Oct. 29, 2009 (PR Newswire) --
SAN DIEGO, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The economic recession is impacting many facets of electric utility operations, including how to best benchmark performance for the lowest incremental cost, mused industry professionals at EUCG's fall workshop in San Diego this month.
EUCG, a global association of energy and electric utility professionals, meets semiannually to discuss current and emerging industry issues, share best practices and exchange data for benchmarking purposes. The association is in its 36th year of existence.
"This recession has wiped out huge swaths of industrial load for many of our member utilities," reported EUCG President Mark Derry of Exelon (NYSE: EXC). "Revenues are down almost across the board, which puts pressure on each utility to reduce costs where they can." However, Derry added that budgets devoted to benchmarking activities are being optimized by relying more heavily on not-for-profit, industry associations such as EUCG for benchmarking and performance-related information. "Our membership costs are a fraction of what private consultancies often charge for similar data. In essence, many of our members are hunkering down and reviewing enterprise benchmarking costs, and they're feeling pretty good about the value EUCG is providing their companies," said Derry.
John Fielder, president of Southern California Edison (NYSE: EIX), provided the keynote address, which focused on SCE's challenges and successes, including its ability to control costs. "SCE is investing in new technologies and infrastructure projects to support California's growing renewable energy leadership while continuing to provide safe and reliable service to customers," said Fielder. "SCE plans to invest about $20 billion over the next five years in new transmission, distribution and generation projects. We're working closely with industry organizations such as EUCG to meet our performance objectives."
The recession has increased interest in EUCG membership, reported George W. Sharp, EUCG vice president from American Electric Power (NYSE: AEP). "We've added new members to our family during a period of significant financial stress," said Sharp. "We're fortunate that our nonprofit, industry-focused business model is relevant throughout the entire economic cycle, and especially during deep downturns such as we're experiencing now."
EUCG's industry committees - including Nuclear, Fossil, Hydroelectric, Transmission and Distribution, and Information Technology committees - discussed benchmarking database enhancements with their respective memberships. "The Nuclear Integrated Information Database, or NIID, has been enhanced year after year based on member feedback," remarked David Ward, Nuclear Committee chair from Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK).
