To support increasing energy demand and new customers, SMECO, a member-owned electric cooperative that serves more than 150,000 customers in four southern Maryland counties, required an enhanced customer information system (CIS) that is rapidly deployable, scalable and supports new services to continually enhance customer support. SMECO selected Oracle to gain a single platform that supports its critical business applications.

Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing improves visibility into customer data, allowing SMECO customer service representatives to provide superior service and reduce issue- resolution times.

SMECO is also using the application to streamline bill printing and distribution, as well as rapidly address past-due accounts. With Oracle, SMECO's debt recovery, billing and bill print extract is now 12 times faster - the organization can complete the daily process in slightly more than one hour. As a result, SMECO now generates and mails customer invoices one day faster than its previous billing process. New customer care capabilities enable SMECO to transfer past-due accounts to a collection agency after 60 days, rather than waiting 90 days using the old system.

Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing required little customization, allowing SMECO to accelerate the implementation and realize benefits more quickly. Additionally, Oracle Database provides the underlying reliability and scalability to support evolving business operations.

Supporting Quotes
"Just as the local hardware store outmaneuvers its national big-box competitors by responding to community needs, co-op utilities are also uniquely positioned to maintain loyal members by focusing on customer care and providing new services. SMECO continues to excel by providing excellent customer care and expanding operations to capitalize on new opportunities. Oracle provides the demonstrated reliability and full solution set to play an integral role in SMECO's growth," said Quentin Grady, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Utilities.

"We maintain an unwavering focus on system reliability, competitive rates and superior customer service. SMECO is revitalizing key operations to support our community's growing needs and achieve cost savings from increased efficiency. Oracle is instrumental in our efforts to achieve short-term reliability and service benchmarks, while enabling us to achieve long-term cost savings," said Joe Trentacosta, vice president and chief information officer, Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative.

About Oracle Utilities
Oracle Utilities delivers the proven software applications that help utilities achieve competitive advantage, business performance excellence and a lower total cost of technology ownership. Oracle Utilities integrates industry-specific customer care and billing, network management, work and asset management, mobile workforce management and meter data management applications with the capabilities of Oracle's industry-leading enterprise applications, business intelligence tools, middleware and database technologies. Oracle Utilities enables its customers to adapt more nimbly to market deregulation, meet ever-evolving customer demands, and deliver on commitments to environmental conservation. For more information, visit www.oracle.com/industries/utilities.

About Oracle
Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL) is the world's largest enterprise software company. For more information about Oracle, please visit our Web site at www.oracle.com.

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