As product development consultants who’ve worked extensively with utility companies, we’ve seen firsthand how data can be both a blessing and a curse.
From grid-based metered data to renewable energy inputs and business operations data, utilities are dealing with a veritable mountain of information. Add to this the specialist data from internal teams like meteorologists, and you have a complex ecosystem that’s beyond challenging to navigate and leverage effectively.
This doesn’t mean that it can’t be done. But effective solutions require new perspectives on utilities data and some creative approaches to change management for effective implementation. Then, companies can leverage their vast data resources to drive better decision-making, improve customer experiences, and optimize their workforce management.
Curious? Let’s get into it.
Current Affairs: Utility Data Ecosystems Today
Utilities sit atop a gold mine of data, but many struggle to extract its full value. To appreciate that picture, let’s briefly survey what a typical utility data ecosystem looks like today:
Expanding Data Volume and Granularity
The sheer amount of data utilities collect is staggering. We’re talking information from smart meters, grid operations, weather patterns, financial systems, and more. Just a few years ago, manual meter readers brought in 12 data points per customer per year. Today, smart meters have swollen that number to the thousands!
Beyond just the growing number of data points, this shift encompasses exponential growth in the type of data points as well. The increased granularity offers unprecedented insights into customer behaviors but also poses significant challenges in data management and analysis.
Changing Industry Landscape
Due to decentralization, our grid is becoming increasingly complex. We’re moving from a small number of power plants to a vast network of solar farms, wind turbines, and other distributed energy resources. This complexity extends to customer relationships too, with many now both producing and consuming energy.
Evolving Customer Expectations
Gone are the days when customers were content with simply having the lights turn on at the flip of a switch. Today’s consumers still expect reliability, but affordability, safety, and even alignment with environmental values have surfaced as additional considerations. Utilities need to leverage their data to meet these evolving demands.
Challenges and Opportunities in Data Integration
While all this data holds immense potential, many utilities find themselves grappling with siloed information and struggling to extract meaningful insights.
Individual departments often maintain their own datasets, making it difficult to see a holistic picture. But when utilities start to integrate these diverse data sources, they unlock tremendous resources for better decision-making and improved operations.
Consider this scenario: By combining data on distributed energy resources with customer behavior data, a utility company could more effectively manage the grid and influence energy usage patterns. For instance, they could incentivize customers to run their dishwashers at 10 a.m. instead of 7 p.m., aligning their behavior with periods of low demand and excess renewable energy generation.
Integrating your data sources unlocks new value in various ways:
Breaking Down Data Silos
By integrating data from various departments and sources, utilities capture multiple perspectives on the same events and processes. This holistic view enables better decision-making across the organization.
Improving Data Accessibility
Making data insights accessible and relevant to all roles within an organization is crucial. From field crews to middle management to executives, tailored data displays allow employees at every level to solve their specific problems and enhance their workforce management.
Leveraging Data for Decision-Making
Integrated data allows utilities to better allocate and deploy assets. At the management level, for instance, combining weather data, grid status information, and historical failure patterns allows utilities to proactively position repair crews in areas likely to experience outages during a storm.
In other words, if you know a particular Oklahoma circuit is impacted during severe storms, you can more efficiently locate crews to reduce drive time and ensure they have the right materials on hand.
At the executive level, integrated data informs strategic decisions about infrastructure investments, sustainability initiatives, and customer engagement programs.
Creating a Data-Driven Culture: Practical Steps for Utility Leaders
Creating a data-driven culture is essential for utilities to fully leverage their information resources. If you’re a utility leader looking to harness the power of your organization’s data, here are some practical steps to consider:
- Define Your Key Challenges: Start by clearly defining the problems you want to solve. What insights would be most valuable to your organization? Your data strategy should align with your overall business objectives.
- Identify the Data You Need: Understand what data is relevant to solving the problem you’ve defined and what additional data is necessary to inform a solution.
- Assess Your Current Data Landscape: Evaluate your organization’s internal data capabilities and the systems you already have in place. Can they meet the needs you’ve identified?
- Take a Change-Management Perspective: To foster a data-minded workforce, help those closest to the daily work understand which data is important to them and why. Encourage them to think of new ways to capture that data in their day-to-day activities and provide training and tools to help them develop new data-oriented processes and protocols.
- Partner Wisely: Consider working with experienced consultants who understand both the utility industry and data integration best practices. At Method, for example, we focus on solving specific business problems, prioritizing incremental improvements that deliver immediate value for workforce management and other key operational areas.
The Role of AI in Utility Data Management
With all the excitement around AI right now, it’s tempting to think throwing one of these tools at data and workforce management will fix everything.
While AI holds great potential for automating certain decision-making processes and uncovering patterns in large datasets, it isn’t a silver-bullet solution for all data challenges.
AI initiatives must be strategic, addressing specific, well-defined problems rather than being implemented for their own sake. Otherwise, the desire to leverage the power of AI for your business can turn into a solution in search of a problem.
By maintaining a problem-first approach rather than a tool-first approach, you ensure that any AI initiatives provide real value for the investment.
The Road Ahead: Embrace the Data Revolution
As utilities continue to evolve, those that effectively harness their data will have a significant competitive advantage. From improving operational efficiency to enhancing customer experiences, the potential benefits are enormous.
However, it’s important to remember that becoming a truly data-driven organization is a journey, not a destination. It requires ongoing commitment, investment, and a willingness to challenge the status quo.
By taking a thoughtful, strategic approach to data integration and accessibility, utilities can transform their operations, better serve their customers, and navigate the complex challenges of the modern energy landscape.
If you’d like to explore your utility’s current data readiness or future data opportunities, get in touch. Method’s experience and expertise in the utilities sector give us unique insight into the needs and operations of these crucial organizations.