(#1) Atlanta – September 14, 2016 – Atlanta-based Red Clay Consulting, an IT systems integrator specializing in the utilities industry, announced today that it has been named one of Atlanta’s Best Places to Work by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.

Red Clay was recognized on September 8 as one of Atlanta’s Top Ten Best Places to Work at a breakfast honoring Atlanta’s top companies and sponsored by the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Winners of these annual awards are determined by an employee survey conducted by Quantum Workplace that measures work environment, people practices, managerial effectiveness, trust, and other metrics. Red Clay Consulting was honored in 2013 in the small company division. This year, they were recognized as one of Atlanta’s top ten medium-sized companies. Atlanta is the country’s most competitive city for this award.

“It’s a huge honor for us to receive this award. Creating a challenging, collaborative and fun work environment is on our radar each and every day,” says Susanne Wagner, Red Clay’s Managing Director of Operations. “It’s fundamental to who we are as a company and what we are able to accomplish professionally.”

Red Clay Consulting is a fifteen-year-old company with offices in Atlanta and Ontario, Canada. Red Clay is a leading implementation specialist in the utilities industry and has attracted top talent from throughout the U.S. and world. In the last eighteen months, Red Clay has grown by 50% and continued growth is expected. “Red Clay’s company culture is key to what helps us attract the best employees, encourages them to stay and grow with us, and allows us to win business and outperform our competition,” says Managing Director of Professional Services, Jill Greene. “Our strategy of maintaining and improving Red Clay’s company culture by taking it into consideration in all major company decisions from recruiting and hiring, to office location and environment, to project delivery is a winning proposition.”

About Red Clay Consulting:
Red Clay, a leading consultancy for utilities, delivers seamless integrations of leading software systems. Industry experience, technical expertise, and an unyielding commitment to client success combine to deliver turnkey solutions that maximize value. Red Clay Consulting is the preferred choice for software integration and managed services among utilities. Red Clay’s unparalleled experience, expertise, and execution fuels project success. To learn more about Red Clay, visit: www.redclay.com.

For more information, contact: Susanne Wagner, Managing Director of Operations at wagner@redclay.com.

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Red Clay Consulting Successfully Upgrades American Electric Power’s Meter Data Management System

Oracle Gold Partner logo

American Electric Power to Transform its Smart Metering Capabilities with Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management Solution

Columbus, Ohio – May 22, 2017 – Today Red Clay Consulting, a Gold Level Oracle Partner has announced it has completed the successful upgrade of American Electric Power’s meter data management system from Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management (MDM) version 1.6 to the platform’s new version 2.1.0.3.

The upgrade project was aimed at converting historical usage and customer data into the latest MDM version to meet AEP and market requirements. The effort was completed in approximately six weeks and successfully converted nearly 2 million active AMI meters and corresponding customer data across four unique AEP operating companies and five states.  The new MDM version will allow AEP to better serve their clients and further enable smart meter technology within the company.

According to Paul Marnell, Managing Partner at Red Clay Consulting, “This was an outstanding conversion from LODESTAR to the newest version of Oracle Utilities MDM for American Electric Power.  Red Clay and AEP successfully partnered to make this project a success, while supporting all market and settlement requirements for the Texas ERCOT market. With this implementation, we have added to an impressive delivery record stretching more than ten years of implementing these products. AEP was an exceptional partner, and I’m thrilled we could once again deliver a successful project.”

About Red Clay Consulting

Red Clay, a leading consultancy for utilities, delivers seamless integrations of leading software systems. Industry experience, technical expertise, and an unyielding commitment to client success combine to deliver turnkey solutions that maximize value. As a Gold Level member of the Oracle Partner Network (OPN), Red Clay Consulting is the preferred choice among utilities for software integration and managed services. Red Clay’s unparalleled experience, expertise, and execution fuel project success. To learn more about Red Clay, visit: www.redclay.com.

