Manila Electric : MTECH 2016 GIVES GLIMPSE OF ‘UTILITY OF THE FUTURE’

Meralco recently held its 2 annual Technology and Innovation Summit dubbed MTECH 2016 at the Meralco Center in Ortigas. The culminating event, MTECH Forum, followed a week of technology and innovation with over 20 international vendors exhibiting in the lobby of the 113 year old utility. Under the banner 'Moving Forward Never Stops', the country's largest power utility walked the audience through its plans to undergo a 'digital transformation' and implement cutting edge technology to better manage its network and provide an enhanced level of customer service.Meralco Chief Technology Adviser Gavin D. Barfield said that Meralco's digital pivot, is geared towards creating the 'Utility of the Future' that will be fully digital throughout the value chain.'We are facing a digital transformation of our organization and our business in order to keep up with industry developments. We are disrupting ourselves, pushing the boundaries and evolving into a new Meralco, equipped to take on the challenges and capitalize on the opportunities of the digital age,' he said.The transformation is intended to meet customer's changing needs by opening up new digital channels providing more transparency over their consumption and faster access to services such as bills payment, service application and outage notifications. Meralco also hopes to utilize these digital channels to offer new value-added services such as smart home solutions. Moreover, it also aims to support modern grid technologies to build an electricity network fit for the future through its Smart Grid program and AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) rollout.Meralco Senior Vice President Alfredo S. Panlilio said that the digital transformation will ensure that the company remains relevant to their customers during this age of accelerated change.'We are committed to serving our customers better. We will open up new digital channels, provide more information on consumption and offer tailored insights to drive energy efficiency…' he said.Meralco expects to hit 6 million customers this year and will start rolling out new technology solutions, such as AMI services for pre- and post- paid customers, and a self-service website and enhanced MoVE app by mid-2017.To learn more about MTECH 2016, visit www.mtech.com.ph.