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| Unbundling, which last year had been thoroughly dealt with, was not much talked about at
the SIwE’07 Conference. That was good enough because it is always worth looking forward instead of looking behind. But…
The leitmotif of the previous conferences organised by the Polish Power Transmission and Distribution Organisation (PTPiREE) was preparing the distribution companies, as far as the IT infrastructure is concerned,
to perform unbundling and appropriate service on the liberated energy market. Consequently it seemed that there was nothing left to add in that area. Nevertheless, one ought to remember that not all companies which came to existence after the division of distribution companies into distribution system operators and energy sellers have satisfactory results and may close the unbundling stage of activities.
The analysis of individual companies’ IT infrastructure suggests that not all new distribution system operators have adequately procured proper systems. During the conference in Wisła (The IT-related Future of Distribution System Operators after their Isolation from the Distribution Companies), the former President of the Energy Regulatory Office (in Annex 1 to the Rationale for Releasing the Energy Sellers from the Obligation to Have their Energy Sale Tariffs Approved, published at the end of October) and Jan Rakowski of the company EnergoInFarm independently of each other expressed such an opinion. The author of the paper clearly shows business areas which must be promptly provided with IT systems to meet the requirements of unbundling and electric power market liberation. These areas include the processes of registering distribution system users and recording how the retail market participants change the energy sellers; the procedure of acquiring, processing and transmitting the retail market participant’s measurement data to the Transmission System Operator; and the process of settling distribution service and the process of purchasing electrical energy to make up for the energy losses in the distribution network. The systems supporting the processes mentioned above constituted new systems with well-defined functionality and scope of application.
That was the only explicit reference to what had not been done in the sphere of unbundling. Most papers presented at the conference focused rather on business areas which in the future should become intensely computerised by the Distribution System Operators. There was a clear focus on two business areas: one related to the obligations resulting from the power market customer service and the other related to improving the Distribution System Operator’s network asset management. In the first area, the necessity to develop systems and obtain and process measurement data and customer service-related data was emphasised. The second area focused on the advantages of providing Distribution System Operators with the systems related to the network and non-network asset management, especially the advantages of buying and starting Geographic Information Systems (GIS).
The Sygnity’s Product Offer for Distribution System Operators Supplementing their IT Equipment for the Needs of Unbundling
The product offer of the Sygnity Group’s Utilities Domain includes a package of basic distribution-system-operator-oriented IT tools supporting business processes resulting from unbundling. The package contains five systems:
- CSS - Customer Switching System,
- CMS - Customer Measurement System,
- D3S - Distribution Service Sale System
- ELMS - Energy Losses Management System
- PWI – Information Exchange Platform
The complete package supports all Distribution System Operator’s activities related to the distribution system user data management and the users’ decisions to exercise (or not) their right to choose the energy seller (system CSS). Simultaneously, the package supports the settling and invoicing of the distribution service for both customers with individual distribution contracts and customers who are provided with the comprehensive service (system D3S). Thanks to modern measurement data processing tools (system CMS), the Distribution System Operator’s responsibilities of obtaining, processing and making available measurement data of all retail energy market participants are fulfilled. Also, the Distribution System Operator gains support in its management process of purchasing energy to make up for the losses in the distribution network (system ELMS). The communication and information exchange between a Distribution System Operator and the distribution system users and the energy sellers is executed with the Information Exchange Platform (system PWI).
Sygnity’s Product Offer for Distribution System Operators Improving Quality of their Activities
The Sygnity’s Group Utilities Domain’s product offer also includes products which may easily enhance the efficiency of functioning of a Distribution System Operator.
The first product group consists of systems related to the processing of measurement data. As the energy market develops, one can notice an increasing demand for obtaining, processing and making available the measurement data regarding subsequent distribution system user groups or subsequent points in the distribution system.
Within this business area, the Utilities Domain offers two groups of tools:
 tools supporting comprehensive service of consumers’ measurement systems:
- TSS - Technical Service System,
- MDM - Metering Devices Management System,
- MAS - Mobile Acquisition System,
- RRS - Readings Scheduling System,
and a tool supporting the distribution network measurement management for the needs of a Distribution System Operator and Transmission System Operator:
- NMS - Network Measurement System.
The Distribution System Operator equipped with these systems supports all its business processes related to the measurement data management in the distribution system.
The second group of IT systems consists of the systems supporting the Distribution System Operator’s network asset management. Although the implementation thereof constitutes a challenge for the Distribution System Operator, it proves indispensable if a company wants to meet the customers’ (distribution system users’) growing expectations related to the confidence of energy provision to the consumers.
Within this business area, the Utilities Domain offers an integrated Asset Management System (AMS) connected with the Geographic Information System (GIS). These systems support the activity of all Distribution System Operator’s organisational structures and all business processes which require information about the network assets. The systems AMS&GIS support the processes related to the network asset information management; operation work planning, and operator’s network and equipment maintenance; and tracing and recording facility and equipment and network-related maintenance cost.
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