"DCI has been an integral part of Toronto Hydro's development towards becoming an effective Asset Manager.  Their depth of experience in electric utility reliability performance and in the regulatory arena has proven to be a valuable resource for us."

Benny LaPianta, P.Eng. M.B.A.,
Vice President, Distribution Grid Management Division
Operations Group, Toronto Hydro-Electric System Ltd.

• Organizational and Operational Effectiveness
  DCI’s in-depth Organizational and Operational Effectiveness consulting services support energy companies trying to thrive in today’s complex industry environment. Our energy team provides clients with a unique combination of hands-on industry expertise and proven management consulting expertise and approaches. Our Organizational and Operational Effectiveness services ensure that operational objectives are linked with customer expectations, regulatory requirements, financial objectives, and other stakeholder goals.
  

• Asset Management
  Energy companies are under increasing pressure to better optimize the balance of risk, cost, and performance of their complex and distributed asset bases. Energy executives are challenged every day to make decisions to ensure better financial return, more efficient operations, better service reliability, and improved customer service. DCI’s Financial and Human Resource Allocation services enhance the effectiveness of management decision making.  Our resource allocation services support decision making at multiple organizational levels, across and within different business units.

• Emergency Planning and Response
  Utilities have come under increasing scrutiny from regulatory agencies, local, state, and federal governments, customers, and the media as a result of concerns over extended outages due to natural disasters, events such as the August 2003 blackout, and man-made threats. DCI works with energy companies to assess their preparedness for major events, develop integrated restoration plans and strategies, and prepare for regulatory audits. To enhance our emergency response services, DCI consultants have extensive operational emergency experience and are certified by the Federal Emergency Management Agency on the Incident Command System, National Incident Management System, and National Response Plan.  In addition, DCI has developed a comprehensive Storm Benchmarking Database, encompassing 34 major weather events at over 19 North American utilities.
  
  
• Reliability Performance
  Success in today’s environment depends on an energy company’s ability to proactively address regulator and customer expectations, and provide reliable service at the lowest possible cost. DCI energy consultants work with clients to ensure the availability of accurate and easily accessible reliability data, establish clear accountability for all process participants, and link financial system information to reliability performance in order to enhance the decision-making process. DCI’s Integrated Reliability Strategy services include: strategy development, vegetation management, and implementation of several decision support tools.  For information about these decision support tools, please click here.
  
  
• Regulatory Strategy
  With the resurgence of cost recovery proceedings, rate cases, and performance audits, regulators have directed their attention to energy delivery service performance. Some states have already implemented performance-based rates (PBRs), while others are imposing severe penalties on those utilities within their jurisdictions that do not meet specific customer satisfaction or reliability targets. At the same time, the large number of severe storms that have affected large swaths of the country have led to increased regulatory scrutiny.  DCI works with energy companies operating across multiple jurisdictions to help them develop regulatory strategies that best fit their business objectives and minimize their risk.