Case Study: EPB achieves $2.7 billion in first-decade community benefit with Hexagon PPM

EPB generates $2.7 billion in its first decade with Hexagon PPM

EPB, a major publicly owned electric power provider in Chattanooga, Tennessee, faced the challenge of modernizing its electric system by building a smart grid using fiber optic infrastructure. This grid needed to offer next-generation communications services while also improving energy use management and outage response. To overcome this, EPB partnered with vendor Hexagon PPM and leveraged its utility GIS solution to design and manage the new network.

The solution implemented by Hexagon involved enhancing EPB's existing electric model with fiber add-ons to support a massive Fiber to the Home (FTTH) project. This resulted in the installation of over 4,000 miles of fiber. Hexagon's technology helped EPB become the first U.S. company to offer one gigabit-per-second internet speed. An independent study documented that the smart grid generated $2.7 billion in community benefits in its first decade, including job creation, decreased power outages, and the ability to handle a massive surge in internet usage during the COVID-19 pandemic.

EPB