There were more than 112 million blogs as of March 2008 with new blogs being created at a rate of 175,000 per day and 1.6 million new blog posts per day according to Technorati, a blog tracking website.

How many of these are focused on energy, natural resources or commodities is anyone's guess-but it is a big number.

And how has the blog caught on as a corporate communication tool in energy and utilities? UtiliPoint has observed a growing trend among software vendors in the space to add a blog to their website as well as among mainstream publishers and even some Utility companies.

This survey was conducted to establish just how much influence blogs have in the space and how important a tool they are becoming for corporate communications. The survey seems to demonstrate that blogs in the energy industry are beginning to gain in importance both as an information source and as a promotional device.

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This UtiliPoint study utilized both top-down and bottom-up proprietary analysis techniques to establish the European market size for ETRM software license sales in 2007 for all energy commodities. The final report details the ETRM market size by a number of parameters.

Strong demand growth in 2006 was fueled by a variety of factors including the entry into European energy markets by new players particularly financial companies and ongoing liberalization and maturing of European energy markets. This growth has continued through early 2007 and demand levels remain strong. New growth is expected to occur amongst end user markets (Commercial & Industrial companies) as well to keep demand levels high. UtiliPoint expects to see some slowing of growth in 2008 but markets will remain strong barring any unforeseen industry events.

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Since 2000, spending on technology for utility customer service has slowed, and only recently has it shown signs of renewed growth. Uncertainty following significant events, such as California's deregulation experience and the collapse of Enron, created a prolonged dislocation event that had significant and ongoing impact on the vendor community and available solutions. The impact of the latest dislocation event has already resulted in the exit of a number of vendors and the entry of several others.

There remains a very real probability that more vendors will disappear or be acquired as they reach a make-or-break point over the next one to two years. There are emerging signs that this dislocation event is coming to an end, and UtiliPoint research shows that demand for customer service technology is growing in certain areas and stabilizing in others. An overall goal of reduced costs and improved customer service levels appears to be the focus of most utility's customer service goals.

Technological advances in customer service solutions continue to contribute to an accelerated rate of change in the industry. For a technology supplier to be successful in the energy industry it needs a thorough understanding of the marketplace, insight into current technology solutions and their providers, and a deep knowledge of the specific business needs and challenges of potential customers. 

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The UtiliPoint International, Inc. ETRM Implementation survey was conducted as a ‘snapshot' survey using an internet-based survey instrument only and targeting various email lists maintained by UtiliPoint. 35 respondents represent ETRM Implementation projects across North America and Europe. To our knowledge, it is the first survey to delve into the implementation of ETRM software and it therefore provides useful benchmark data for those about to undertake such a project. This report outlines the survey's results and our analysis.

The report looks at ETRM project duration and costs, project activities including integration, enhancements, data conversion and training, the use of third-party consulting firms in implementation, respondent's ETRM Implementation project experiences, project success rates and approach to training. While the quantitative metrics provide good data points for ETRM Implementation project managers, it is the lessons learned section that may provide the most value to report readers.

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Utilities are increasingly being driven by large-scale industry forces such as legislation and regulation at the state and federal levels, consolidation among both utilities and technology vendors, renewed utility spending, and the growing need to innovate, create efficiency, and perform at new levels of excellence.

To help provide a better understanding of the utility marketplace for customer service solutions to address these challenges, UtiliPoint recently conducted interviews with executives from some of the leading vendors in the utility customer service sector. This compilation of interviews marks the seventh annual collection of this type. As always, the interviews provide interesting insights about where the customer service sector is headed, and how companies intend to address current market challenges.

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Utility Perspectives on Meter Data Management,” a new report available in April 2007 from UtiliPoint, provides insight into the emerging market of Meter Data Management (MDM). It is based on over five hours of discussion among utilities in North America covering issues, concerns and experiences to date with MDM. This discussion was a result of four UtiliPoint hosted webinars featuring presentations by five large U.S. utilities with direct experience in planning and/or implementing MDM. Following each presentation, speakers fielded questions from the more than fifty other utilities attending the webinars. Because the webinars were limited to utilities only, the questions and answers were frank and to the point.

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While awareness of the aging workforce and aging utility assets is high, the far-reaching effects of workforce retirement may prove to be more of a tsunami for utilities than a wave - and they are coming faster than anticipated.

In January of 2007, UtiliPoint International surveyed 42 electric, gas, and water utilities to determine the state of the aging workforce and aging utility assets from 2007 through 2012. Respondents ranged from C-level executives through engineers, human resource planners, and IT decision makers.

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Deregulation has changed the competitive environment of utility companies, forcing them to manage the dual challenges of reducing costs and improving business process performance. Rising energy costs create operating expense challenges. Increased demand drives the need for costly investments in both generation and delivery capabilities. Regulatory mandates and constraints from investment, operations and financial perspectives are expanding. These collective issues and pressures for utility executives require a “back-to-basics” strategy that is not business as usual. In fact, after years of successfully pruning the trees of low hanging fruit with various productivity and cost reduction initiatives, making meaningful improvements in core service delivery is a significant challenge.

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A mandatory Greenhouse Gas regime is likely coming to America sooner than we think and is under active consideration by the Congress this year. Many U.S. companies have gone green in the past two years, and the momentum is now shifting toward Congressional action following state level mandates in the Northeast and California. Utility deals, such as TXU, have a "green screen" driving investment decisions in the utility sector so it is now important to consider the impact of mandatory carbon standards on the energy industry. Moreover, next year U.S. multi-national companies fall under the Kyoto Protocol in 169 countries. The question is, are you ready and do you understand what impact this potential development will have on your corporation?

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SunGard Energy Solutions and UtiliPoint International, in cooperation with the organizers of FLAME, sought, via survey, to measure the industry's temperature in regards to many of the more pressing issues facing the ongoing liberalization effort in the European natural gas market.

The survey reviewed several areas of interest, including industry's willingness to facilitate liberalization, which entities will be the most effective in moving liberalization forward, what factors are limiting cross border gas trading, gas supply issues and alternatives, and finally, trading software.

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UtiliPoint‘s research has shown that demand for ETRM software is at record levels on both sides of the Atlantic but with more than 80 potential suppliers, buyers often need expert guidance early in the procurement cycle. The UtiliPoint ETRM Software Selector's Toolkit is designed to provide potential buyers with both the data and advice that they require to successfully identify potential ETRM solutions and providers.

Companies procuring ETRM software are sometimes unsure what is available in the marketplace and often overlook less well known prospective suppliers. This is particularly true in Europe where much of the demand is coming from energy companies and utilities that have had no prior exposure to the ETRM Software marketplace. The Selector's Toolkit is designed, not as a replacement to the traditional procurement cycle, but as an enhancement, providing a view of the universe of potential solutions providers, and through focused discussion with UtiliPoint analysts, narrowing that universe to a limited number of viable options. This allows our clients to limit their RFI/RFP activities to not necessarily the largest vendor candidates, but to those that offer the best potential fit for the buyer, saving time and dollars and improving the odds of finding the right solution.

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This breakthrough survey of European users of Energy Trading, Transaction and Risk Management (ETRM) software was conducted by UtiliPoint International, Inc. during November and December, 2006 and January 2007, and fifty valid responses to the survey instrument were collected. The fifty responses include a variety of ETRM users and recommending companies across the broader European Union. Responses were obtained either by interview or by completion of an internet-based version of the questionnaire.

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