Oxxio

How Oxxio gets - and gives - real-time, low-cost energy information to its customers, without the middleman

Oxxio is the largest independent energy supplier in the newly liberalized Dutch market, providing 800,000 residential and small business customers with low-cost 'green' energy (sourced solely from hydroelectric sources).

Oxxio needed an innovative way to improve customer satisfaction and attract new customers by freeing itself from the companies that controlled and provided the billing information.

It therefore wanted to enter the electricity metering business. But it still needed to maintain its 'lean and mean' cost structure, in order to continue providing its customers with discount prices.

Using IBM's experience with Italian energy supplier ENEL, our consultants created a new subsidiary company, Oxxio Metering, to control the meters, the meter-reading technology, and the metering data. As part of that project, Global Business Services' consultants assisted the client with the overall control and programme management, including developing the business case and developing the operational model for Oxxio Metering. We also helped implement the metering and data management infrastructure required to run the new company and worked out the whole supply chain, involving many vendors. Last but not least, we assisted the client with the technical maintenance of the software and the creation of a control room.

Today, 'smart' meters gather data and send it by wireless connection to Oxxio's central control facility, leapfrogging an entire communications layer.

Downstream delivery works the same way, in real time.

Using a self-service venue called 'myOxxio,' customers can now obtain an up-to-date profile of both their electricity and gas consumption, so that they can optimize their usage - to benefit not only their own budget, but also the environment. This solution - Automated Meter Management (AMM) - is now recognized as the world's leading large-scale energy platform.

Innovation on this scale required the talents of many dedicated specialists. Our team consisted of: a project manager responsible for leading the team, providing day-to-day direction to the project team and regular project status updates to the customer; business transformation consultants who worked together with supply chain experts to design and develop business processes and deliver improvements using appropriate methodologies and tools; application architects who designed applications that automated the business processes to meet the client's business needs; and technical solution architects who assumed the responsibility for the technical construction, implementation and integration of leading-edge products and technology.