Utilities Generate Economic Benefits from Fiber

Many utilities have a long-standing relationship with fiber networks for monitoring and controlling their power distribution grids and it’s one that is increasingly proving valuable to the communities they serve both in terms of improving electric services and generating measurable economic benefits to their customers. “The cost of power outages to our communities is tremendous,” said Katie Espeseth, Vice President of New Products at EPB and FBA Power Utilities Roundtable Chair. “The cost of power outages to Chattanooga was nearly $100 million a year. It’s a cost to our customers as lost productivity if the cash registers or point of sale terminals are not working. If we could improve reliability and cut those outages in minutes and instances, we could provide a huge benefit to our community.” Ten years after turning up its Smart Grid infrastructure, EPB has reduced power outage instances by 65% percent and outage minutes by 52%, translating into nearly $50 million dollars of wealth or productivity the community has gained with improved service. Fiber is now moving from a power utility management tool to something much more. “We consider broadband service an essential utility,” said Pete Hoffswell, Superintendent of Broadband Services at Holland Board of Public Works. “If the Internet service for your business goes out, you can’t run the cash register. We have downtown restaurants with a momentary internet outage, it’s a major panic.”