Advanced Application Extension for the Ecologic MDM – SmartData for Outage Management

Oncor leading the way in expanding its use of smart meter system to improve reliability and customer satisfaction
BLOOMINGTON, Minn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–August 07, 2012– Ecologic Analytics, the leading provider of meter data management (MDM) solutions based on International standards, announced today that Oncor has integrated SmartData for Outage Management, an application extension for the Ecologic MDM, with its Outage Management System and indicates that the application is performing extremely well. During the few first months of operation SmartData for Outage Management identified more than 80 percent of Oncor's outage and power quality events before customers called to report a problem.

“The core configurable business logic within SmartData for Outage Management provides the operations teams with a new ability to effectively respond to customer outages and power quality situations. During the initial six weeks of deployment, the logic worked correctly 100 percent of the time," said Mark Carpenter, Oncor’s senior vice president of T&D System Operations and Measurement Services. "As a result, the field teams are expressing that they are seeing real business benefits that will help improve reliability and increase customer satisfaction."

SmartData for Outage Management is an application extension developed exclusively for the Ecologic MDM solution. It leverages the smart meter data received in real-time by the MDM and quickly detects a potential power quality or outage event. Once SmartData for Outage Management determines that an event displays the characteristics of a sustained outage, the solution smartly scopes the size and location of the outage and delivers transformer-level outage information to the Outage Management System. The process of inferring the status of meters and intelligently scoping the extent of the outage is done in minutes, and the information it delivers is meant to further enhance the Outage Management System’s ability to quickly pinpoint affected service points.

During restoration, SmartData for Outage Management verifies the effectiveness and completeness of the restoration activity. As it receives “power-up notifications” from restored metering endpoints, SmartData for Outage Management pings the other meters associated with that transformer to validate that all endpoints have been restored or identify potential nested outages before crews leave the area.

Further enhancing strong customer service for the utility, SmartData for Outage Management also coordinates with the Validation, Estimation, Editing (VEE) modules within the MDM system to generate precise zero consumption reporting during outage periods. This enables highly accurate proration, and estimates the usage, when appropriate, for each service point during the event, significantly improving billing data and the integrity of customer usage presentment.

Ecologic Analytics, now a wholly owned division of Landis+Gyr, is solely focused on providing MDM solutions to the utility industry. The ability to consume and validate every meter read, every day lays a strong baseline for the expected performance of every smart meter deployed in the service territory. This foundation allows the utility to leverage their smart meter system beyond billing operations; SmartData for Outage Management is one example of an application extension that enables utility personnel in distribution operations to benefit from the wealth of operational information streaming into the utility through the smart metering technology to improve customer service.

“The meter data management system is truly a hub of interconnection within the utility,” said Craig Norman, president of Ecologic Analytics. “It is our vision to continue offering application extensions that maximize the benefit of the data coming into the core MDM solution for specific business cases that serve the many stakeholders within a utility’s operations centers to provide enhanced customer service.”

For more information about the third generation Ecologic MDM system and its Extensions, contact info@ecologicanalytics.com.

 

 

About Ecologic Analytics:

Ecologic Analytics, LLC is the leading provider of meter data management (MDM) systems based on International standards, serving electric, natural gas and water utilities. Today, the Ecologic MDMS continuously validates hundreds of millions of meter reads every day for Smart Grid leading utilities, transforming the data consumed from advanced metering infrastructure (AMI)/smart meter endpoints into accurate, timely and actionable information for decision making across the utility. The company, founded in 2000 and now a division of Landis+Gyr, has its base of operations in Bloomington, Minn. For more information, visit ecologicanalytics.com.

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