CLIENT 7

L’Autorità per l’Energia Elettrica ed il Gas is an independent institution founded in 1995 to regulate and control the Electric and Gas Energy Industry.

THE CONTEXT

After the introduction of new automated electronic remote-control counters for electricity, the Authority wanted to evaluate if and how it might move ahead in introducing similar counters in the gas energy industry determining:

• if it was technologically possible,
• how much time and how much money the distribution of such systems would require,
• what benefits there would be for the customers, the distributors themselves and the entire circuit of gas distribution and sales.

These deliberations necessitated the eventual consideration of replacing more than 18 million gas counters in Italy, an enormous turnaround in the realm of gas distribution and sales, that would offer precise realtime information on consumption and use of networks, with possible benefits to consumers.

BLUPETER’S CONTRIBUTION

Blupeter aided the Authority in carrying out preliminary analysis in evaluating the availability of technology and systems suited to the enterprise:

• Scouting existing systems and potential suppliers
• Evaluating functionality and performance levels
• Evaluating communication technologies and protocols
• Evaluating costs in relation to sales volume and levels of industrialization

such measures taken in other european countries and supporting the Authority in setting requisites according to feasibility and cost.

The benefits were evaluated as well

• on operating costs of gas distribution and sales companies,
• for the entire gas industry, which having liberalized sales, no longer has centralized data useful in predicting consumption (useful for maximizing wholesale acquisitions and relative stockpiles) and for a targeted offering to a single cluster of clientele
• for clients, by getting rid of the approximative billing, for the availability of a wider offering and greater competition.

Under these considerations, a pay-back of the investment was calculated for distributors, broken down as well into cost benefits to various segments of clientele and Utilities of varying sizes.

On the basis of these studies and successive and ongoing comparisons, the Authority has defined future tariff components relative to the measurement of gas and is in the process of deliberations that will become guidelines for the industry.