What are smart utilities?
Smart utilities are companies in the electric, gas and water sectors that employ connected sensors across their grids in order to deliver services more efficiently and to analyze their operations. Most smart utilities are heavy users of the Internet of Things (IoT) concept of connected devices and incorporate the latest digital technologies in communications, software, computing and mapping to streamlines their businesses.
What are the business benefits of smart utilities?
All utilities deal with an enormous amount of diverse data from multiple sources. Setting smart utilities apart from those slower to embrace digital technologies and change are the business benefits they frequently reap in diverse areas such as:
- Optimizing asset performance by identifying developing problems in real-time for field assets such as transformers and water mains in order to trigger repairs and avoid unplanned service disruptions.
- Using real-time business intelligence to improve operational efficiency, monitor remote sensors and meters, and make better, more timely business decisions.
- Leveraging the smart grid and intelligence from the Internet of Things (IoT) to provide key insights into customers’ utility usage patterns.
- Preventing utility loss and provide early detection of supply leaks and thefts to optimize distribution.
- Modernizing the grid to more dynamically adjust and respond to multiple systems and providers, including alternative energy sources such as wind and solar.
