Singapore Power (SP) Group is a leading energy utility company in the Asia Pacific, and its performance excellence contributes to the growth and sustainability of a modern economy built on high technology industries, services, transportation, and finance and commerce.

Singapore has among the best electricity and gas networks in the world, with the fewest and shortest outages of cities worldwide as rated by international industry indices. The System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI), which measures the average duration of unplanned interruptions a customer experiences a year, was 0.31 minutes for the electricity grid in FY 09/10.

This was SP PowerGrid’s best ever electricity network performance. Likewise, the SAIDI score for the company’s gas network was only 0.142 minutes per customer per year.

PURSUING NETWORK EXCELLENCE
It is a relentless pursuit of network excellence, and driven by the mission of Singapore Power Group. “Our objective is not just to provide reliable power, but quality power as well,” says Mr Sim Kwong Mian, Managing Director of SP PowerGrid, the subsidiary which manages and operates the electricity and gas transmission and distribution networks. Singapore is home to many industries that require high quality of power supply, for example, wafer fabrication plants, petrochemical and pharmaceutical companies. Even the financial institutions, with their high-performance data centres, require very high levels of quality power supply. A single voltage dip will cost the economy dearly. Hence, Singapore Power strives to always provide reliable and quality power through its network to meet its customers’ needs. “Our aim to provide reliable and quality power at a cost acceptable to our customers,” says Mr Sim.

Singapore Power’s grid has attained a very high level of performance excellence. What has the company done to sustain this or even take it further? “We are always on the lookout for new technology which will enable continuing network performance improvement in cost-effective ways,” says Mr Sim. Singapore Power has collaborations with tertiary institutions, such as the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, and in-house development to explore the use of new power quality technology on its infrastructure.

“We also look to our staff for innovative ideas to improve our performance. Such innovations, which may be in the form of process improvements or new applications of existing technology, usually result in more efficient operations and higher productivity and safety,” adds Mr Sim.

SENSORS, AUTOMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
In Singapore, the existing electrical network and infrastructure already rests on an intelligent platform. “We make extensive use of sensors, automation and communications which have enabled us to have significant visibility and control of the network, even at the distribution level,” says Mr Jimmy Khoo, Deputy Managing Director (Planning & Strategy), SP PowerGrid. This is why the company thinks that the concept of a “Smart Grid” is not entirely novel in Singapore as its own grid, as it stands today, is built with a significant degree of intelligence.

As a small country, Singapore goes out to get the most out of any given resource and it depends heavily on technology as an enabler. “My view is that the “smartness” of a grid is not static but rests on a continuum,” says Mr Khoo.

“How fast and how much more smart technology is adopted will depend on each business case and our assessment of its usefulness and viability. On the whole, we tend to be more optimistic about technological output as our experience has been positive. The numbers for our grid reliability speak for themselves,” he adds.

Singapore will therefore continue its investments to push the innovative application of technologies, including emerging Smart Grid technologies. This could mean building upon existing “legacy” platforms, but, where it makes sense, the company will also replace systems with disruptive technologies.

The company works closely with its regulator, the Energy Market Authority, on its various Smart Grid initiatives. These are the Intelligent Energy System (IES) project to roll out a pilot up to 4000 users connected in a Smart Grid system; an Electric Vehicles test-bed which would implement an electric vehicle charging and management system; and a Microgrid test-bed in an offshore island called Pulau Ubin.

Singapore Power believes in having a strong network of technology partners. The company has strengthened relationships with existing partners and also initiated new relationships, for example, with research institutes such as the Experimental Power Grid Centre (EPGC) of Singapore’s A*STAR (Agency for Science and Technology Research). “EPGC’s advanced research in areas such as intelligent grids, and integration of renewable energy will enable us to accelerate the development, adoption, and implementation of innovative and sustainable energy technologies related to intelligent grids,” adds Mr Khoo.

FOCUSED CUSTOMER SERVICE
In a recent survey of more than 3,000 expatriates in over 50 countries about their quality of life and experience assimilating into a new culture away from home, Singapore topped the league table of 26 countries when it came to ease of setting up utilities. What contributes to SP Services’ excellent standing in customer service? “We are proactive in our commitment towards service excellence,” says Mrs Jeanne Cheng, Managing Director of SP Services. The subsidiary provides market support services to electricity, gas and water customers, and facilitates electricity retail market competition. “Taking a comprehensive approach towards service improvements, we continuously review the relevance of policies, enhancing the effectiveness of processes and invest in the training of our employees.”

To sustain good customer service, SP Services has adopted the SQC (Singapore Quality Class) Business Excellence Framework which provides an internationally comparable and holistic structure for companies to achieve business excellence. After years of consistent performance, SP Services was conferred the SQC (Star) Award.

In line with its STAR service quality philosophy of Smile, Timely, Accessible and Reliable, providing quality service and greater convenience for its customers remain the focus of SP Services.

“We listen to customers and seek feedback for improvements,” says Mrs Cheng. “For example, we added the use of SMS (short message service, or text messages in UK context) as another channel to conduct customer satisfaction survey. We follow up with each and every customer who was not satisfied with our service so that we can understand the problem and seek improvements.”

Combining the use of technology with service innovation, the company constantly looks into ways to bring greater convenience to customers. Now with just one call, or one click of a mouse from the comfort of their home, the customer can open a utility account with SP Services. And it takes just one day for utility supplies to be connected.

How is SP Services’ business transforming with the changing business landscape? SP Services, being a service company, has high manpower and other operating costs. Customers have higher expectations and there is a cost to good service. Hence the firm has to look for ways to increase productivity.

“We do this by leveraging technology and changing our mindset. One such example is the implementation of the Work from Home Scheme for our field operations and customer service staff,” says Mrs Cheng.

WORKING FROM HOME
Under the Scheme, field employees do not need to report to office at the start and end of day but instead, could set off to their job sites direct from home. The jobs that the field staff have to attend to are transmitted to their PDAs and they can update the completion of the tasks via the two-way communications device.

Call centre staff can now attend to calls from their homes, accessing the same IT systems and process transactions for customers account remotely. This enables the company to extend its call centre operation hours at marginal costs.

The scheme is a win-win-win proposition for the company, employees and customers as the higher productivity resulted in cost savings, while employees benefited in cutting down travelling time and the flexibility of working from home.

Customer Service is enhanced with extended service hours and shorter waiting time.

It is one of the many features of Singapore Power that demonstrates the firm’s innovative and resourceful approach, and it is these qualities that will ensure the company’s position at the top of its sector for a long time to come.