In June 2012, the Ontario Legislature unanimously passed Bill 8, the Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act, which, among other things, requires owners of buried infrastructure in the public right of way – including municipalities, universities, hospitals and private condominium properties – to register their buried infrastructure with Ontario One Call (ON1Call).
Before an excavator breaks ground, he or she must contact ON1Call which in turn will contact the infrastructure owner to accurately locate and...
How mobile solutions improve restoration efforts BY JIM MENTON, ClickSoftware Electric utilities are modernizing the power grid to meet the demands of an increasingly digital society. In the same way, mobile solutions are helping service personnel (line crews, contractors, and supervisors)...
For utilities who want to reduce costs in record time BY ROB HOYSGAARD, ARI Save, or saving, is defined as the act of avoiding unnecessary waste or expense. The key word in that definition is unnecessary. A 50 percent reduction is essential, on-the-road vehicles do not result in savings; rather it...
Valuable state-of-the-art tools for electric utilities BY JOE CAYWOOD, Terex Utilities With all the challenging demands of a utility marketplace, increased understanding of ownership and operating cost, as well as utilization, fleet managers must work through several different scenarios when making...
How to reduce peak load in constrained areas of the grid BY W. HUGH GAASCH, Retroficiency With an aging infrastructure, rising demand, and an increasingly stringent regulatory climate, utilities across the country face some tough decisions in the coming decade. The American Association of Civil...
A coalition of large energy consumers and ratepayer advocates has filed a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), urging the agency to prohibit transmission owners from independently planning "local" transmission projects exceeding 100 kilovolts (kV). The coalition argues...
Remote field operations present the safety organization with a myriad of challenges when it comes to ensuring the safety of the people that you send out to work in the field every day. Without a doubt, this includes the line workers, but it also includes nearly every member of the staff whose...
For many utilities, scheduling each day’s construction and restoration work means manually organizing and keeping tabs on ever-changing crew schedules and resources. Managers meticulously update whiteboards dotted with color-coded magnets representing crews and trucks. Augmenting the...
In June 2012, the Ontario Legislature unanimously passed Bill 8, the Ontario Underground Infrastructure Notification System Act, which, among other things, requires owners of buried infrastructure in the public right of way – including municipalities, universities, hospitals and private...
Utility workers are often subjected to challenging working conditions for hours at a time, yet are responsible for many mission-critical tasks. These workers must communicate with the entire organization while also representing the customer-facing side of their company. Equipping workers with...
Utility workers and linemen work in one of the most mobile industries in the country. Think about it: utility workers are always moving from one project to the next as efficiently as possible. Since utility workers rely so heavily on their work vehicles, it is critical that they drive a vehicle...
