Proposed design of an integrated plant management system (IPM) for the Electric Power Development Company in Japan

Deregulation of the electric utility industry in Japan has been underway since 1995 when the Electricity Utility Law was revised to allow independent power producers (IPPs) to sell electricity to the ten General Electric Utilities on a wholesale basis. The Electric Power Development Corporation (EPDC) of Japan is the largest wholesale electric power utility in the nation. The objective of privatization is to facilitate the dynamics for reform and restructuring in a manner that will produce a reduction in the electrical tariff charged to EPDC´s consumers. Such a reduction in tariffs can be accomplished by increasing revenues through more efficient methods of operations and by reducing operations and maintenance expenses. EPDC realizes that there is significant opportunity to achieve improvements in both of these areas and has undertaken the development of an integrated plant management (IPM) system in pursuit of this goal