Engineering the benefits of a geographical information system: the business case for GIS

The privatisation of the UK Electricity Companies has put unprecedented pressure on the industry to know exactly what plant it has and how best to manage it, and therefore high quality, accurate information is now financially extremely valuable. Midlands Electricity plc (MEB) has been working for the last eight years (1989-97) in developing and implementing an integrated suite of tools and automated facilities to capture the network information and use this for efficiency gains. The Distribution Engineering Geographical Information System (DEGIS) is a major program of network information data capture at all voltage levels from the customer service cable right through to the primary supply infeed; a suite of software for viewing the data in the office and in the field; tools for network optimisation; and a range of automation and information processing systems which assist in the operation and maintenance of the distribution network. The project is an example of what many electricity distribution companies are currently doing, or will be forced to do, in order to cope with competitive pressures and the standard of regulatory requirements set by those leading the field in customer supply quality, service and operating efficiency