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This is our story of deploying a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, integrating an Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered training simulator with a Learning Management System (LMS), to train customer service agents for a leading UK-based utility provider. This significantly enhanced productivity and customer satisfaction.

As we know – The UK energy sector is facing volatility amid economic and geopolitical uncertainties, profoundly impacting both utility providers and customers. Providers are experiencing increased inquiries owing to rising consumer debt and smart metering deployments. Dissatisfaction with the call outcomes is leading to higher consumer churn.

Companies are therefore paying close attention to developing and delivering skilled and effective customer care. AI-powered solutions that simulate real-world scenarios are being leveraged to boost learning and equip agents for live customer interactions and improved outcomes

The challenge for our client, a UK-based utility provider, was – Enhancing customer service and upskilling new hires and existing personnel.

Read the full white paper here.

This is our story of leveraging automation, analytics and process re-engineering to create a unified, agile and data-driven procurement function for a leading North American energy retailer. The transformation drove significant benefits in Customer Complaint Resolution Process (CCRP), cost savings and workforce management, strengthening vendor relations and operational efficiency.

As we know – Efficient supply chain management is fundamental in the energy sector, where operational continuity, cost control and vendor relationships are essential for growth. However, fragmented systems and reliance on manual processes for basic tasks can hinder supply chain operations, delaying procurement cycles and creating missed savings opportunities.

Streamlining supply chain operations requires harnessing automation and data insights, fostering collaborations and integrating industry-leading procurement strategies to boost operations, cost savings and customer / vendor satisfaction.

The challenge for our client was – Streamlining its supply chain and procurement operations to support the company’s strategic goals.

Read the full white paper here.

This is our story of enhancing customer journeys for a leading energy retailer in the UK by streamlining operations, improving customer engagement and optimizing workforce management through process re-engineering, analytics and smart automation.

As we know - Managing customer interactions effectively is critical, especially in the competitive and highly regulated energy and utilities sector. In the UK, energy firms face ongoing fuel stress and a shift toward sustainable, affordable solutions. Complex queries, high complaint volumes and lengthy processes often lead to operational inefficiencies, affecting customer satisfaction and regulatory compliance.

By leveraging process improvements, smart automation and analytics, companies can overcome these issues to enhance customer engagement, reduce Turnaround Times (TAT) and drive better business outcomes

The challenge for out client was - Optimizing customer engagement and operational efficiency amid increasing business demands. As the company grew with multiple Lines of Business (LoB) and communication channels, it recognized the need to transform critical customer service areas to enhance satisfaction, streamline operations and ensure regulatory compliance.

Read the full white paper here.

The Mounting Challenge

In my numerous conversations with utility executives across North America, I hear the same concerns repeatedly: operational challenges are intensifying like never before. Your aging infrastructure demands more maintenance. Severe weather events require new approaches to system hardening. Your experienced workforce is rapidly retiring. And your customers expect the same digital experience they get from Amazon and Uber. The tragic water crisis in Flint demonstrated the devastating consequences of failing infrastructure, underscoring why specialized software solutions aren't merely advantageous - they're critical safeguards against potentially catastrophic system failures that impact public health and safety.
Yet most utilities continue to tackle these converging challenges with disconnected technologies that weren't designed to work together - and certainly weren't built with field teams in mind. This isn't just an IT problem; it's a fundamental business limitation that directly impacts safety, reliability, customer satisfaction, and your bottom line.

When scaled across the industry, these inefficiencies pose risks to national security, negatively affect GDP growth, and compromise our ability to build sustainable infrastructure for future generations. The situation is clear: utilities operating with siloed systems for field service, asset management, construction, and customer engagement are falling behind their more technologically integrated competitors.

From Fragmentation to Transformation: The Vision Forward

What if we looked at utility operations not as separate departments but as a unified flow of work and workforce? This is what we at KloudGin call the Single Face of Work® - a fundamental shift in how utilities approach their operations.

Research from McKinsey shows that the average utility loses 20-30% of their workforce capacity to system switching, data reconciliation, and rework from disconnected processes. These inefficiencies directly translate to higher costs, slower service restoration, and frustrated customers.
I recently worked with a mid-sized water utility that implemented our unified platform approach. By bringing together their previously disconnected systems for field service, asset management, and customer engagement, they eliminated $3.2M in annual inefficiencies and cut response times by 65%. This wasn't just a technology upgrade - it changed how they fundamentally operate.

