The Board of Trustees for Texas public power utility CPS Energy approved a contract selecting Oracle America as the vendor for the utility’s new Enterprise Resource Planning platform.
“This announcement marks a milestone in CPS Energy’s efforts to modernize its 20-year-old business operating system with Oracle’s integrated utility platform,” the utility said on April 22.
The approved contract for the software is valued at $70 million “and serves as another step in achieving the utility’s promise to invest in critical areas with funds from the recently approved rate increase,” it said.
Laying this foundation over the next few years will enable more personalized experiences with customers, expand customer self-service and payment options, and meet community commitments for bill and rate redesign, CPS Energy said.
CPS Energy will streamline its operations by using Oracle’s utility software to integrate real-time data from finance, supply chain, human resources, administrative, and customer service into a single platform.
“This technology will create more visibility across all the utility’s divisions, resulting in better analytics, improved operational efficiencies, and more resilient and reliable technology,” the utility said.
In addition, CPS Energy’s crews will benefit from the newest field service management tools that will help auto-schedule and dispatch workers faster throughout the service area and improve service restoration times.
Oracle’s software will also allow the utility to better track, visualize, and analyze the performance of its assets and maximize the return on investment of capital projects.
The utility’s outdated software infrastructure will be replaced and funded by the 4.25% rate increase that went into effect on February 1, 2024, following community input and approval by the Board of Trustees and San Antonio’s City Council.
Beyond the investment in technology, CPS Energy’s rate increase will cover costs to upgrade aging physical infrastructure, invest in more system reliability, physical and cyber security as well as workforce planning.
To learn more about the utility’s ERP transformation program, click here. To learn more about CPS Energy’s Vision 2027, click here.
