Endeavour Energy is predicting ICT capex of $129 million from 2024-2029, and will establish a $25 million innovation fund over the same period.
The figures are revealed in the energy retailer’s regulatory proposal, published this week (pdf).
The 2024-2029 capex is sharply down from the $326 million spent between 2019 and 2024, which was more than $200 million higher than predicted in the energy provider’s previous regulatory proposal.
Endeavour Energy explained that its previous high spending was a correction needed to update aging systems after its part-privatisation in 2017.
“After a prolonged period of under-investment our technology platforms were beyond end-of-life, poor performing, expensive to maintain, without ongoing support in some instances and unable to meet our compliance obligations or facilitate the customer service and productivity improvements available with modern technology”, it said in the regulatory proposal.
The spending included a core SAP platform built to replace 26 legacy systems, an advanced distribution management system (ADMS) which “enabled Endeavour Energy to replace a manual pin board control room operation and an aging Outage Management System with a real-time, electronic management system reflecting the increasing convergence of network and non-network infrastructure”; and improvements to security.
With those projects now complete, ICT capex will return to a more sustainable level, Endeavour Energy said.
The proposed $25 million innovation fund includes some tech spending.
The uptake of rooftop solar has changed the loads on Endeavour Energy’s distribution infrastructure, so managing and taking advantage of that resource is a priority.
Part of the innovation fund will be spent on “orchestration and DSO” (distribution system operator), which will focus on ‘facilitating consumer participation in the energy market rather than building more infrastructure, and go beyond “poles and wire”.
Other innovation fund projects will include developing electric vehicle services; sustainability solutions including energy efficiency; and climate resilience.