The Three Domains of Utility Excellence: Separate Yet Interconnected

Utility executives understand that operational excellence spans three core areas: Construction Management, Asset Management, and Field Service Management. Each has distinct needs, but their interconnections provide organizations with the greatest opportunity for transformation.

Construction Management: Building the Foundation

Construction management builds and modifies your infrastructure - from initial design through commissioning. This is where you:
- Plan capital projects across multiple years
- Manage complex regulatory accounting and compliance
- Document detailed engineering specifications
- Oversee both vertical assets (substations, treatment facilities) and linear assets (pipelines, distribution networks)

Legacy construction management solutions may be equipped to handle essential project planning, but they ultimately create critical disconnections:
- Engineering specifications from the design phase rarely make it into your operational systems
- Asset hierarchies built during construction must be manually recreated in your maintenance systems
- Financial close-out often happens months after assets are already in service

One electric utility executive recently shared with me that critical engineering specifications for their recently constructed substations were taking an average of 65 days to migrate from their construction system to their asset management platform. For over two months, these multimillion-dollar assets were effectively "invisible" to maintenance teams despite being energized and serving customers.

Asset Management: Maximizing Your Infrastructure Investment

Asset management oversees the full lifecycle of your infrastructure both above ground and underground, from commissioning to retirement, facilitating the management of:
- Long-cycle work like regulatory inspections and preventive maintenance
- Short-cycle work, including corrective maintenance and small modifications
- Condition assessment and performance monitoring
- Reliability engineering and compliance reporting

Many organizations use legacy asset management systems that were originally designed for manufacturing environments and later adapted to utilities. While functional, these unspecialized systems typically create significant limitations:
- They manage long-cycle and short-cycle work separately, creating coordination nightmares
- Their poor field usability leads to documentation delays and data quality issues
- They provide limited visibility into in-progress construction
- They're disconnected from financial systems, complicating your regulatory reporting

During a recent conversation with the CIO of a gas utility, I learned their field crews were spending over 30% of their time on documentation and system navigation rather than actual maintenance work due to the limitations of their legacy system. This inefficiency directly impacts both reliability and costs.

Field Service Management: Unlocking Operational Value

Field service management drives your day-to-day operational activities that directly impact customer experience, including:
- Customer service requests and outage response
- New service connections and disconnections
- Safety investigations and repairs
- Meter operations and customer communications

Many traditional field service solutions focus on schedule optimization, but their lack of integration with other core systems creates significant operational silos:
- Without access to asset history, worker’s troubleshooting effectiveness suffers
- Disconnection from construction activities leads to coordination failures
- Limited visibility into maintenance activities hinders customer communications
- Mobile apps that require connectivity fail precisely when workers need them most - during outages

I recently visited a utility client and witnessed this situation firsthand:

On Monday, a field technician reconnected power for a new homeowner. Mid-week, a different crew replaced an aging transformer on the same street. Friday, an inspection team performed routine pole maintenance in the same area and found another issue, requiring a fourth visit the following week.

Four separate service visits, four distinct crews, a neighborhood of frustrated customers, and resources that could have been deployed more strategically -this scenario likely resonates with many utility executives. Now consider the implications during a severe weather emergency: how effectively can your organization respond when your systems and workforce operate in isolation? 

The consequences of maintaining siloed Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) and Field Service Management (FSM) systems extend far beyond operational inefficiency - they directly impact customer satisfaction, emergency response capabilities, and your bottom line. By integrating these critical systems, utilities can achieve the operational agility needed to meet both everyday service demands and extraordinary challenges when they arise.

The Real Problem: The Gaps Between Systems

For utilities, the fundamental issue isn't in any individual domain but in the disconnections between them. Each handoff between construction, asset management, and field service creates opportunities for:

- Data Loss: Critical engineering specifications never make it to your field teams
-Operational Inefficiency: Multiple crews perform redundant work due to poor coordination
-Customer Frustration: Service quality suffers when field activities aren't synchronized
-Financial Errors: Regulatory accounting and asset unitization become manual, error-prone processes

A water utility COO recently shared that they were missing essential documentation for over 35% of their newly installed assets because their construction and operations systems couldn't share data effectively. This created significant compliance risks and led to multiple instances of accidental damage during excavation work.

