You don't put "top" in a description that already includes a word
that means "the ultimate.". This is about the 10 smartest utilities,
right?
10 "smartest" utilities
Why would you put "top" in there?
Duh.
Many see the electric and power utility industry as a huge dinosaur that is slow to respond to new challenges. However, there are a number of leaders that are quickly embracing smart grid and renewable energy technologies and approaches.
The leading utilities for this year were just announced by IDC Energy Insights and Intelligent Utility magazine in their annual UtiliQ rankings, designed to measure the progress utilities are making on the path to intelligent energy.
For the second straight year, Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas & Electric is the most intelligent utility in America, according to IDC.
The UtiliQ ranking uses five criteria to evaluate utilities: operational efficiency, commitment to integrating renewables, smart energy initiatives, demand response/energy efficiency programs, and information technology investments in support of business process improvements.
Productivity, rated as output per employee, was a key measurement in the criteria. High levels of IT investments are considered crucial as it enables business process improvement. Renewable energy was also weighed as a key criteria, measuring investments in renewable energy sales, customers, and capacity.
The report listed 25 top utilities. Here are the top 10 scoring utilities from the 2010 UtiliQ rankings:
- Sempra Energy’s San Diego Gas & Electric, San Diego, CA
- Austin Energy, Austin, TX
- PG&E Corporation, San Francisco, CA
- FPL Group, Inc. (now NextEra), Juno Beach, FL
- NV Energy, Inc., Las Vegas, NV
- Salt River Project, Phoenix, AZ
- Pepco Holdings, Inc., Washington, DC
- Edison International, Rosemead, CA
- American Electric Power Company, Inc., Columbus, OH
- IDACORP Inc., Boise, ID
Sempra Energy and Austin Electric also topped last year’s list. Newcomers to the list includ NV Energy, Salt River Project, and Pepco Holdings.
Jill Feblowitz, author of the report and IDC Energy Insights analyst, credits the 2009 stimulus bill with boosting smart grid investments — to the tune of $11 billion — over the past year. “Many of the utilities that received ARRA [American Recovery and Reinvestment Act] awards last fall are contributing more to their smart grid projects than the required 50/50 match,” she remarks. “However, our research has shown that even without ARRA funding many utilities are taking a variety of intelligent approaches to managing the grid and serving up the benefits of new technologies to the customer.”
