CASE STUDY

New York Communities (Executive Electric)

Quick Summary

Executive Electric (EE), one of the area’s leaders in the electrical contracting field since 1995, was chosen to manage the conversion of smart LED streetlights in four communities in the state of New York: Clifton Park, Cohoes, Troy, and Cortlandville. The field crews have utilized TerraGo StreetlightOps software to rapidly deploy and efficiently maintain thousands of lights, including Ubicquia smart lighting controls,  across all four New York municipalities. These new, smart light fixtures have brought monthly energy costs down approximately 75%, from $28 per light to $8 per light, producing savings that will be reinvested into other smart infrastructure programs.

Using TerraGo StreetlightOps, Executive Electric was able to successfully deliver against aggressive timelines, and all four communities are now fully deployed. With the help of StreetlightOps, they were able to accelerate energy savings by improving crew efficiency and providing quality control features to make sure every job gets done right, the first time. TerraGo’s integrated web application also helped supervisors monitor field crews and see repairs in real-time, while the TerraGo mobile apps enabled field crews with step-by-step workflows, and the ability to collaborate with supervisors and National Grid to accelerate necessary repair approvals on-demand, on-location.

Challenge:
  • No applications to manage deployment, monitor crews, automate installs, or perform maintenance
  • No real-time ability to relay information between field crews, supervisors and National Grid, causing unnecessary delays for essential repair approvals
Solution:
  • TerraGo StreetlightOps mobile apps for crew phones and tablets; web applications for supervision, analytics and reporting
  • Mobile app workflows to help crews install faster, collaborate with supervisors and National Grid to resolve issues, and complete tasks as efficiently as possible
Results:
  • Crews can  perform more installations faster, accelerating the rollout and increasing energy savings
  • StreetlightOps makes it easy to track crews, monitor progress, and provide daily or weekly reports to all project  stakeholders

The Challenge

Undertaking such a large project across multiple geographies and different municipalities, Executive Electric faced numerous challenges with monitoring field crews, tracking progress, reporting and sharing data on a timely basis. Without the ability to relay information between field crews and back-office systems in real time, they were forced to work blind, and find issues after the fact. Sending out multiple trucks to make a repair that should have only taken one trip was wasting both time and money on the project. They needed a way to document issues and track repairs, all while on the job. Not only that, but they had no easy way to track the progress of the overall project, resulting in only producing progress reports every few weeks or months, instead of daily. This also caused delays in resolving power safety issues, as it was very difficult to collaborate and communicate with the local electric utility, National Grid.

“TerraGo’s mobile app gives my guys turn-by-turn directions to get to the site and then tells them step-by-step what needs to be done when they get there. What’s great for me is that I can go into the web app and see exactly what was done, how they did it, and view photos to make sure the job was done right.”

– Peter Conyne, Principal, Executive Electric, LLC

The Solution

Executive Electric found the answer to their problems in TerraGo StreetlightOps. Using the Installation module, they can perform more conversions faster, using built-in quality control features to prevent errors before they happen.  With the Maintenance module, they’re able to correctly identify issues to get the job done right the first time, versus multiple truck rolls. With the StreetlightOps platform, they are now able to tell field crews exactly where to go, what the problem is with the light, and what repairs need to be done. All of this data is documented and stored so that it’s easily accessible for management to go back and see the time and date that a light was serviced, as well as pictures to show the work done on it.

“Because of TerraGo, the personnel in charge of the field crews can see the last light they worked on, and look at the photos to see if they’re making the repair correctly or not, without having to visit the job site.  This saves an enormous amount of time and money over the course of a project.”

– Peter Conyne, Principal, Executive Electric, LLC

The Results

The amazing progress and continued success of the project speaks for itself. Using TerraGo StreetlightOps, Executive Electric (EE) was able to stick to an aggressive timeline while delivering massive energy savings. All four communities ( Clifton Park, Cohoes, Troy, and Cortlandville) are fully deployed. TerraGo StreetlightOps has contributed the following bottom-line results:

  • On-demand documentation of repairs means work gets done faster – photo evidence needed to show damage so EE can rewire, fix grounding issues, on the spot. Now EE can do real time fixes and  repairs so they don’t have to come in, file a report, request to approve, wait on approval and re-roll a truck
  • Field to utility communications means better coordination – EE is sending issues they have on poles to National Grid, which enables direct communication of issues from the field regarding important issues like power safety
  • Integrated web and field apps means better performance and more efficient management.   For example, EE supervisor in charge of all crews but also performing installs. With StreetlightOps, he can remotely see field progress in real-time and see if repairs are being done correctly, while also completing work orders.