The Single Face of Work® Solution: Integration Without Compromise

At KloudGin, we recognize that utility operations require specialized solutions rather than generic approaches. Our unified platform is purpose-built for utilities, offering a modular architecture that integrates seamlessly with your core systems of record, including Esri ArcGIS, CIS, and ERPs. This design philosophy maintains the distinct capabilities your teams need while enabling comprehensive integration across all of your operational domains. By breaking down traditional silos between these systems, we deliver a connected ecosystem that preserves specialized functionality while creating visibility and workflow continuity throughout your organization.

Construction Management Excellence

Unlike disconnected legacy solutions, our unified approach ensures construction data flows easily into operations without complex integration projects, elevating your construction management with: 
- Streamlined Project Execution: Our construction project management capabilities reduce execution time by 30-40% compared to traditional approaches from IBM, SAP, and IFS
- Complete Asset Data Capture: Automated workflows ensure engineering specifications flow directly into your operational systems
- Flexible Asset Modeling: Support for both vertical and linear assets with automated hierarchy creation eliminates weeks of manual data entry
- Regulatory Compliance Automation: Built-in regulatory accounting and asset unitization significantly reduce financial close-out time 

Asset Management Transformation

While traditional asset management systems struggle with field usability and mobile capabilities, our field-first approach ensures that your crews spend time maintaining assets, not wrestling with cumbersome software. This delivers: 
- Unified Work Management: A single system manages both preventive maintenance programs and corrective work, enabling optimal coordination
- Complete Asset Visibility: Real-time visibility includes both in-service assets and in-progress construction across all asset types 
- Streamlined Compliance: Digital workflows automatically capture compliance data during normal work execution
- Enhanced Analytics: Unified operational data enables advanced reliability analysis across your entire asset portfolio

Field Service Excellence

Leading utilities improve their workforce coordination, performance, and efficiency with real-time connectivity and collaboration, supported by: 
- Intelligent Work Coordination: AI-powered scheduling considers both planned maintenance and customer service requests to optimize field resources
- Proactive Customer Communication: Real-time visibility into all field activities enables accurate ETAs and status updates
- Comprehensive Field Knowledge: Crews arrive on site with access to complete asset histories and customer information
- True Mobile Capability: Field-first design operates regardless of connectivity, ensuring effectiveness during outages

The Exponential Value of Operational Unification

By unifying your operations across domains, you create exponential benefits that siloed approaches cannot match:

Construction + Asset Management Integration

When construction and asset management share a unified platform:
- Assets transition from project to operations without data loss
- Maintenance begins immediately upon commissioning, not after financial close
- Engineering specifications flow directly into maintenance procedures
- Asset modifications maintain complete history across the lifecycle

A gas utility eliminated over $2.3M in annual inefficiencies by integrating construction and asset management on our platform. More importantly, they eliminated the month-and-a-half-long gap between asset commissioning and maintenance visibility, significantly reducing compliance risks.

Asset Management + Field Service Integration

When asset management and field service operate on a common foundation:
- Field crews have always-on access to complete asset history and specifications
- Customer service requests and maintenance activities are intelligently bundled
- Real-time asset updates flow immediately to customer-facing systems
- Field observations automatically trigger appropriate maintenance workflows

One of our water utility partners improved their first-time fix rates by 37% by providing field crews with comprehensive asset information. This directly improved both their operational efficiency and overall customer satisfaction.

Construction + Field Service Coordination

When construction and field service share unified visibility:
- Customer service activities coordinate with nearby construction projects
- Service requests can trigger appropriate capital improvements
- Construction impacts on customers are accurately communicated
- Field crews provide valuable input into construction planning

A multi-service utility on the West Coast eliminated over $4M in annual costs by enabling this cross-domain coordination. Customer satisfaction scores increased significantly as service disruptions became less frequent and more predictable.

The Five Pillars of Utility Operational Excellence

Based on our close partnerships with utilities across the country, we've identified five essential pillars for operational excellence:

1. Unified Operational Platform: Every handoff between systems creates an opportunity for error. Louisville Water eliminated these by unifying all work types and asset types in a single system, significantly improving their operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.

2. Field-First Design Philosophy: There's a critical distinction between solutions built for field workers versus those adapted for field use. California Water Service achieved 98% operational efficiency during wildfire response by deploying a platform designed first for field workers with robust offline capabilities.

