Quality Failures Can Leave You In the Dark

July 13, 2019, a massive power outage plunged a significant portion of New York City into darkness. The outage began Saturday just before 7:00 pm. 73,000 people were in the dark until just after midnight. 

A five-hour power outage may seem relatively insignificant. It certainly pales in comparison to some other more famous power outages. For example, on March 31, 2015, 70 million people in Turkey were without power for more than seven hours. On July 31, 2012, 670 million people in India lost power for between two and eight hours. The famous North American blackout on August 14, 2003 impacted significant portions of the northwestern U.S. and Canada, with more than 50 million people in the dark for between 16-72 hours in the USA and up to 192 hours in Canada. (Veloza and Santamaria 2016)  

New York, however, is one of the world’s most significant metropolitan centres, the hub for a financial network that spans the globe. When a location like New York loses critical infrastructure, the impacts cascade and resonate across financial, transportation, and business systems. 

Power … Read more...

Edison Electric Institute, Elon Musk & the Future of Utilities

Last week marked the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) annual convention, which was held this year in New Orleans and hosted 800 utility executives from June 7-10.

The 2015 convention was an unusual one. In the past, the electrical utility industry has not always been especially interested in discussing alternative forms of energy. This year’s event, however, promised to “showcase the ideas and innovations that are transforming the future of the electric power sector.” The convention delivered, kicking off the week with a discussion featuring Tesla founder Elon Musk. A bold choice, given recent global headlines that range from “Musk Battery Works Fill Utilities with Fear and Promise” (December 2014, Bloomberg) to “Elon Musk is Both Utility Killer and Utility Savior” (May 2015, Business Spectator). To say that the industry’s feelings are mixed might be an understatement.

The electric utility industry is a large market responsible for $372 Read more...

Benefits of mobile on the rise for energy and utilities companies

More and more, here in the Intelex Energy and Utilities team, we’re seeing a strong need for mobile access in all areas of the Energy-Utilities community. Energy is generated and delivered in a variety of ways throughout the world and reaches out far from centralized stations and hubs. Therefore, the need to have mobile access on a residential, commercial and/or corporate level is becoming much more of a ‘must-have’.  

Whether it’s through downloaded apps or web-based access, residential and commercial customers can quickly report an outage and check on restoration status or have at-a-glance visibility into outages within their communities.  They can easily access their account summary and history, make payments or submit a meter reading.  Utility companies themselves are able to relay information throughout the organization very quickly, 24 hours a day.

Outside of the direct impact on customers, these companies can leverage the right web-based mobile solutions … Read more...

Make sure you aren’t overlooking safety observations….

In the world of Power Utilities, the idea of recordable incidents, corrective actions, refresher training, etc. often comes up. What is becoming more and more apparent with an increase in overall Safety Awareness is a move towards safety observations and exchanges.

Employees are now, more than ever, being encouraged to record an observation around safety to be more proactive and prevent future incidents from taking place. Always looking for and recognizing potential hazards doesn’t mean there’s a need for more training or a “process” to be launched, it can just be something for other employees should be made aware of; either by recording it in a system or just a discussion over the water cooler or during a monthly evaluation with management.

Safety exchanges are shared at the start of meetings, or again during employee evaluations to further promote safety awareness company-wide. As a result of this proactive behavior, we’re … Read more...

Intelex electrifies at EUEC 2012

The year of 2012 is already well underway, and Intelex is gearing up for an action-packed year of events to attend to around the world.  The first on the list is the 15th annual Energy, Utility and Environment Conference (EUEC) in Phoenix, Arizona. 

Taking place January 30th to February 1st, this exciting event plays host to the top environmental leaders, energy executives, NGOs and government policy makers from around the globe in to the name of exchanging best practices and working toward renewable energy solutions for the future.

