Cost Management
As part of our promise to provide our customers with safe, reliable service, we also recognize that every dollar that we invest has an impact on their bill each month. As a responsible corporate citizen and a publicly traded company, we need to invest in our system wisely, choosing which challenges to pursue, and following the most cost-effective options to overcome those challenges. Choosing the best cost-management strategies demonstrates that as a company we're getting the best return possible on the dollars we spend.
Our excellence in cost management is achieved through communication, a collaborative approach to planning and implementation, as well as the application of ongoing and forward-looking analysis. It requires us to work each day in a more efficient and productive manner, and make a personal commitment to be accountable for the impact we have. We are also focused on cost consciousness, or the basics for productivity and cost control. We will ensure that expectations are established, communicated, and enforced, and that contracts and material costs are effectively controlled. Con Edison achieves cost-management excellence through the improvements in work volume and cost efficiencies, optimized use of overtime, reduced contractor costs, service and maintenance cost reductions, procurement of the most cost-effective energy supplies, elimination of work, and reduction in tax liabilities and other assessments.
Several years ago, Con Edison made a large technology investment in order to create a new online resource to manage suppliers, purchasing, delivery, inventory, and other aspects of the supply chain. The finance and supply-chain components of this system went live in 2012, and matured throughout 2013.
This new resource is called the Oracle Enterprise Business Suite (EBS). It replaced more than 60 former systems, including many that were developed in the 1960s and 1970s and coded in now obsolete computer languages, making them increasingly difficult to maintain.
Serving as a cornerstone of Con Edison’s cost-management resources, Oracle EBS is an enterprise-wide software system that is based on Oracle’s financial and supply chain Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. It allows users to develop business plans and budgets, record financial transactions and analyze data, purchase materials and services, manage inventory, and report financial and purchasing data. In addition, data transparency and accountability at all levels have been integrated into the scope of these Oracle EBS capabilities.