3. Cloud-Native Architecture: On-premise solutions simply cannot deliver the agility modern utilities require. By transitioning to a cloud-native approach, one of our multi-service utility partners reduced IT costs by 45% while improving system availability during storm events.

4. Intelligent Work Orchestration: Multiple scheduling systems create operational limitations. Our gas and electric utility partner reduced emergency response times by 40% with the implementation of unified scheduling across employee crews, contractors, and mutual aid resources.

5. Continuous Innovation Delivery: As the pace of change in utility operations accelerates, the utilities that thrive will be those with technology foundations that enable continuous adaptation rather than periodic, disruptive upgrades.

The Digital Customer Imperative

Alongside all of the operational challenges your organization is facing, your customers now expect the same transparency, responsiveness, and digital engagement they receive from other services. Our research shows that 80% of utility customers now expect real-time updates and digital engagement - a standard that fragmented operations and outdated systems cannot meet.

Leading utilities are leveraging real-time field data to enhance both service quality and customer communications. One of our gas utility partners now provides real-time safety updates during leak response, significantly improving community trust. Similarly, a leading water utility achieved 60% higher customer satisfaction ratings after implementing direct customer communication capabilities via our integrated platform.

Your customers don't differentiate between your internal systems. They expect consistent visibility into services that impact their homes and businesses. Only a complete, end-to-end solution can deliver the frictionless customer experience modern consumers expect.

The Time for Transformation Is Now

The path to operational excellence isn't one of incremental improvement but of fundamental transformation. The utilities that will excel over the next decade aren't simply digitizing their existing processes - they're redesigning how work flows throughout their organizations.

This new approach begins with a simple question: if we were designing utility operations today without the constraints of legacy approaches, how would we structure our technology and processes?

The answer leads to an integrated operational approach that preserves specialized capabilities while eliminating artificial boundaries between systems and departments. It embraces a field-first design philosophy that puts critical information in the hands of those who need it most while leveraging cloud-native architecture to enable continuous innovation rather than disruptive upgrades.

The operational challenges you face today demand this comprehensive approach - one built on a foundation of unified data, processes, and experiences. The Single Face of Work® paradigm isn't merely a technology upgrade; it's a fundamental transformation in how utilities fulfill their mission of safe, reliable, and cost-effective service.

The evidence is clear: utilities that embrace this approach are achieving measurable advantages in operational efficiency, service quality, and customer satisfaction. The question isn't whether you can afford to transform your operations - it's whether you can afford not to.

Your customers, workforce, infrastructure, and the nation demand an integrated approach to achieve both service excellence and cost efficiency. Forward-thinking utilities will thrive by establishing operational unity - the Single Face of Work® - as their foundation. By eliminating traditional silos between enterprise asset management and field service management, you enable your organization to make faster, more informed decisions while delivering the reliability and value your stakeholders expect. By connecting these critical operational domains, you position your utility not just to meet today's challenges but to capitalize on tomorrow's opportunities in our increasingly complex utility landscape. 

Empower the modern utility workforce with KloudGin’s Single Face of Work®. Visit the KloudGin website to learn more. https://kloudgin.com/

About the Author
Vikram Takru 
Co-founder and CEO, KloudGin Inc. 

Vikram Takru serves as Chief Executive Officer of KloudGin, where he leads the company's strategic direction and growth initiatives. A seasoned technology executive with over two decades of industry experience, Vikram has established himself as a visionary in field service and asset management solutions.

Under his leadership, KloudGin has developed the utility industry's only cloud-native, mobile-first combined field service and asset management platform. This innovative solution eliminates operational silos and delivers critical information to field crews when and where they need it most.
Before founding KloudGin, Vikram successfully built and led Frontline Consulting Services (FCS), scaling the company to 500+ employees and more than $40 million in revenue in under four years, culminating in a successful acquisition by TEKSystems. Earlier in his career, he held the position of Senior Director of R&D at Oracle.

Vikram's deep industry knowledge and commitment to technological innovation continue to drive KloudGin's mission to transform field operations and asset management for utilities through connected, cloud-based solutions.

This is our story of leveraging data engineering, Machine Learning (ML) and advanced analytics to enable accurate cash flow forecasting, enhance visibility and streamline reporting across business units for the CFO's office of a leading telecommunications services provider.

