General

Technology upgrades on the horizon

OPPD customers will get faster and more precise outage information, a more detailed picture of their energy usage and other helpful tools under some big technology upgrades expected soon.

The utility is adopting advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), a modern ecosystem of technology that will allow two-way communication between OPPD and individual customer meters. Other utilities have embraced the technology, with good results. 

By this time next year, OPPD expects to install 11,500 customer meters in different areas (urban and rural) and with various customer types (residential, commercial, industrial). When fully implemented over the next few years, AMI will help OPPD identify and pinpoint outages faster and with greater precision. 

“We’re really excited for this new portal,” said Aaron Smith, OPPD’s director of Distributed Device Strategy. 

New outage map

Customers can also expect a new online outage map later this year. The map will feature outage causes if known, the number of customers affected, the status of outages and estimated restoration times, if available. Customers will know if a crew is on route or has arrived.

The map will let customers zoom in to their neighborhood to see outage areas, but with privacy safeguards. No single homes or businesses will be identified as having an outage. OPPD will vigorously protect any customer data, as it already does. Information will travel via secure, encrypted, private networks. 

OPPD also won’t share customer information with third parties unless a customer specifically requests it, as sometimes happen with applications for financial assistance. 

“Everything is very well-protected in terms of how it’s set up,” Smith said. “We always work very hard to protect customer data.”

OPPD already has an interactive map showing various projects in your neighborhood.

Customer platform

OPPD will also launch an improved customer platform, MyOPPD. Customers can log in, review a detailed breakdown of their usage, start and stop their service, and select whether they’d like communications via text, phone call, or email. They’ll be able to pay their bills. 

Smith said OPPD will begin outreach to customers later this year. 

The upgrades will help OPPD as well. OPPD will start using a new geographic information system (GIS) this summer to help track all of its assets more efficiently, providing better insight into when repairs are needed.

Testing the technology upgrades

OPPD has been testing and fine-tuning software that will streamline and simplify a lot of its daily work. The utility plans to roll out a new field area network, a series of stations that will transmit data from customer meters to OPPD.

Testers are making sure all technology upgrades are communicating correctly, said Chris Wolf, business enablement lead. 

“It’s going to help our (outage management system) quite a bit, because we’re going to have the ability to identify which meters are off during a storm,” Wolf said. “So even when we get an entire circuit energized, if we see that some meters still aren’t transmitting, we know that we still have work to do in that area.” 

OPPD ran more than 4,000 test cases on the technology in 2024 to fine-tune the various new programs, said Matt Hardebeck, OPPD’s director of Customer Experience and Operations. 

“We’re validating everything to ensure we get it right,” Hardebeck said.

Empowering OPPD workers, customers

OPPD also plans to give field workers digital tablets in place of their current paper packets. When workers receive assignments, the new technology will give them turn-by-turn directions to the site with a much more precise location. That will prove especially helpful in rural areas.

The technology upgrades will ultimately empower customers, said Roger Peterson, manager of Distribution Engineering. Smart-grid technology may eventually help isolate faults and restore power to customers without having to send field personnel.

“I think it’s going to open a lot of doors,” Peterson said. “Once we get AMI in place, we’re going to have systems to improve reliability and enable customers to do more self-service applications.”