Billing software conqueror aims to fit the bill globally

By RICHARD BRADDELL

The path should be paved with gold for software house WEL Technology, provided the axiom holds true that export success springs from domestic domination.

The electricity billing systems specialist, sold to Spectrum Resources last year, has turned its attention to the United States and Australia and expects to tackle Europe, as deregulation sweeps through those markets.

Few exporters are as well-placed as WEL. Its niche systems are used by 70 per cent of New Zealand electricity companies, and that could reach 100 per cent if the last holdout, TransAlta, follows the lead of parent NGC.

But general manager Gavin Mitchell says the real opportunity is in the US, where 3000 energy companies trade in 50 distinct markets.

To capture opportunities presented by deregulation, WEL has set up business development managers on the US east and west coasts, as well as one in Melbourne.

WEL, once the software arm of Hamilton company WEL Energy, owes its existence to its former parent's recognition seven years ago that to capture the top industrial and commercial customers in New Zealand's newly deregulated market it had to offer superior service and billing management.

Mr Mitchell says those customers are particularly valuable because, while they typically account for only 1 or 2 per cent of an electricity supplier's customer base, they often represent 35 per cent or more of power consumption.

A Malaysian firm, for instance, has 0.5 per cent of its clients taking 55 per cent of its energy.

But such customers can afford to be choosy.

"They are customers that are very mobile, says Mr Mitchell.

"They understand their energy consumption. They understand that it's another commodity, in the same way that raw materials are for the manufacturing process, and they go out to tender on a regular basis to buy their energy."

Hence the development of PV2, which WEL Technology calls a software application for "complex billing, contract management and key customer management services."

PV2 has become a valuable property. Although it has competitors, Mr Mitchell says they are generalists who have included some of PV2's capacity in wider customer information and billing packages.

He says none has the ability to drill as deep into customer needs as PV2, which can collate half-hour time-of-use data over 10 years if required and categorise it by geography, demographics or other desired parameters.

It lets retailers match their selling contracts to their buying contracts.

And while PV2 has specific strengths, it integrates well with other enterprise resource planning software, such as products by JD Edwards and SAP.

Telecoms equipment giant Lucent Technologies paid $1.4 million for PV2, which it has integrated into its telecommunications billing product for possible expansion to cover electricity and gas.

Lucent has also taken an option on 20 per cent of WEL Technology. .

Another licence has been sold to Iowa-based MidAmerican Energy, and variants have been sold to 780 Canadian utilities and one has been sold in Malaysia.

Mr Mitchell concedes that WEL Technology is a one-product firm - a risk it has tried to overcome by developing modules that can be matched with PV2 according to customer needs.