As we know – Effective cash flow management is critical to an organization’s financial stability. It demands accurate planning, real-time visibility and the ability to track forecast-to-actual variances. For large utilities organizations with complex structures, managing cash flow becomes challenging due to fragmented reporting and a lack of transparency across units, which can hinder strategic planning.

Advanced data analytics and ML provide a transformative solution, empowering the CFO’s office with near real-time insights for data-driven decision-making and improved financial planning.

The challenge for our client, a leading telecom provider, was – Optimizing the efficiency and transparency of its cash flow management across multiple business units to support its long-term strategic objectives and drive more effective financial planning.

Read the full white paper here.

Prestigious award, full-scale deployments, and new engagement platform functionality highlight 2022

Apogee Interactive, Inc., a leading provider of customer engagement and energy analysis software for utilities, announced today record performance and results for their utility clients in 2022.

Major highlights include:
• A prestigious utility industry award.
• Multiple utility pilot deployments with some of the largest IOUs in the country went full scale.
• New functionality for Apogee’s customer engagement platform.

Prestigious utility award for Personalized Video Reliability Reports

The year brought recognition from Chartwell’s well-respected EMACS awards, with Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) winning the 2022 Best Practices Gold Communications Award for their use of Apogee’s Personalized Video Messaging. This marked the utility industry’s first use of Personalized Video Messaging to communicate residential reliability. The Personalized Video Reliability Reports showed each customer their electric reliability compared to the previous year. Results showed that more than half of customers had a more favorable impression of ComEd after watching the video.

Forward-looking utilities adopting and expanding the use of Apogee’s digital engagement platform

Apogee’s clients include many of the nation’s largest, most innovative, and forward-looking utilities across Investor-Owned Utilities, Municipal, and Cooperative industry segments. In 2022, utilities started pilots, upgraded subscriptions to include personalized video messaging, or decided to deploy full-scale solutions, resulting in millions of additional utility customers receiving relevant messaging as utilities see the value of proactive and personalized communications.

Recent case studies have proven that utilities partnering with Apogee in 2022 reaped the benefits of using the robust digital communications platform that provides year-round support and includes customized marketing strategies that meet and exceed their goals.
Using Apogee’s proprietary engagement and communication platform, utilities are achieving increased customer awareness, driving higher program participation, reducing high bill calls, and producing higher customer satisfaction.

During 2022, utilities using the platform have seen extraordinary results:
• 20+ million personalized messages sent
• 37 million utility programs promoted
• 10% increase in program participation
• Click-through rates averaging more than 15%
• 93%+ utility customers reported they did not need to contact the call center after receiving Apogee’s personalized video bill explanation
• Apogee’s Energy Advisor application identified $319 million in energy savings and over 1.7 million metric tons of carbon reduction.

New platform capabilities for expanded customer engagement

Apogee continued its successful decades-long communications platform expansion, including tools that educate customers on essential topics, including rate and payment options, reliability, electric vehicles, renewables, and energy efficiency programs. New functionality rolled out to existing Apogee clients in late 2022 includes Energy Monitor and an advanced EV Rate Calculator.

Jim Malcom, COO of Apogee Interactive, stated, “Apogee is pleased with the results our utility clients have seen in 2022 and are looking forward to expanding several large pilots to full scale in 2023. Our robust digital platform, customized strategy, and ongoing support has proven to be an asset for our utility clients.”

About Apogee

Apogee Interactive, Inc. is a leading provider of customer engagement services for utilities, serving the energy industry since 1993. Apogee’s customer engagement platform helps utilities establish ongoing digital relationships with customers, helping them engage and educate customers, reduce costs, achieve behavioral energy efficiency, and grow customer satisfaction. Apogee’s solution enables personalized, relevant, video-based messaging through multiple channels, drives self-service, and improves operational efficiencies through marketing automation. Apogee’s loyal client base includes Commonwealth Edison, Liberty Utilities, ConEd, Duquesne, Tampa Electric, People’s Gas, CenterPoint, Xcel Energy, LADWP, and hundreds of other IOU, municipal, cooperative, and gas utilities. For more information, visit www.apogee.net or LinkedIn.