About AEP

American Electric Power is one of the largest electric utilities in the United States, delivering electricity and custom energy solutions to nearly 5.4 million customers in 11 states. AEP owns the nation’s largest electricity transmission system, a more than 40,000-mile network that includes more 765-kilovolt extra-high voltage transmission lines than all other U.S. transmission systems combined. AEP also operates 224,000 miles of distribution lines. AEP ranks among the nation’s largest generators of electricity, owning approximately 26,000 megawatts of generating capacity in the U.S. AEP also supplies 3,200 megawatts of renewable energy to customers. AEP’s utility units operate as AEP Ohio, AEP Texas, Appalachian Power (in Virginia and West Virginia), AEP Appalachian Power (in Tennessee), Indiana Michigan Power, Kentucky Power, Public Service Company of Oklahoma, and Southwestern Electric Power Company (in Arkansas, Louisiana and east Texas). AEP’s headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.

Trademarks

Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Contact Info

Red Clay Consulting
Susanne Wagner
Managing Director, Operations
+1.678.445.3770 x136
wagner@redclay.com

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Red Clay Consulting Helps Make Electric Vehicle (EV) Ownership More Attractive for Thousands of California Residents

Develops critical billing component that allows utility to add thousands of EV charging stations throughout populous residential and commercial areas.

Atlanta, Georgia – August 1, 2017 – A large West Coast utility recently invested in one of the largest utility program initiatives in the history of U.S. transportation electrification. This clean transportation initiative will install thousands of electric vehicle charging stations in apartment and condo complexes, malls, and office buildings across the utility’s service area. Red Clay Consulting was instrumental to the success of this project, which created an end-to-end pricing and billing solution that includes monthly billing calculations based on dynamic hourly prices. Now, electric vehicle owners served by the utility can conveniently charge their cars and have this cost bundled into their monthly electric bill.

Red Clay was spearheading unrelated IT projects for the utility when the clean transportation initiative was introduced. For the project to work, the client needed to include dynamic hourly pricing and billing. Red Clay used their expertise to propose a pilot solution. Red Clay’s experienced consultants customized an existing software product to solve the complex billing challenge and to offer the utility a complete end-to-end solution. The electric vehicle charging station pilot program was a success and became a full-scale implementation.

The big win for consumers is the convenience of more electric vehicle charging locations. For Red Clay, the benefit is more far reaching. Red Clay can apply the core components of the dynamic pricing and billing solution they created to a wide range of projects. Red Clay knows first-hand the challenges of a project of this scope and can use this project experience to guide any utility – whether they have started a similar project or are just considering it.

Electric vehicles continue to grow in popularity, and this innovative project simplifies the way electric vehicles are fueled. Now, charging an electric vehicle (EV) becomes easier and more convenient than pumping gas. Instead of using a credit card at a gas station, the participating customer goes to a charging station, uses a fob for identification, charges their vehicle, and the electricity cost is automatically included on their monthly electric bill. It’s that simple. Consumption data, hourly pricing, and calculations for the monthly billing are handled by this dynamic billing solution.

The project works through three integral components. First, a third-party vendor provides the charging stations and fobs. Second, charging station information is sent to the dynamic billing solution, which calculates the electric vehicle bill determinants associated with the customer. Finally, the data is sent to the utility’s customer information system (CIS) for further processing and inclusion on the customer’s electric bill.

Another innovative feature of this solution is that customers can see forecasted hourly electricity prices at the charging station or online. Customers can even use the utility’s website to view a map of nearby charging stations and each station’s corresponding forecasted prices. With this information, electric vehicle owners can make well-informed decisions about when and where to recharge.

Many utilities are eager to offer programs that further incorporate clean transportation into the grid. Red Clay has over fifteen years of experience and is well positioned to help with end-to-end functional and technical solutions for both clean transportation projects and projects that require dynamic pricing and billing. Contact us today at 678.445.3770 or info@redclay.com to start the conversation about your next project.

About Red Clay Consulting

Red Clay, a leading consultancy for utilities, delivers seamless integrations of leading software systems. Industry experience, technical expertise, and an unyielding commitment to client success combine to deliver turnkey solutions that maximize value. As a Gold Level member of the Oracle Partner Network (OPN), Red Clay Consulting is the preferred choice among utilities for software integration and managed services. Red Clay’s unparalleled experience, expertise, and execution fuel project success. To learn more about Red Clay, visit: www.redclay.com.

