Alectra awarded for Customer Information System implementation

"CS Week" organization recognizes utility's excellence in CIS implementation


VAUGHAN, ON--(Marketwired - May 24, 2017) - Alectra Utilities was recognized Wednesday by CS Week for the best implementation of a customer information system (CIS) by one of its legacy utilities.

Alectra Utilities, recently created following the merger of four Ontario electricity distribution companies, was presented with the CS Week 2017 Expanding Excellence Award, which honors outstanding contributions and innovation in utility customer service in four award categories, including best CIS implementation for a large utility.

Alectra's legacy utility, PowerStream, in May 2015 replaced its over 30-year-old customer information system with Oracle Customer Care and Billing (CC&B) in an effort to better serve customers residing or operating a business in York Region and Simcoe County.

The implementation of the CC&B system was a major project for Alectra's legacy utility, which involved integration with over 22 interfaces to support the company's business operations. The three year project was staffed with 42 full time project employees in addition to the on-going support of the operational organization.

Using lessons learned, Alectra has now begun the consolidation of its four legacy CIS systems onto a common CC&B platform across its broader service territory. A new dedicated project team has been established to achieve this goal.

"The team demonstrated a proactive approach to project management in our initial conversion to CC&B and it will be this strength that we expect will contribute to our success going forward," said Eileen Campbell, VP, Customer Service for Alectra with project co-leads Linas Medelis, Director, Customer Service Excellence and William Schmidt, VP, Information Technology. "We share this honour with our vendors as well as our dedicated staff who remain customer-focused in everything that they do."

All North American utility companies including gas, electric, water, wastewater, sanitation and retail electric/gas were eligible to participate in the Expanding Excellence Awards program. Nominated projects were evaluated based upon budget adherence, schedule adherence, operational efficiency after go-live, innovation, and improved service levels.

About Alectra's Family of Companies

Alectra's family of energy companies distributes electricity to nearly one million customers in Ontario's Greater Golden Horseshoe Area and provides innovative energy solutions to these and thousands more across Ontario. The Alectra family of companies includes Alectra Inc. (Mississauga), Alectra Utilities Corporation (Hamilton) and Alectra Energy Solutions (Vaughan).

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Contact Information:

Media Contact
Eric Fagen
Email - media@alectra.com
Media Phone Line - 1-844-372-4400

From left to right: Linas Medelis, Vice President, Customer Service, Alectra Utilities; Rod Litke, Chief Executive Officer, CS Week.