Utility Contractors Play a Key Role in Modernizing the Grid and Managing Aging Infrastructure

Electric utilities today face a wide range of challenges and opportunities, ranging from steadily increasing electricity demand to aging assets that need frequent maintenance or outright replacement. These growing obstacles often leave utility providers strained for resources, both in terms of labor and expertise. Fortunately, utilities have a long history of partnership with contractors who can lend support where it’s needed most.

To address many of today’s challenges, utility providers partner with utility contractors to access additional labor, skills and technologies that lie outside the utility company’s core competencies. These contractors are the unsung heroes of the utility world, sending field service technicians to remove areas to remove brush, repair above ground and underground infrastructure, respond to emergency outages, conduct critical inspections, and much more.

A Growing Shortage of Field Service Technicians

Many utility leaders are grappling with how to meet increasing electricity demand at a time when utilities face challenges maintaining a resilient and reliable grid. For example, maintaining grid resilience is made more difficult by a wave of utility employee retirements, aging infrastructure, and extreme weather.

The American Society of Civil Engineers, in its most recent Infrastructure Report Card, gave the U.S. energy system a C-minus grade for operating decades beyond its expected lifetime. With that in mind, it’s clear that having a shortage of experienced field service technicians and relying heavily on inexperienced workers signals a potential problem.

Right now, the utility sector needs all hands on deck to keep the lights on and make sure they stay on in the future. Thankfully, utility contractors have stepped in to fill the void left by the growing industry labor shortage. 

Utility Contractors Rise to the Challenge

Utilities have always depended on contractors, especially the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) companies that specialize in constructing power plants, substations, and distribution and transmission lines. However, recent labor shortages, utility companies now rely more heavily on utility contractors to respond to natural disasters, perform routine grid maintenance, provide vegetation management, and construct and maintain new renewable energy plants.

As the utility sector leans more and more on their contractor partners for critical tasks that keep power flowing, those partners must ensure they are properly equipped to fulfill the increasing responsibilities being thrust upon them. Utilities building ecosystem of contractors understandably have high standards; they are responsible for critical infrastructure and need contractors to perform work on time and on budget to meet customer expectations.

Paper-based processes no longer cut it in an increasingly digitized utility sector. Today’s utility contractors must differentiate themselves by demonstrating their ability to deliver what utilities need most: speed, efficiency, and above all, reliability. Contractors can meet utility demands by leveraging the highest quality technology and tools, including always-on communication from anywhere, asset management solutions, CAD schematics, and rugged weather-resistant equipment.

TOUGHBOOK® rugged laptops and tablets from Panasonic Connect help utility contractors to elevate their capabilities and collaborate more closely in the field. With TOUGHBOOK, contractors can:

  • Access data in real-time, even in remote locations
  • Communicate, share progress or troubleshoot issues with the contracting utility provider from the field
  • Fill out mobile digital forms from anywhere
  • Order parts without waiting to return to an office
  • Electronically view, share and comment on projects in real-time
  • Use thermal imaging to inspect infrastructure and equipment
  • Leverage live data and technician locations to optimize workflows, shorten execution times, and minimize errors

Of all the new demands facing electric utilities today, one constant underlying mission remains paramount: keeping the lights on and the power flowing. Utilities contractors that use Panasonic TOUGHBOOK hardware, software, and services enhance their ability to identify and respond quickly to outages.

Today, effective outage response combines the data that utilities collect via sensors and other monitoring capabilities across the grid and the ability to deliver relevant data to skilled field service technicians who can address problems. The Internet of Things (IoT), which facilitates such delivery, holds immense potential for the utility industry, but it’s true value lies in enhancing field personnel capabilities.

If utility contractors are equipped with TOUGHBOOK devices that integrate seamlessly with utility technology systems, they can resolve issues faster.  During outages, these rugged devices pinpoint the issue’s location and provide asset-specific repair data, enabling contractors to arrive on-site with the necessary information, equipment, and personnel to start repairs immediately, expedite response times and streamline the repair process.

The Tools Utility Contractors Need

Panasonic Connect addresses grid resiliency challenges with our TOUGHBOOK devices, engineered to withstand unforgiving environments. These rugged laptops and tablets empower contractors to reduce grid downtime.

Contractors equipped with Panasonic’s TOUGHBOOK solutions benefit from features specifically designed with their needs in mind. Long battery life ensures uninterrupted work in the field; large, sunlight-readable screens allow for clear viewing even in harsh conditions; and built-in GPS simplifies navigation and supports efficient on-site operations.

When combined with real-time access to data, these features help drive effective collaboration, troubleshooting, and, ultimately, a well-maintained and resilient grid.  Utility-specific software can further enhance the TOUGHBOOK suite of solutions,  optimizing everything from workforce and operations management to regulatory compliance, offering a level of centralization not previously found in the industry.

Utility companies are investing significant resources into modernizing the grid, defending against extreme weather, and facilitating a transition to cleaner energy sources — but they can’t do it without utility contractors. Utility contractors play an increasingly important role in these efforts, and will undoubtedly continue to do so far into the future.

Learn more about TOUGHBOOK Utility and Energy Solutions