Without strategic executive leadership and involvement of all departments, utilities embarking on Smart Grid projects risk near-term revenue loss, less-than-optimal service delivery, and long-term excessive IT costs that customers and communities may not tolerate. Executive leadership and top-down design of Smart Grid projects can ensure maximum benefits at minimum long-term costs.

Ergon Energy’s 800,000 plus power poles are located throughout regional and remote Queensland, Australia, providing 580,000 residential and business customers with a quality, reliable electricity supply. When high-level work orders and maintenance plans for the poles are released to the various contractors and internal staffing bodies, planners then take the available work and distribute it out to the field inspectors. In addition to performing routine maintenance, the inspectors are then required to update a number of details about the pole, including the number of attached assets (lights, switches), defects and any minor maintenance conducted, for ongoing asset management purposes. It takes approximately three years for all power poles in Ergon’s power distribution infrastructure to be inspected.