Sam Houston Electric Cooperative ranks as one of the largest of the 66 electric cooperatives in Texas, maintaining over 6,000 miles of line and serving more than 51,000 members. Because it is a not-for-profit organization, the Cooperative maintains a very lean workforce and relies on technology to help keep its costs low. In addition, its rural service area requires Sam Houston Electric Cooperative’s field service representatives to travel more than two million miles on the road each year. The utility needed an integrated application suite that would help it to realize new efficiencies, lower costs, manage its workforce more effectively and provide excellent customer service.

Sam Houston Electric Cooperative has already implemented an integrated Oracle Utilities Network Management System and Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management solution in Phase 1 of the Oracle Utilities product suite deployment. With Oracle Utilities Network Management System, Sam Houston Electric Cooperative has reduced the duration of outages and improved customer satisfaction by providing customers with up-to-date and accurate information regarding outages and restoration times. The Oracle Utilities Network Management System accepts trouble-call input to identify probable outage locations and then the system automatically notifies Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management so the Cooperative can immediately dispatch crews to restore service.

Oracle Utilities Mobile Workforce Management has helped Sam Houston Electric Cooperative improve route planning, as well as communication between its operations and field personnel, mobilizing the right technicians for each job to efficiently complete repair and maintenance work.

Sam Houston Electric Cooperative is implementing Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing to improve visibility into customer data, allowing its customer service representatives to improve service and reduce issue-resolution times. The integrated Oracle system is expected to greatly reduce the flow of paperwork for Sam Houston Electric Cooperative. The Cooperative will also use the application to streamline bill printing and distribution.

“Oracle is delivering a suite of applications that will provide the integration capabilities we need to improve efficiency across our organization and keep costs low for our members. The Oracle Utilities application suite’s ease of use, as well as Oracle’s proven successes with similar utilities organizations, were key factors in our selection process. Oracle will enable us to continue operating with a lean staff, while at the same time providing the excellent service our members expect and deserve,” said Kyle J. Kuntz, P.E., chief executive officer, Sam Houston Electric Cooperative.

The Cooperative will also implement Oracle Utilities Work and Asset Management to gain a comprehensive view of its infrastructure assets to more proactively plan maintenance and repair work thus enabling it to reduce long-term repair costs.

“Oracle provides utilities with an integrated application suite that allows them to accelerate implementation, optimize performance and maximize return on investment. We are pleased to work with Sam Houston Electric Cooperative to help the organization leverage Oracle’s integration capabilities to improve efficiency, reduce manual processes and paperwork, and keep costs low to meet customers’ needs,” said Quentin Grady, senior vice president and general manager, Oracle Utilities.

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.

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