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MORRISTOWN, NJ, September 18, 2003 - “Over the next few years, utilities will increasingly need their customer care and billing systems to support efforts in preventing blackouts,” predicts Brian Owenson, vice president of product strategy at SPL WorldGroup.

Owenson’s comments come as the energy industry continues to examine last month’s widespread blackout in the Northeast.

A “smoking gun” cause of the blackout has yet to be identified. And “I by no means want to imply that billing-related approaches to grid management could, by themselves, have prevented the problem,” Owenson says.

“But the blackout has set off serious discussions of ways to better manage the existing grid, “he points out. ”And approaches like complex billing could make a significant contribution.”

Using complex billing programs, utilities can offer users incentives to decrease demand or increase on-site generation at specific times. The programs bill users for consumption measured in intervals—generally 10 to 60 minutes long. Pricing for each interval can vary. “Utilities can, for instance, raise prices on hot summer days or during critical peak events,” Owenson says.

“Complex billing,” Owenson continues, “is an important part of the new demand response programs aimed at blackout reduction. The associated meter data management and billing applications are important to its success.”

Interval data analysis also has other grid-management uses. It can help pinpoint a facility’s unnecessary demand peaks and suggest ways to reduce consumption.

Billing systems that handle net metering can also help reduce blackouts, Owenson says. “Grids sometimes have problems because more electricity is needed—not generally, but at a specific time and place. With net metering plus complex billing,” Owenson explains, “utilities can identify strategically located office buildings or factories. They can then reward those that, during a crisis, feed electricity into the grid by turning on back-up generators or maximizing output from a cogeneration facility.”

Owenson, who earlier this year authored Energy Data Management: Complex Billing and Pricing, is the chief architect of SPL WorldGroup’s industry-leading CorDaptix™ customer care and billing system for energy, water, and service companies.

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Editorial Note: A PDF version of Energy Data Management: Complex Billing and Pricing is available via the SPL website at: www.splwg.com/main/whitepaper/wpapply.asp

About SPL
As the world leader in customer care and billing software, SPL WorldGroup helps energy and service companies achieve excellence in billing, customer care, sales and marketing. Using outstanding technology and its unparalleled implementation success record, SPL helps its clients attract, nurture and maximize the value of their customers. From prospect management, billing and customer care through quoting and credit and collections, SPL provides energy, water and service companies with strategic options for managing residential, commercial and industrial customers in both regulated and competitive markets, across multi-product service lines. Led by an experienced and visionary management team, and in partnership with the world’s leading systems integrators and technology innovators, SPL’s 600 professionals in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia Pacific dedicates themselves to providing value to clients by implementing solutions that fit the specific needs of energy, water and service related companies and building long-term relationships based on confidence and trust. Visit SPL WorldGroup at www.splwg.com or call 1-973-539-6268 (New Jersey), 1-866-468-6775 (San Francisco), or, within the US and Canada, 1-800-275-4775.

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