AN 11th-hour decision to nominate for a national award has paid off for a Perth-based gas transmission company.
Epic Energy nominated for the e-business category of the 2001 Managing Information Strategies awards on the closing day of submissions and was recognised for its online solution to interacting with its customers.
The Customer Reporting System allows online billing, reporting and scheduling of customers’ gas supply in real time.
According to Epic Energy information technology and telecommunications manager Keith Jeffers, the integrated system replaces a cumbersome and time-consuming group of stand-alone databases.
“It was cumbersome because there were multiple systems and also because it was pretty labour intensive,” Mr Jeffers said.
“There was no automation of the customer data, it was effectively massaged by people.”
The new system, developed in conjunction with Adelaide tech firm SYDAC, gives clients greater control over gas sales and transportation. Epic worked in close consultation with its clients, including Western Power and Queensland’s Santos, to deliver the best solution.
“They’ve been extremely helpful in the development of (CRS). They’ve worked as partners through the development process to give us the input they’d like to see go into it as well as testing it,” Mr Jeffers said.
“They have a lot better interaction with us now. They’re getting timely data and a lot more accurate data.”
The system brings Australia’s gas industry a step closer to developing an online gas trading market, similar to what is already in place in with electrical utilities. The technology will result in clients trading unused gas on an online market with other users.