Contact Info

Red Clay Consulting
Susanne Wagner
Managing Director, Operations
+1.404.314.6317
wagner@redclay.com

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Red Clay Consulting Welcomes Maria DeChellis to their Growing Team

Utility industry experience in Customer Information Systems and Meter-to-Cash process will enhance existing highly-trained consultant team.

Maria DeChellis photo

Atlanta, Georgia – Red Clay Consulting is pleased to welcome Maria DeChellis as a Client Partner within its business development organization. She brings over 17 years of utilities experience working with more than 50 utilities, both regulated and deregulated, to Red Clay.

DeChellis has spent most of her career in the utility industry, beginning as a quality assurance analyst for a utilities customer billing solution and working her way up through a variety of roles in the industry, including technical architect for a services organization and project manager for CIS replacement projects. In 2011, she was one of five founding partners of Crimson Oak Consulting, a consulting firm specializing in business process engineering and support for legacy billing platforms. There, DeChellis worked with utilities who were looking to understand new billing options to ensure they were on trend for billing and customer service. Crimson Oak helped each utility find the best solution on whatever platform they currently used or provided transition assistance if a utility decided to upgrade their system.

Following the acquisition of Crimson Oak by Itineris, she directed North American product strategy as Vice President of Product Management for a Microsoft Dynamics AX-based billing and ERP platform. Her career then led to the Baltimore Department of Public Works as Chief of Customer Support and Services, where she oversaw 175 employees and directed customer experience, metering, and field operations for 400,000 city and county residents during the transition from a 30-year-old legacy billing platform and manually-read meters to a modern CIS system and AMI platform. While there, she led a key project to change the billing cycle from quarterly to monthly while implementing a new customer self-service portal, which helped residents identify issues and proactively control usage. DeChellis coordinated nearly every aspect of this initiative, resulting in a successful Go-Live and an overall positive customer experience.

“I have enjoyed watching the utility industry evolve for nearly 20 years,” said DeChellis. “Utilities impact individuals and businesses daily in a very personal way, so they need systems that enhance the utilities’ core principle of providing reliable, safe, and consistent services to their customers. Red Clay Consulting has a strong reputation in the industry, and I look forward to working directly with water, gas, and electric providers to find solutions to their unique needs.”

“We are delighted to have Maria as part of the Red Clay team,” said CEO, Paul Marnell. “The depth of her background in the utility industry will help us to grow our business in the areas of Customer Information Systems, Advanced Metering Infrastructure and Meter Data Management, as well as to capitalize on the great work we have already done in these areas.”

DeChellis has a deeply-rooted passion for the utility industry, and this passion extends beyond her client work. She volunteers as secretary of the Customer Service Subcommittee of the American Water Works Association and has edited the updated M5 manual. In her free time, she also authors articles and speaks at conferences and on panels on a variety of topics, including CIS replacement projects.

About Red Clay Consulting

Red Clay, a leading consultancy for utilities, delivers seamless integrations of leading software systems. Industry experience, technical expertise, and an unyielding commitment to client success combine to deliver turnkey solutions that maximize value. As a Gold Level member of the Oracle Partner Network (OPN), Red Clay Consulting is the preferred choice among utilities for software integration and managed services. Red Clay’s unparalleled experience, expertise, and execution fuel project success. To learn more about Red Clay, visit: www.redclay.com.

Contact Info

Red Clay Consulting
Susanne Wagner
Managing Director, Operations
+1.404.314.6317
wagner@redclay.com

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Red Clay Consulting Assists with Hurricane Harvey Massive Outage Management

Atlanta, Georgia – September 29, 2017 – While there are many reasons utilities are choosing to invest in advanced outage management systems, predicted increases in the number and strength of hurricanes over the coming years certainly make a compelling and visible case in favor of improving outage management. These meteorological events cause massive outages that can collapse entire systems within a utility, ultimately causing negative impacts in its customers’ bills. A Red Clay client with approximately one million Texas meters anticipated the eventuality of such an occurrence and asked us to build a catastrophic outage solution that could put their meter data management system into a “storm mode” when needed.

Hurricane Harvey left nearly 75% of the utility’s customers in Texas without power. Shortly before the storm’s landfall, the utility notified Red Clay of the need to invoke the catastrophic outage solution. This solution allowed the utility to track current outages and prevented incorrect estimations that adversely affect billing and market settlement. With the catastrophic outage solution in place, the utility was able to quickly initiate and complete outages within the system proactively to mitigate impact to the market and streamline their support operations.

Thanks to the client’s forward thinking and desire to place customers’ interests above all else, Texas crews are now entering the final stages of the restoration effort. For more information on how we can serve your outage management needs, contact Red Clay Consulting.

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Red Clay Consulting Successfully Launches American Electric Power’s Meter-to-Cash Processes

Develops Blueprint for Continued Scalability in MDM Solution

Red Clay is an Oracle Gold Partner Specialized Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management 2Columbus, Ohio – January 22, 2018 – Today Red Clay Consulting, a Gold Level Oracle Partner, announced it has successfully completed an endeavor to update and refine American Electric Power’s (AEP) meter-to-cash processes.

Following Red Clay’s upgrade of AEP’s meter data management system (MDMS), this project delivered functionality and additional flexibility to support AEP’s consolidated MDM solution for an additional 900,000 advanced metering infrastructure deployment throughout Ohio. The multi-operating company MDMS framework Red Clay developed during the initial upgrade project enabled an additional operating company to be added to the framework without impacting AEP’s other operating companies. Utilizing an agile delivery methodology, Red Clay successfully completed this project ahead of schedule while also supporting parallel projects, resulting in increased overall functionality of the MDMS and its integrated systems at AEP.

According to Paul Marnell, CEO of Red Clay Consulting, “We’re proud to have partnered with AEP to define and execute scalability strategies for its MDM solution. Red Clay’s decades of experience in the meter-to-cash space led to the successful delivery of a meter data management solution that will serve AEP well as it continues to grow.”

About Red Clay Consulting
Red Clay, a leading consultancy for utilities, delivers seamless integrations of leading software systems. Industry experience, technical expertise, and an unyielding commitment to client success combine to deliver turnkey solutions that maximize value. As a Gold Level member of the Oracle Partner Network (OPN), Red Clay Consulting is the preferred choice among utilities for software integration and managed services. Red Clay’s unparalleled experience, expertise, and execution fuel project success. To learn more about Red Clay, visit: www.redclay.com.

Contact Info
Red Clay Consulting
Susanne Wagner
Managing Director, Operations
+1.678.445.3770 x136
wagner@redclay.com

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Red Clay Consulting announces the creation of an in-house Global Pre-Sales team formed by some of the most experienced and highly-trained product specialists and technical experts in the energy industry. The Global Pre-Sales team headed by Business Development Manager Natalia Agrela will allow Red Clay to supplement Oracle’s Sales and Pre-Sales teams.

Thanks to Red Clay’s in-depth industry implementation knowledge, we will able to provide outstanding pre-sales expertise across the globe.  This team will allow Red Clay to deliver presentations and demonstrations of the products we implement and of the value added services we offer to utilities.

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St. Louis, MO – April 30, 2015 – Atlanta-based Red Clay Consulting announced today that the Ameren Corporation, parent holding company to Ameren Illinois and Ameren Missouri, has successfully installed Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management (MDM) 2.1 for both their electric and gas settlement systems customers.

This implementation provided validated usage transaction data to two unique downstream Oracle Utilities settlement systems to accommodate both gas and electric customers. To best manage this process, the implementation was done in two phases in order for the Oracle Utilities MDM 2.1 deployments to coincide with the deployment timeframe of Ameren’s downstream gas settlement system and the upgrade of the electric settlement system. The gas implementation took place in July 2014, followed by the electric settlement system in October 2014.

Ameren Corporation has enhanced their electric settlement systems with Oracle Utilities MDM 2.1, providing a comprehensive settlement data system that is the central data source for all of Ameren’s raw measurement data used for settlement and analysis. As the single repository for measurement data, this framework will enable Ameren to leverage this configuration and expand their AMI capabilities at a lower cost. The improvements provided to Ameren Corporation by the utilization of Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management 2.1 for both gas and electric customers, as well as the precise design provided for these core features and functionality, will enable Ameren to enhance its settlement capabilities and leverage additional requirements in the future.

For more information, please visit https://www.redclay.com.

