On the FME journey with Electra, this presentation will explore how a New Zealand electricity distribution company identified a need to derive greater value from the enormous amount of data available, develop a business case to meet that need, source, and implement a solution; FME. Historically, the Electra team was working with data stored in disparate systems. The burden on staff to bring that data together, analyze it and deliver meaningful insights was stressful, prone to human error, and incredibly time-consuming. In addition, only a fraction of the available data was being analyzed to inform decision-making. With the introduction of FME, Electra has been able to better understand and improve the customer experience by building solutions like the Phase Loss Sensor that plugs into all three phases of a power line. When the voltage drops below a certain threshold, it triggers a signal that travels via FME and onto the outage management system identifying the fault and the customer(s) impacted - all in less than 5 seconds!

1. Joining the dots

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Mathew Cooper
Network Digital Systems Manager
Manage SCADA, ADMS & GIS systems
Accountable for network, asset and
regulatory information.
Lead FME developer.

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Who is Electra?
• New Zealand’s 9th largest lines company
• $202m Network Asset Value
• 2,323km in circuit supplies
• 47,000 customers across 1,628km2

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We are committed to delivering safe, reliable,
affordable power to our customers.
• Our aim is to maximise the annual sales discount
credited to every account on the network.
• We are proud to delivery reliable electricity and world
class customer service to everyone connected with us

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The problem
• Technology now better and cheaper
• Increased focus on customer experience
• Ability to do things better and smarter
• Leverage historic and new data
• Incorporate third party data
• Technology was limited and prohibitively expensive
• Historical focus on High Voltage
• Societal expectations have grown
The opportunity

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How it was

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How it is now

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Transition Slide

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Solution 1
Low Voltage Power Loss Detection
Here is the problem we will be solving.
● Electra doesn’t own electricity meters
● Lack of granularity when identifying outages
● Longer restoration times

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Sensor to ADMS Integration

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Solution 1 - Improve LV Network Visibility
Sensor info sent to
Milsoft via MultiSpeak
are included in outage
predictions
Electra Phase Loss Sensor
LoRaWAN
Gateway
ResIOT
Server
Milsoft DisSPatch OMS

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Transition Slide

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Solution 2
Enhanced Weather Data
Here is the problem we will be solving.
● Conditions across our region vary greatly
● Coastal, Mountain Range and plains
● Lack of data to support events caused by weather

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Weather Stations to InfluxDB and SQL

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Solution 2 - Enhanced Weather Data
Telemetry from 15
weather stations now
used in decision
making
Davis Weather
Stations
Mobile
Broadband (4g)
Davis
weatherlink.com
service

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Transition Slide

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Solution 3
BeforeUDig Automation
Here is the problem we will be solving.
● Large quantities of requests from 3rd parties
● Short SLA
● Time consuming to generate

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BeforeUDig Requests processed and sent to requestors

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Solution 3 - BeforeUDig
273 requests in May 2022
Before FME: 200 hours to process
After FME: 4 hours “spot check”
BeforeUDig Service
Received via
email

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Transition Slide

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On the horizon
360 Degree Photography
Smart Device Telemetry
Aerial and Terrestrial LiDAR and
Imagery
Aerial and Terrestrial LiDAR and
Imagery

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You’re not alone!
Expert Support = Success
Support from Locus was key
FME Resources plentiful and easy to use
Strong community support base

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FME has enabled
innovation and value
creation in our business.

24. Thank You!
mathew.cooper@electra.co.nz