Support to PPL on Data Management, Metering, and Customer Engagement: Training Activities for Component 2

The SRUC Task Order aims to promote utility commercialization and equitable, effective reforms that will enhance the financial viability and long-term sustainability of developing countries' electricity systems. The program is part of the PNG Electrification Partnership (PEP), a partnership formed by the United States, Australia, Japan, and New Zealand to support Papua New Guinea's efforts to increase electricity access to 70 percent of households by 2030. As part of the U.S. Government's initial efforts under PEP, USAID has tasked SRUC with providing technical assistance to PNG Power Limited (PPL), the country's fully integrated, state-owned electric utility. The SRUC team is assisting PPL's operational and financial reform efforts to help the utility add new customers, invest for future growth, and partner with the private sector. The team is focused on helping PPL improve its engagement and relationships with its 8,000 large commercial and industrial customers, which represent 77 percent of its current revenue. These customers utilize post-paid meters and their accounts are managed in the Gentrack System, a customer relationships management (CRM) software platform and database. The SRUC team is working on four components to achieve this goal, including customer database cleansing and realignment, interim activities on meter management, billing, and collections, loss analysis and customer segmentation, and a tailored customer engagement strategy. This report summarizes the training activities completed under Component 2, which involves training PPL's Retail Business Unit on improved practices for meter reading and data reporting. The training program included sessions to help PPL team understand the differences between its current manual operations and the expectations from the future automated systems that they intend to implement. The training was led by two utility data management technology specialists from Utility Design Services (UDS), who were both familiar with PPL's operations, systems, and internal setup. The training was supported by a consultant from Deloitte's local Port Moresby office to facilitate logistics and adherence to objectives and agenda. The overall objective of the training was to improve PPL's manual meter reading practices and data reporting for its large commercial and industrial customers stored in the Gentrack System in light of the upcoming upgrade to Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI). The training provided an overview of demonstrated, effective approaches for manual meter reading, including improved field processes, reinforcing cultural norms, agnostic routing, potential limited technology upgrades, hand-held meter units (HHUs), among other approaches. The SRUC team presented these approaches along with lessons learned and case studies detailing how utilities of similar capacity and maturity level to PPL effectively improved their meter reading capabilities in challenging, limited-technology environments. The trainings linked the improved timeliness and accuracy of meter reading and data processing to how those utilities were able to reduce their losses despite poor quality meter reading technologies, low productivity of the workforce, and collusion between customers and the meter readers. The training was tailored through prior discussions with the Retail Business Unit and interviews to uncover the company's current meter reading protocols. Weekly virtual touchpoints followed this training series to reinforce its main messages and to provide feedback on specific issue areas of concern for PPL on meter reading process improvements.