Software firms gain from power billing reforms

The software demands of the electricity industry have created a growth industry behind the scenes, writes MARK REYNOLDS.

For most electricity consumers it might seem that all of the ownership upheaval that has occurred within power companies over the past couple of years has been meaningless.

After all, the process of receiving and paying the monthly power bill has not changed for most people.

But behind the scenes, accounting processes for the energy industry have been undergoing a quiet revolution.

The processes have had to change because of the Government's decree that power companies split ownership of their monopoly line business from contestable power trading operations.

The move was designed to stop power companies subsidising energy charges with income from monopoly line rentals.

It means that any power retailer can now sell power to a customer anywhere in New Zealand.

Most companies chose to sell their retail operations and retain the network side of their business.

A few large retailers emerged, hoping to create economies of scale through buying up retail customers.

"Having the right systems to service customers is going to be a key to this new competition working," said Shane Jones, marketing manager with Sanderson Computers.

"Keeping transaction costs down is the key to making the mergers work and some [billing] systems have been totally revamped for this," he said.

"If you have a billing system that is more efficient than one of the other suppliers then that might be the competitive edge you need."

One company that uses Sanderson's system is Tauranga-based TrustPower.

TrustPower used to have 100,000 customers in the Tauranga region, but as a result of the power reforms acquired eight retail businesses around the country.

It now has 200,000 power customers, ranging from Wairoa Power on the East Coast of the North Island to Central Electricity at the bottom of the South Island.

The new billing system is seen by TrustPower as a key to retaining those new customers. In addition, the new technology allows the likes of Internet billing and remote monitoring of accounts to be used as a marketing tool.

These sorts of customer service initiatives are new to utility companies worldwide, and Sanderson has already sold its system into England and Europe.

United States firms are also now showing an interest in the New Zealand-developed system.

Sanderson's success overseas mirrors the international inroads being made by another New Zealand utilities software group, Peace Software International.

Peace has an agreement to develop its utilities software in association with a couple of large United States venture capital firms.

"The energy reforms have allowed us to develop a product in New Zealand that is unique in the rest of the world," said Peace chief executive Brian Peace.

"If the reforms were about making the [electricity] industry more efficient, then in this side of the business that has happened,.