Can IT 'power' the last mile?

Utilities have to go beyond IT utilities to ensure they plug leaks, U-turns and voids between legacy and future well. Here’s an example of pushing the edge

KOLKATA, INDIA: She does not evade the topic of transmission and distribution losses that plague thin industry and she does not play peek-a-boo while comparing this vertical to other so-called IT-savvy ones or while observing the true relevance of smart metering for Indian scenario. Suparna Sen, Superintending Engineer, IT&C Cell at West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited, is as delightful and power-packed as her radiant smile.

There is so much talk about smart metering these days. Do you see this as hype?

I think it is a good concept and we are in serious consideration of this too. But this is at a nascent stage now and we think that smart-metering, if it can be leveraged smartly indeed, can be a good solution for last mile issues in the industry. It can also address peak load management and other incidental issues.

Can technology really help with transmission, distribution losses and other spill-areas?

In distribution sector there is a fixed transmission & distribution loss state and that can be controlled to a certain extent only in practical terms. But commercially, we can do a lot to curb revenue loss and aggregated transmission commercial loss with good systems. It depends mainly on chain management and collection and payment cycle.

What was the idea behind your recent IT implementation?

Earlier, we had a decentralized system which is now centralized and this is now helping for MIS, decision-making and business-driven outcomes. We had to re-engineer certain processes too. Now a large number of customer orders can be billed with high efficiency. The new scenario has also helped us nail collection efficiencies is a stronger way.

What made you go for the change?

We started this initiative after power reforms kicked in and we selected some towers depending on certain parameters. Slowly and steadily we rolled out the billing solution throughout West Bengal. We can monitor losses, how to use data to strengthen distribution system and improve resource efficiencies.

Retail and other verticals which are also quintessentially service industries like yours seem to be ahead on the IT curve. Why is that? Any gaps or new plans?

With the help of this SAP implementation and other initiatives we are not far behind. With far and wide reaching solutions like mobility-tailored or e-services we are touching customers and consumer satisfaction in a new way. We are planning for industry-specific utility ERP solutions by 2015 and also an HCM module which would be full-fledged. The Indian scenario is about an end-to-end coverage with regulatory angles as well as the whole journey from utility to consumer being covered properly.