Swedish utility Birka is subcontracting postal workers to read meters using wireless devices.
Birka, Sweden’s third-largest energy supplier, has built a wireless field service based on Oracle’s 9i Application Server Wireless Edition database product to subcontract meter reading to postal workers. The postal workers use a handheld wireless device to relay information back to Birka’s customer database directly. So not only are meter readings accurate, but they are also up to date and at a reduced cost.
In return, the postal service is able to generate greater revenues. The postal service could ultimately extend this project to cover all utilities in a market – and indeed, expand it to cover all utility markets. Suppliers should be able to cut the costs of customer service whilst the post office boosts its own coffers.
Birka already has Internet-based district heating metering equipment for all its customers in Stockholm, where readings are taken every 15 minutes and sent together at night via radio to the company’s central computers. The facility not only saves money for Birka, but also means that customers can use the Internet to access data on how much energy they have used. The utility can also shut off power at predetermined times.
For any company with a large customer base – Birka is the principal utility in Stockholm – both these applications offer huge savings. Many other utilities in Sweden and abroad are expected to follow suit in the future in order to bring down the cost of serving customers and improve competitiveness.
