IUW 2019 Day One: The Power of Community

We kicked off Itron Utility Week (IUW) with a compelling general session lead by a strong lineup of speakers to get the Knowledge Conference started, including: Tom Deitrich, Itron president and CEO; Marina Donovan, VP of global marketing and public affairs at Itron; Sharelynn Moore, SVP of networked solutions at Itron; and Christopher Chapel, VP of customer service at Florida Power & Light.

A common theme in Monday’s general session was resourcefulness. Deitrich took the stage and reminded us that the challenges facing our industry are daunting—but not insurmountable. And to address these challenges, we need to work together. Our ability to transform the industry lies in community—in an ecosystem of like-minded companies banded together to share knowledge and learn from one another. IUW brings the best of our community together to share ideas, learn lessons and design the future we want—and need—for ourselves, our businesses and our communities. Building on the thread of resourcefulness, Deitrich went on to highlight Itron’s purpose of creating a more resourceful world. He noted three key ingredients that drive Itron’s purpose: innovation, technology and insights from data and analytics.

Sharelynn Moore, Itron’s SVP of networked solutions, took the stage next. Moore celebrated the power of solutions and called attention to Itron’s milestones, including new achievements with OpenWay Riva as well as recent and upcoming product announcements. Moore highlighted Itron’s technology, innovation and commitment to continuing to do more with data as well as the importance of networking and communications. She concluded by conveying that connecting data to value-added services will drive successful business outcomes for our customers, today and tomorrow.

Next on stage was Christopher Chapel, VP of customer service at Florida Power & Light. Chapel discussed how far the utility has come since 1988 when FPL was considered a “below-average utility.” Over the last 10 years, FPL has invested $40 million into its systems, effectively modernized their generational fleet and saved their customers nearly $10 billion. Its early adoption of key technologies has improved their customer service and enhanced their operational efficiencies. Chapel said that Itron has changed the game for FPL customers. Instead of being reactive, FPL is now proactive and predictive in a way they never thought they could be. Because of their partnership with Itron, they’ve changed the world for the better. Learn how FPL is saving sea turtles by utilizing its existing Itron wireless mesh network to monitor and control 500,000 smart streetlights.

Marina Donovan, Itron’s vice president of global marketing and public affairs, took the stage after Chapel. She validated the key takeaways from the preceding speakers by highlighting key stats from our latest research initiative, Disaster Preparedness: An Itron® Resourcefulness Insight Report, which was announced yesterday.

The report surveyed 500 consumers and 300 U.S. utility executives on disaster preparedness. The report exposes two stark and concerning realities:

• a shared and heightened worry about a disaster striking today compared to five years ago
• a conflicting gap across the two groups pertaining to each’s ability to prepare, respond and recover from disasters

As utilities and consumers face a new normal of frequent natural and man-made disasters, it’s become clear that through community we’ll create smarter, more vibrant and better-connected cities that remain resilient in the face of disaster.

The general session wrapped up with the Frost & Sullivan Excellence in Resourcefulness Awards where we announced the winners in energy and water and recognized their contributions to reducing the waste of energy or water resources. Congratulations to Pepco Holdings and Carlsbad Municipal Water District!

IUW19 is just getting started – stay tuned for more updates and thanks to all who’ve joined the conversation in Marco Island and remotely! We’ll be back with more updates. In the meantime, you can keep up with the #IUW19 conversation in real-time on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn.