POST MEETING MATERIAL
RESPONSE TO COUNCIL QUESTION
RE: JUNE 24, 2025 AGENDA
Item 3.E 25-652: Action on an Amendment to an Existing Agreement with Smart Energy Systems, Inc. and a New Agreement with Smart Energy Systems, Inc. for a Utility Billing Customer Self Service Portal Question 1: I see the following in the 2018 scope of work. This is essentially "Green Button Connect" but it has still not been implemented even 7 years later. Why? Did we not subscribe to this feature? The Usage module provides the utility customer the visibility to their energy and water usage and cost chart displays for different periods.
Specifically, the City customers can:
• View usage data - 15 minute, hourly. monthly and seasonal for up to last 13 months with weather overlays
• Access historical usage and spending for all service accounts associated with the user
• View aggregated as well as individual meter consumption associated
2. Usage
with their service accounts
• View energy and water consumption in different usage units of measure and cost (dollars)
• For AMI meters
• View projected energy and water usage for next period • View projected next bill amount
• Download usage data in Excel, CSV, and PDF format
Response: The implementation of the cloud-hosted utility billing customer self-service portal with Smart Energy Systems, Inc (SEW), including the green button feature, has been challenging. The alignment of the software with the City's requirements, the changing of project management staffing at SEW, and delays from COVID, have contributed to the extended timeline of this project. City staff has been deeply engaged with SEW over the last 3 years to ensure the software product meets our customer service and billing requirements. We faced challenges with some of the basic functionality of what the SEW system offered.
Despite the long delay, we have made considerable progress. Currently, our primary focus is the testing and go- live of this system. Staff has completed a first round of unit testing of the system. We are continuing with another round of system testing in mid-July, scheduled to end in early August. We will be more informed at that time to determine a go-live date based on the issues raised during testing. Our current target is a go-live date toward the end of the calendar year and staff is feeling more confident about this date.
The provision of 15-minute interval data to the customer is within the scope of the SEW system, however, it is also co-dependent on receiving 15-minute interval data from the City's Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) electric meters. An upgrade to the Silicon Valley Power's Siemens Energy IP Meter Data Management Software platform and Finance Department Harris Northstar Utility Billing System software would be required to transmit the data to the SEW system. Those upgrades have been procured; however, implementation has been delayed, partially due to the delay in the SEW system. Even with the targeted go-live of the SEW system later this calendar year, it will take another 6-12 months of upgrading these two other systems before the 15-minute and hourly data can be populated to the SEW green button feature. Once the SEW customer portal is launched the customer will be able to access their monthly usage data.
Question 2: Also which of the "add on" features in Exhibit A (Scope of Subscribed Service) did the City of Santa Clara subscribe to? In particular, did we subscribe to add-on options 2 and 5? Response: The City is not launching or adding any add-ins until the SEW portal is launched, depending on what is still available at that time.
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