STOCKING THE TOOLS OF THE TRADE
ChargePoint electric vehicle charging station located at City Hall.
From hard hats and gloves to cable and pipe, having the right part at the right time is a critical
In the spring of 2008, OUC had already felt
component in delivering reliable
the economic ground moving beneath Central
and affordable service for
Florida. From an increase in customers needing
customers. Dating back to the
payment arrangements . . .to well-established
earliest days of the Commission,
Innovation — From Light Poles to Charging Stations
Weathering Tough Economic Times
By 2010, OUC was maintaining
OUC planned for a brighter tomorrow with a
OUC’s supply chain area has made sure
an inventory of 26,000 parts and
customer growth, the utility realized a storm
employees had the tools and materials
supplies across 113,000 square feet of
was brewing and that it would be necessary
they needed to do the job. In 2007, the
warehousing and 28 acres of outside
to batten down the hatches and prepare for
largely manually intensive process of
storage area at five sites. In addition,
rough weather.
tracking, stocking and ordering items was
OUC was recycling tons of materials
converted to a wireless barcode scanning
in an environmentally responsible way,
measures that included a hiring freeze for non-
system that could provide data in real
including porcelain insulators, wooden
essential positions, release of contractors and
time, allowing OUC to keep the right
pallets, wooden wire and cable reels,
travel limitations, to name a few.
amount of parts on hand and accurately
brass water meters and more than
array provided a total of 2.8 kilowatts of power
solar charging stations for electric vehicles and
to charge the vehicles.
cutting-edge solar photovoltaic (PV) technology on utility poles.
as part of a national non-profit initiative called
electric-vehicle charging stations at Reliable Plaza
Project Get Ready. A Department of Energy
were powered by the sun — and were the first
ChargePoint America Grant would provide
of their kind in Orlando. Located on top of the
nearly 300 charging stations to Central Florida.
That June, OUC undertook cost-cutting
Knowing that customers would need more
New Conservation Requirements On December 1, 2009, the Florida Public
each year. To accomplish those goals, OUC was
Service Commission (PSC) established new peak
determined to ramp-up promotion of existing programs and introduce new ones to help
1.7 million pounds of steel, aluminum
help than ever, OUC launched new programs
needed for future projects. The high-
and copper. Across the Commission,
to reduce energy and water consumption and
for all large electric utilities in the State of Florida.
customers improve the efficiency of their homes
tech system enabled OUC to further
OUC also introduced single-stream
enable customers to pay utility bills over an
The new rules would require OUC to reduce
and businesses.
streamline its inventory, eliminating
recycling to make it easier for employees
extended period of time. In addition, OUC
energy consumption by an average 3,600,000 kWh
obsolete or excessive parts and reducing
to recycle a wider variety of materials
increased contributions to its Project Care
the costs of storing unneeded items.
and partnered with a vendor who
Utility Assistance Fund by 70 percent.
It also helped OUC improve efficiencies
purchased the recyclable paper and
in everything from purchasing to the
cardboard, diverting it from the landfill
warehouse, while expanding the use of
and generating revenue for charity.
sustainable practices such as recycling.
: e r a C t Projec ory A His t ing of H e l p
After passing the $1 million mark in assistance in 2008, OUC overhauled Project Care, the emergency bill payment assistance program first launched in 1994, to better assist those customers who needed help the most. In addition to matching employee and customer contributions 2 to 1, OUC increased customer allocations and made eligibility guidelines more flexible. In partnership with 2-1-1, a United Way agency, OUC also funded a full-time Project Care administrator to streamline the application and approval process for qualifying OUC customers experiencing temporary problems paying their utility bills. At the close of 2010, contributions had surpassed $2 million. Page 60
the City of Orlando, Orange County and others
fuels and efficient transportation, two of its three
demand and energy conservation requirements
forecast when materials would be
To help prepare Central Florida to support plug-in electric vehicles, OUC partnered with
As part of the utility’s commitment to alternative
businesses shutting down . . .to a halting of
building’s parking garage, the 16-panel solar
number of innovative projects including installing
Page 61
OUC installed the first utility pole-mounted solar PV system in Florida. The pilot project included 10 intelligent photovoltaic solar systems that together could produce up to 2 kilowatts that was pumped directly into the power grid.