Intelligent Operational Control For Water Companies
How can Water Companies Improve the Operational Performance in AMP5?
The price determination for AMP5 has brought significantly lower operational budgets for water
companies in the UK. At the same time, it requires service levels to be enhanced. Also, the combined effects of climate change, demand growth and the need to reduce carbon, place sustainability at the top of the agenda. More than ever before, water companies must deliver services in a way that:
- ensures reliable delivery of an essential service and maximises customer satisfaction
- minimises the operational cost of delivering these services
- delivers these services in the most sustainable way.
How can water companies meet this challenge?
We believe that a large part of the answer lies in exploiting the good work that has been done in
previous regulatory periods. In those periods, water companies have made significant performance
improvements year-on-year and operational efficiencies by optimising processes in the different
dimensions – managing customers, assets, work, plant processes. However, the gains here are beginning to dry up. Also, over many years, companies have invested heavily in telemetry technology to monitor and control plant and networks.
What is Intelligent Operational Control (IOC)?
A new model for your operation, IOC recognises that effective operational control processes drive an
efficient water business.
IOC is an evolution of systems and processes rather than a new build. Water companies have many of the basic system components in place. These may be plant automation and telemetry which together with the communications infrastructure provide the remote monitoring and control capability; and control room systems that give visibility into what is happening with the company’s assets. Most water companies use good practice processes for operation and control. However, we feel that the opportunity here is to evolve these processes and systems to build a more intelligent, integrated and efficient operation that fully exploits the opportunities provided by the technology.
IOC provides a more co-ordinated and intelligent approach that will deliver a step-change, which has
significant benefits:
- improve operational efficiencies, typically by more than 20% through greater real-time
automation and control, improved staff productivity and reducing the amount of work
- achieve increased return on your assets through optimised efficient asset utilisation, operation
and maintenance
- increase customer satisfaction and improve performance by minimising asset failure and
providing proactive customer service
- improve sustainability by reducing leakage by 10 to 20%, and optimising pump and plant operation to use 5 to 10% less carbon.
