Essential Energy, a major energy company, has announced its plans to kick off a massive technology refresh project. The project to cost almost $200 million in today’s currency. The company has recently filed its proposal for the 2024-2029 regulatory period with the Australian Energy Regulator. This proposal contains the details of the project. It aims to enhance efficiency and support the company’s tariff proposals for the next five years.
The $200 million tech investment program that will focus on various areas, including CRM, metering, and billing systems. The program also covers payroll, ADMS, spatial network management system, mobile workforce management system, and cybersecurity.
Essential Energy has also upgraded its distribution management systems
The company’s ICT business plan explains that the current regulatory period has already seen significant investments, such as replacing ERP and asset management systems with cloud-hosted Oracle systems. The company has also upgraded its distribution management systems and enhanced cybersecurity to comply with the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act.
Essential Energy will continue to invest in improving efficiency and enhancing services for its customers.
Moreover, the company completed an ERP replacement that retired a Peoplesoft system, but a payroll migration to the cloud was postponed due to ATO compliance reasons. This has resulted in a second Peoplesoft system remaining in place. Essential Energy plans to replace the second system during the 2024-2029 period.
According to the company’s ICT business plan, the current regulatory period has seen significant investments in various areas. Which includes upgrading distribution management systems, enhancing cybersecurity, and renewing data capability. The $200 million tech investment program will continue to improve efficiency and enhance services for its customers.
The utility said in its ICT business plan.“In the coming [five years] we will build on the solid foundations of renewed core systems, particularly including the Oracle Cloud ERP and EAM [enterprise asset management], with a program focused on sustainability,”