Contact: Karen Morris kmorris@apogee.net 678-684-6801

August 26, 2024; Louisville, KY—Virtual Peaker, a cloud-based, grid-edge distributed energy technology company that empowers utilities to build the grid of the future and meet global decarbonization goals, is proud to announce a collaborative partnership and technology integration with Mysa, a market leader in smart control for electric heating systems.

More and more utilities are preparing to manage electricity demand peaks in winter in addition to summer, especially in cold climates with a high penetration of electric heat. By controlling the energy consumption of Mysa’s thermostats connected to baseboard heating, Virtual Peaker expands the accessibility of utility demand management programs to residents in buildings without forced air heating systems. Allowing more customers to participate in demand management programs with their Mysa devices supports:

● Equity since baseboard heating is often in smaller and sometimes older
residences
● Benefits to customers that may have been previously ineligible due to
their heating system to participate in programs that offer financial
incentives
● Whole home optimization because commands are sent to each Mysa
device in a household

“Virtual Peaker’s grid-edge technology, combined with Mysa’s innovative smart thermostat solutions, provides a seamless and efficient way for utilities to manage winter demand peaks and contribute to a more sustainable energy future,” said Virtual Peaker Founder and CEO William Burke, PhD.

“Mysa is thrilled to partner with Virtual Peaker to leverage our smart home energy management technology to build a better future for our planet,” said Joshua Green, Cofounder and CEO at Mysa. “Empowering electric baseboard heating to participate in demand management programs supports equitable eligibility and expands the scale of utility grid modernization.”

Since December 2023, three utility programs, one in the Pacific Northwest and two in Eastern Canada that use Virtual Peaker’s distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) added Mysa’s smart thermostats to their portfolio of devices.

“A successful winter demand response program begins with foresight and planning,” said Steph Hsiung, Manager of Flexible Load Management at ICF. “While discomfort from cold is a common concern for customers, Virtual Peaker’s platform mitigates this by sending pre-heating commands and allowing for granular device control. Including Mysa’s smart thermostats for electric baseboard heaters in utility demand response programs provides a robust portfolio of technology that can ensure a successful winter-specific demand management strategy.”

For more information on this partnership and how it benefits energy users and the grid, please visit www.virtual-peaker.com.

About Virtual Peaker
Virtual Peaker is a cloud-based distributed energy technology company that empowers utilities to build the grid of the future and meet global decarbonization goals. Through its cutting-edge software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, the company seamlessly integrates distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) components, customer engagement, and load forecasting. Virtual Peaker's groundbreaking technology, Topline Demand Control, paves the way for the next generation of virtual power plant capabilities. To learn more, please visit virtual-peaker.com or connect on LinkedIn and X via @VirtualPeaker.

About Mysa
Based in St. John’s, Newfoundland, Mysa’s mission is to fight climate change by empowering homeowners to take control of their energy use with innovative technology. Mysa’s smart thermostats for electric heating and cooling HVAC systems are designed to help users manage their household energy spend, decarbonize the grid, and build a more sustainable future for our planet. Since first shipping in 2018, Mysa has launched 4 products and helped hundreds of thousands of homeowners all across North America take smart control of their home’s heating and cooling without compromising on comfort. For more information visit: getmysa.com.

Media Contacts
Amber Mullaney | amullaney@virtual-peaker.com | 502-689-0249
Kathleen Van Gorden | kathleen@doermaker.com | 401-480-1840

September 19, 2024; Louisville, KY—Virtual Peaker, a leading cloud-based grid-edge technology company dedicated to advancing the future of energy and supporting global decarbonization goals, announced today a strategic partnership with FranklinWH Energy Storage Inc. (FranklinWH), a pioneer in home energy management and battery solutions. This collaboration allows utilities to support household consumption intelligently and decrease peak load on the grid.

As the demand for sustainable and resilient energy solutions grows, this integration combines Virtual Peaker’s robust grid-edge distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) software with FranklinWH’s Home Power solutions.

Key benefits of the integration include:
 

• Enhanced Load Flexibility: Utilities can utilize advanced battery storage capabilities to manage and reduce peak loads more effectively, resulting in significant operational efficiencies and cost savings.
• Improved Grid Stability: Integrating battery storage with Virtual Peaker’s technology solution ensures a more resilient and reliable energy grid, benefiting all stakeholders.
• Increased Operational Flexibility for Virtual Power Plants (VPPs): Battery storage enhances the dynamic management and balancing of energy flows within VPPs, enabling them to better adapt to changing grid conditions and market opportunities.
• Cost Reduction for Consumers: By participating in demand response and Time of Use (TOU) programs, as well as capturing available rebates, consumers who own batteries can lower their overall ownership and energy costs.

