Soluziona assists power cooperatives

With the enforcement of Republic Act 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, utility companies must enhance their efficiency and effectivity in delivering good customer service or risk losing to competition in the impending deregulated market.

While larger private utility firms may have the financial resources to afford top-of-the-line technologies to support and enhance their customer management processes, smaller utilities and electric cooperatives are left threatened.

How will they compete with established players and with foreign utility firms that may penetrate the industry?

Members of the Philippine Electric Power Association (PEPOA), specifically the San Fernando Electric Light and Power, Tarlac Electric Co., La Union Electric Co. and Cagayan Electric Power and Light Co. recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Soluziona Phils., the Asia-Pacific subsidiary of Soluziona, the largest Spanish-based management and information technology consulting firm.

The MOU marks the collaboration and cooperation of the utility cooperatives to embark on Soluziona’s application service provider (ASP) initiative for utilities.

Soluziona Phils.’ offering allows clients, primarily small- to medium-sized electricity distributors, to rent Soluziona’s software together with the services that go into implementing and maintaining the system.

Initially, Soluziona’s Customer Management System for Utilities, or Open SGC, will be made available via the ASP. The application will be hosted offsite, in servers housed in the central data centers of the ASP.

Also under the MOU, Soluziona Phils. will design a shared system model for the ASP and determine the extent of customization and standardization needed to support PEPOA’s requirements.

Soluziona Phils. said it is its thrust to help electric cooperatives take the leap toward where they want to be in the "e-environment."

Soluziona’s knowledge and expertise in the utilities industry spans over 15 years of working with over 100 utility firms serving more than 55 million customers around the world.