations are working together to focus on this important customer set with even greater attention and priority,” said Tom Rogers, president and CEO, Lewis Tree Service. “Today we are announcing a tailored GIS-based software package from Clearion and a regional support model from Lewis that focuses solely upon the unique nature of the vegetation management challenges found in our nation’s electric co-ops and municipal electric companies.”
The centerpiece of the new offering is a turnkey software solution that allows utility operations to begin using GIS-based tools to track and manage their vegetation management work in as little as two weeks. Leveraging a cloud-based infrastructure with the same powerful Esri ArcGIS Platform as Clearion’s largest implementations, the system includes a ruggedized Clearion Mobile tablet computer, one license of Clearion Work Manager for centralized planning and reporting, a collection of out-of-the-box reports, two-days of on-site training, and complete setup and hosting services. Also included is Clearion’s premium support package featuring free software upgrades, remote assistance and high-availability servers. The package will be offered through personnel within Lewis Tree Service’s regional operations with support from dedicated resources at Clearion.
Lewis personnel will also be presenting electric co-ops and municipal utilities in their coverage area opportunities to “bundle” the Clearion software with their tree-trimming, mowing and herbicide application services, providing a “one-stop shopping” opportunity for procurement and operations staffs.