"Virtual Peaker is committed to driving innovation in the energy sector, and our partnership with FranklinWH represents another step forward in achieving our vision," said Colin Lamb, VP of Delivery at Virtual Peaker. “By integrating our DERMS with FranklinWH’s leading battery storage technology, we offer utilities a powerful tool to enhance grid reliability and support their sustainability goals."

The integration is currently deployed with two utility customers, and more programs are scheduled for the future.

"Integrating FranklinWH battery storage technology into PGE’s Smart Battery pilot, with the Virtual Peaker platform, will enhance resilience for our customers, as well as benefit the entire grid as we build Oregon’s clean energy future," said Audrey Burkhardt, Manager of Energy Storage and Resilience at Portland General Electric.

“FranklinWH is pleased to partner with Virtual Peaker to deliver value to energy users and the grid. Together, we can leverage our advanced power systems and Virtual Peaker’s dynamic DER management solutions to deliver reliable power and financial incentives to consumers who own batteries while supporting grid modernization," said Vincent Ambrose, Chief Commercial Officer at FranklinWH.

To learn more, visit https://virtual-peaker.com/partners/device-partners/ and https://www.franklinwh.com/.

About Virtual Peaker
Virtual Peaker is a cloud-based distributed energy technology company that empowers utilities to build the grid of the future and meet global decarbonization goals. Through its cutting-edge software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, the company seamlessly integrates distributed energy resource management system (DERMS) components, customer engagement, and load forecasting. Virtual Peaker's groundbreaking technology, Topline Demand Control, paves the way for the next generation of virtual power plant capabilities. To learn more, please visit virtual-peaker.com or connect on LinkedIn and X via @VirtualPeaker.

About FranklinWH
FranklinWH Energy Storage Inc. is the manufacturer of the Franklin Home Power system. FranklinWH is a research-driven company focused on next-generation residential energy management and storage solutions. Headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, FranklinWH's team has decades of experience in energy systems, from design, through manufacturing, to sales and installation. FranklinWH is AVL-listed with multiple financial institutions. Learn more about how homeowners can achieve energy independence at franklinwh.com.

 

Media Contacts
Amber Mullaney | amullaney@virtual-peaker.com | 502-689-0249
Kathleen Van Gorden | kathleen@doermaker.com | 401-480-1840

In this white paper, you'll discover: The power of a single source of truth for enhancing customer experience. Tools and strategies to access the right messaging and data effortlessly. Tips for a swift and efficient alignment of support reps.

Find the paper on TextExpander's website.

For more information, contact Cooper Rick at Cooper@TextExpander.com.

BURNABY, BC – January 30, 2024 – Tantalus Systems (TSX: GRID) (“Tantalus” or the “Company”), a smart grid technol ogy company focused on helping build sustainable utilities for the future, announces the launch of the Tantalus Grid Modernization Platform™ (TGMP™), including TRUSync, an industry-defining grid data management system. TGMP is a technology platform that helps utilities accelerate their grid modernization efforts. The platform includes a smart grid architecture comprised of connected devices, communications networks, grid data management, applications and analytics. TRUSync, an expansion of the software acquired through Tantalus’ acquisition of Congruitive in 2022, is a ground-breaking middleware layer that delivers true interoperability and automates the integration of all utility data captured from any device, any system and any vendor.

The need for this type of platform has never been greater. In a survey of 116 utilities finalized by Tantalus in 2023, 93% said that modernizing their distribution grid was an important priority while only 11% felt completely prepared to do so. Grid modernization requires utilities to harness the power of data across all devices located throughout the entire distribution grid — from devices deployed inside the substation to distributed energy resources (DERs) and smart appliances located behind the meter.

“To modernize, utilities must shift their perspective from traditionally being device-centric to becoming data-centric,” said Peter Londa, President and CEO of Tantalus. “The real challenge confronting utilities seeking to modernize their grid is data management, not a lack of powerful connected and intelligent devices. Grid modernization requires the integration of an increasing amount of data from a growing number of connected devices in a synchronized manner. To fully achieve grid modernization, utilities must access untapped value through data interoperability.”