About Red Clay Consulting
Founded in 2001, Atlanta-based Red Clay Consulting has a strong record of providing systems integration and software implementation solutions to energy and utilities companies. Red Clay is a Gold-level member of Oracle PartnerNetwork. Led with integrity by industry experts, the Red Clay team is composed of dedicated, driven, and enthusiastic employees. Visit www.redclay.com to learn more about our mission of doing what’s right and fair for our clients, our employees, and our company.

About the Ameren Corporation (Ameren)
Incorporated in 1995, Ameren Corporation became the parent company to Ameren Illinois and Ameren Missouri. Ameren Illinois is an electric and gas delivery company that delivers safe and reliable electricity to 1.2 million electric and 806,000 natural gas customers in central and southern Illinois. Ameren Missouri, the state’s largest electric utility, provides electric services to approximately 1.2 million customers across central and eastern Missouri.

Trademarks
Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates.

Press Contacts:
Rob Parashar
Director of Sales and Marketing
Red Clay Consulting
678-445-3770
mailto: saurabh.parashar@redclay.com

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AIDS Walk Atlanta 2013

BannerRCCCaresAW2K13

Red Clay Consulting is proud to support AIDS Walk Atlanta.  This annual 5K Run is the largest AIDS-related fundraising event in the Southeastern United States.  Now commemorating 23 years of walking and running, AIDS Walk Atlanta & 5K Run continues to raise much needed funds for AIDS Service Organizations throughout the metro-Atlanta area. These organizations provide essential programs and services for men, women, and children who are infected with or affected by HIV/AIDS.

In 2013, Red Clay’s overall fundraising goal was $15,000.  We raised $18,587 and were one of the top 5 companies!  Because of our hard work and dedication, we helped AIDS WALK Atlanta achieve their overall fundraising goal of $1.1 million.  Most importantly, we helped save lives!  Once again, proving that nobody can do what we can do TOGETHER!!!    Way to go Team Red Clay!

HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, “acquired immunodeficiency syndrome” has become one of the world’s most serious health and development challenges. The first cases were reported in 1981 and today, more than 30 years later:

  • There are approximately 35 million people currently living with HIV and tens of millions of people have died of AIDS-related causes since the beginning of the epidemic.
  • While new cases have been reported in all regions of the world, 95% of new infections occur in individuals that reside in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
  • Most people living with HIV or at risk for HIV do not have access to prevention, care, and treatment, and there is still no cure.
  • HIV primarily affects those in their most productive years; about half of new infections are among those under age 25.
  • HIV not only affects the health of individuals, it impacts households, communities, and the development and economic growth of nations. Many of the countries hardest hit by HIV also suffer from other infectious diseases, food insecurity, and other serious problems.
  • Despite these challenges, new global efforts have been mounted to address the epidemic, particularly in the last decade, and there are signs that the epidemic may be changing course. The number of people newly infected with HIV and the number of AIDS-related deaths have declined, contributing to the stabilization of the epidemic. In addition, the number of people with HIV receiving treatment in resource poor countries has increased from 400,000 in 2003 to 9.7 million in 2012.

To learn more, visit http://www.aidswalkatlanta.com.

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Unleashing the Benefits of Meter Data Management Webcast

View our Recorded Webinar:

Unleashing the Benefits of Meter Data Management

Join Red Clay Consulting, along with utility executive Chip Merriam from Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) and Oracle Utilities’ Group Vice President Guerry Waters for a free recorded Webcast – Unleashing the Benefits of Meter Data Management.

This is an opportunity to learn how OUC, partnered with Red Clay Consulting, implemented the SmartGridONE (SG1) appliance, built on Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management and Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway, in less than six months from requirements to production rollout. Beth will describe how Red Clay’s “crawl, walk, run” implementation strategy can guide Utilities customers to a successful deployment everytime, on time and on budget.

Beth outlines how an “out of the box” Oracle Utilities Meter Data Management system such as SG1 can quickly put in place an efficient meter-to-cash process that will provide smart meter benefits and change the way utilities do business. If your utility is considering moving forward with any Meter Data Management platform, or any brand of meter and head-end system, this webcast is essential viewing.

Webcast attendees will gain actionable insights on how SG1 has enabled OUC to improve business processes and increase operational efficiency using pre-configured options and fully robust “out of the box” functionality.

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