Electricity Asset Management Plan 2019-2029
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Vector Limited://
A key enabler for our Asset Management Strategy is network connectivity and topology management. Traditionally, the GIS is a non-operational system, mainly used for asset management, planning and engineering purposes. Our strategy requires the GIS to become an operational system and the central repository of data for network topology, on which systems like SCADA, Outage Management and DERMS are heavily reliant for providing accurate and timely information. Strategy & Plan for period Our strategy, when evaluating options for the SCADA system, revolves around outage management and electronic switching capability. A more integrated and automated outage management system will provide visibility of outages during major events and will enable Vector to integrate fully with outage data from smart meters and LV sensors. We are exploring the benefits of Advanced Distribution Management Systems (ADMS) capabilities to further enhance our network operations by integrating with SCADA and DERMS. To be able to improve our management of power flows in the LV network, especially in terms of outage management and reinstatement of the network to enable us to manage customer service levels, more information and visibility of the LV network is needed. This will require Vector having access to data from the fleet of smart meters in the network in the first instance. It could also include the installation of sensing devices in the LV network to inform our assets management systems. • Increased network monitoring to enable real-time modelling. Successful implementation may lead to the use of dynamic ratings to increase network utilisation without breaching equipment ratings. This is both a planning and operations tool. • Improvements and simplification of the method to calculate the spare capacity on the distribution network to enable more efficient use of the network distribution assets and ultimately capex investment. • Implementing a platform for managing those field devices that need to be managed, for both energy injection (e.g. solar/PV, batteries) and energy offset devices (e.g. HWLC). Customer Operations is a core capability to enable Vector to deliver services to its customers, partners and stakeholders. The customer operations capability fundamentally relies on our ability to provide accurate, relevant and timely information into all our customer channels, at the optimised cost to serve. The multi-channel service capability that delivers this will give customers more choice on how they engage with us and allows us to balance our mix of channels – direct, indirect, online, contact centre and face to face. Customer Operations defines the capability we have to respond and react to network issues that impact our customers. It is how we manage customer concerns and feedback, billing and connections and customer records. We continue to enhance our customer experience and give customers more choice on how they engage with us by adopting more engagement channels and a digital first approach in support of more self-service channels. We are therefore continuing our implementation of additional customer channels (such as conversational ‘bots’, voice recognition and pro-active outbound multi-channel communications). In support of our continuous improvement strategy, we are enabling customers to provide real time feedback on our performance. Current State & Stage in application lifecycle Our approach to customer support evolves around alignment with customer expectations and will drive more investment in digital-first and self-service channels over the period covered by the AMP. This will necessitate investment in digital system providing this capability such as Siebel (Customer Account Details and trouble ticketing), SAP, Gentrack (Customer Billing and Invoicing) and to a lesser degree HV Events. Strategy & Plan for period Our strategy is to invest in new, enabling capability to meet our customers’ preference for more self-service and need for accurate and timely information. As such, we will continue to develop multi-channel customer engagement capabilities over the period of the AMP. Investment in customer channels will reduce from RY24 onwards, except for allowances for continuous improvement based on customer feedback. 4.9.2 CUSTOMER OPERATIONS Overview At an 11kV distribution level Vector is considering the following options to manage the impact of the increasing uncertainty in customer behaviour and the take-up of new technology:
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