Value of Geo-Spatial Technology in a Utility a Statisical Approach

A Case Study
One company’s project team who was preparing a business case for their board anticipated that the board would want to know the magnitude of savings achieved by other companies. They learned quickly that querying implemented companies revealed little information of value. So they decided to take a statistical approach to see what could be learned. Earlier that year (1999), their company had paid a consultant to develop a database of performance metrics for investor-owned electric utilities. With this information, they could measure their performance against their peers and averages. The team believed that by comparing successful AM/FM/GIS companies against those who had not implemented the technology, they could determine if any real differences existed.

The database that was used for this study is proprietary, and cannot be revealed in support of this paper. But the methodology and results of the study are not proprietary. This study can be recreated with information gathered from the Internet; and it would be a worthwhile exercise for anyone having trouble justifying the expense of a system.

The Methodology
The team defined a methodology before examining the data to ensure the study would be objective and that it would yield meaningful results. The methodology components are summarized below.

The Measurement Criteria
The teamed believed that of the metrics in their database, four measurements should be directly impacted by AM/FM/GIS. They are as follows:

4-year distribution O&M cost per customer
1997 distribution O&M cost per line mile
4-year distribution capital cost per customer
1997 distribution capital cost per line mile