Strategic focus points the way to the digital supply of the future

The replacement of approx. 55,000 electricity, water, and heating meters in the Zealand multi-supply company, SK Forsyning, is not merely a question of replacing manual meters with electronic ones. Rather, it must also set the stage for the utility company’s entry into the digital market and the transition to an IT-powered supply business, where energy data is made available to customers on mobile platforms and via new self-service technologies. In brief, this is the goal behind the large-scale energy project that is in full swing in SK Forsyning. The key to pursuing that digitization strategy is KMD's integration platform, which is the central intelligence and the connecting link between the remotely read meters and the systems that will be used to process and present the energy data. In short, it is about activating the many data items that are generated every day, but which until now have not been used for anything other than billing for usage.

“With our new strategy, we can use the measurement data for operational optimization and better energy consulting. And then it gives us the opportunity to make new services available to our customers,” says Claus Andersen, Cross-Organizational Project Manager at SK Forsyning.

Difference between data owner and subscriber

The technology behind the integration platform keeps track of which systems are talking to each other. The integration platform distinguishes between the systems that are data owners - Master of Records (MoR) - and the systems that are subscribers. The logic is that the subscriber is supplied with data by the data owner. That way, data is not duplicated and there are no data discrepancies.

“As part of the project, we have implemented KMD Energy Management Suite for validation and analysis of data generated by the remotely read meters. KMD Easy Energy, which SK Forsyning has used as a billing system for many years, is the MoR (Master of Record) for customer data and data about the specific meter. Both systems exchange data with one another and know automatically whether it is either a data owner or a subscriber in terms of the technology in the integration platform, says Kasper Binderup Sigaard, project and development consultant at SK Forsyning.

The integration platform allows SK Forsyning to connect systems from different suppliers without the need for system adaptation. Because the integration platform ensures point-to-point communication, a new system can be added or replaced without affecting other systems.

Fully automated processes

When developing the project, SK Forsyning and their dedicated KMD consultant spent a long time defining the processes that SK Forsyning wanted when changing meters. SK Forsyning has created a digital script down to the last detail for installing a new meter, meter data retrieval, billing, customer relocation, shutting down a meter, updating master data, and so on.

“Once we have described our digital interfaces, and once we have described our desired processes for a meter replacement or meter installation, it is easier and faster to find the supplier and solution we need. In the future, we will save a lot of time by no longer making manual meter changes in the system. It will be a fully automated process,” explains Sigaard.

SK Forsyning has concluded contracts with two suppliers for the supply of remotely read water meters, heat meters, electricity meters, and their respective data retrieval systems (AMR). Here, SK Forsyning stresses the importance of the fact that if a cable break occurs, for example, the meter data is not lost. Data is stored locally in the meters in a data collector, which forwards them as soon as possible. “This is an important security guarantee,” emphasizes Sigaard.

Consumption visualization and alerts

Part of the perspective on running a more digital supply company lies in the potential for presenting more consumption data to customers via self-service solutions and user portals for web and mobile applications. Here, SK Forsyning sees great potential in KMD Energy Management Suite WebTools.

“When customers can keep track of their own consumption, we also believe that more people will try to save a little on energy consumption. In addition, they get the opportunity to detect irregularities in their consumption, so that damage from water leaks, for example, can be limited,” says Claus Andersen, explaining that SK Forsyning, via the interfaces in Energy Management Suite, has also started a collaboration with a housing association, which receives their district heating data so that they can better optimize energy, just as the Danish Building and Property Agency also receives district heating data at one of their installations.”

Following a successful pilot project, SK Forsyning is in the process of replacing the 55,000 meters and expects all replacements to be completed by mid-2019