As a returning solutions provider, Intelex is thrilled to be involved.  “EUEC is always a great event to connect with top industry specialists,” says Intelex’s own senior solutions expert, Fraser Dickie. “We’ve developed valuable relationships from this show in previous years and we’re excited to be back!”

Be sure to visit the Intelex team this week at booth 214/216.… Read more...

Oman Electricity’s Intelex-powered EHS system featured in Omani Times

Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC), a massive utility provider covering the entire nation of Oman, had its environment, health and safety (EHS, or HSE in the Middle East) management system featured in the Times of Oman today. OETC’s HSE management system is provided by Intelex with the help of Middle East partner Barik Group.

OETC has implemented Intelex’s complete EHS management solutions, and leverages the system to manage auditing, nonconformances, incident and near-miss reporting, safety meetings, KPI reporting, and much more. Across the region, utility companies must meet stringent regulatory EHS and reporting requirements.

As OETC GM Said Al Hadabi remarks in the Omani Times article:

(The) online reporting system has played a vital role not only keeping OETC in compliance with regulations and standards, but also in maintaining a safe workplace across all the sites. OETC will now have a 360-degree view of not only their employees’ activities, Read more...

EPA extends power plant emissions deadline…slightly

While its ambitious agenda to curb greenhouse gases (GHG) has been delayed, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is still moving ahead in full force to have power plants – one of the biggest contributors of GHGs – cut emissions drastically.

The EPA announced late last year it would move to push new, strict emissions performance standards on plants and refineries. The move faced stiff opposition from U.S. Republicans, as well as some others opposed to imposed limits on emissions, since it was viewed as a move by EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson to make up for the fact President Barack Obama failed to pass promised environmental legislation in his first term in office. However, the EPA had a legal mandate from the Supreme Court to move forward on carbon emissions cuts.

This week the EPA indicating it is budging, but only slightly. Its new deadline for proposing a GHG performance standard has … Read more...

‘If we don’t pass the audit, you can fire me’: Achieving the flawless EMS audit

 

Joey Ebanks, EHS and Training Manager for Caribbean Utilities Company (CUC) and Intelex client, dropped by the Intelex offices in Toronto, Canada this week to make a presentation to Intelexians on how CUC is using Intelex software, and how it has boosted the performance of its EHS programs.

Below is an excerpt from his presentation, an excellent anecdote that reflects Joey’s confidence as he entered an audit of his environmental management system (EMS) last month:

“In April we had a surveillance audit. The auditor came back in to look at 50 per cent of our EMS system. And I actually took the weekend off and went to Fort Lauderdale, had some fun. My boss, our VP, was very upset that I was not there, making sure everyone was ready for the audit. But I was absolutely sure we were ready. In fact I said to him, ‘I’m 99 … Read more...

Intelex builds relationships with utility providers across Oman

Courtesy of the help of its Middle East partner, Barik IT Group, Intelex Technologies is cornering the market on providing comprehensive EHS management software solutions to utility companies across OMAN. 

Recently, Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC) joined Muscat Electricity Distribution Company, Al-Ghubrah Power and Desalination and Majan Electricity Company by turning to Intelex for its industry-leading EHS software solutions.

Check out our Press Room for more details on this exciting new relationship and Intelex’s continuing growth across the Middle East.… Read more...

The Intelex Family Supports their Client AECI at the AREGC

Last week, Intelex’s energy solutions specialist Steve Ross was at the Association Rural Electric Generation Cooperatives (AREGC), where hosts Associated Electric Cooperative Inc. (AECI) welcomed him into their backyard.

Steve joined AECI in their friendly hometown of Branson, Missouri to support the energy provider and show how scalable and configurable Intelex software can be. Steve had a great time at this four-day event, meeting with power utility coops and offering software solutions.

With a great mix of business and pleasure, the event was a huge success. Intelex can’t wait to participate again next year in Salt Lake City, Utah with hosts Deseret Power.

To find out more about the software solutions Intelex has for Environment, Health & Safety and Quality visit our product pages.… Read more...