By offering a modular approach, TGMP enables utilities to be more surgical and strategic in their deployments while minimizing the cost of prematurely abandoning existing investments and assets. The platform delivers unprecedented levels of visibility, command and control and provides an autonomous, flexible, secure and affordable path to grid modernization.

An integral component of TGMP is TRUSync, a middleware layer that sits between a utility’s connected devices and the software applications and analytics packages that use the data those devices generate. The power of TRUSync comes from true data interoperability delivered through a groundbreaking library of protocols and data models. The software generates a unified, single version of the truth that bridges the gap between Operational Technology (OT) and Information Technology (IT). This represents a first for the industry and serves as a catalyst for grid modernization.

In addition, Tantalus is rebranding its existing suite of solutions to align the overall platform, including:

• TRUConnect™ AMI: Tantalus’ purpose-built edge computing endpoints that are capable of integrating a wide range of field devices and meters across a robust communications network and a suite of software applications.
• TRUGrid™ Automation: Tantalus’ rapidly expanding suite of applications and data analytics that leverage AI to anticipate and proactively respond to challenges arising from failing distribution equipment, such as transformers, extreme weather events or imbalances between the supply and demand of electricity.
• TRUFlex™ Load+DER Management: Tantalus’ solution to help utilities manage a wide variety of residential and commercial loads responsively, reliably and flexibly while reducing costs associated with power outages and improving operational efficiencies.
• TRUSense Gateway™: Tantalus’ innovative suite of collar-based connected devices that deliver AMI 2.0 functionality without unnecessarily ripping and replacing existing meters. These devices also capture substation-level power quality measurements at the meter socket and deliver a utility-dedicated and secure connection to DERs and smart appliances located behind the meter. TRUSense Gateways also enhance investments in fiber-to-the-home broadband initiatives.

“TGMP was designed to empower utilities to modernize the grid at their own pace,” continued Tantalus President and CEO Peter Londa. “If a utility has already deployed pieces of our platform from Tantalus or another vendor, no problem. Our focus on interoperability and our unwavering commitment to reverse-compatibility helps customers leverage existing investments and mitigate risks associated with vendor lock-in. TGMP delivers a comprehensive and unified platform that enables utilities to tackle near-term challenges while pursuing a long-term and necessary goal of truly modernizing distribution grids.”

For more information about the Tantalus Grid Modernization Platform, TRUSync, and the company’s suite of solutions, visit the company’s new website at: www.tantalus.com. 

About Tantalus Systems Holding Inc. (TSX: GRID)
Tantalus is a smart grid technology company that transforms aging one-way grids into future-proofed multi-directional grids that improve the efficiency, reliability and sustainability of utilities and the communities they serve. Our solutions are purpose-built to allow utilities to restore power quickly after major disruptions, adapt to rapidly shifting consumer expectations and population shifts, innovate new solutions based on the adoption of distributed energy resources and evolve their grid infrastructure at their own pace without needless cost or complexity. All this gives our user community the flexibility they need to get the most value from existing infrastructure investments while planning for future requirements. Learn more at http://www.tantalus.com/. 

Forward-Looking Information:
This news release includes information, statements, beliefs and opinions which are forward-looking, and which reflect current estimates, expectations and projections about future events, including, but not limited to, the adoption, performance, functionality and development of the Tantalus Grid Modernization Platform, TRUSync, TRUConnect AMI, TRUGrid Automation, TRUFlex Load+DER Management and TRUSense Gateways, the issues anticipated to face utilities relating to the modernization of the distribution grid and how those issues can best be addressed, the leveraging of broadband deployments, , the ability of Tantalus’ solutions to assist customers in addressing such issues in an effective and flexible manner, and other statements that contain words such as “believe,” “expect,” “project,” “should,” “seek,” “anticipate,” “will,” “intend,” “positioned,” “risk,” “plan,” “may,” “estimate,” or, in each case, their negative and words of s imilar meaning. By its nature, forward-looking information involves a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. These risks, uncertainties and assumptions could adversely affect the outcome of the plans and events described herein. Readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information, which is based on the information available as of the date of this news release and Tantalus disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information contained in this new release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by applicable law. The forward-looking information included in this news release is expressly qualified in its entirety by this cautionary statement.