A Canadian power company is saving about $500,000 using laptops and PDAs, with some third-party mobile applications, for 400 field workers.

The goal of this mobile computing project at Hydro One Networks in Toronto, Ont., is to switch from error-prone paper trails into fast, accurate digital data paths.

About 300 mobile devices have been deployed, 60% of them Symbol Technologies PPT 2800 touchscreen PDAs, 40% IBM ThinkPad T series notebooks. They're being used by 400 of the 600 field workers who handle maintenance and repairs at nearly 1,500 power substations throughout Ontario. The pilot testing started in spring of 2003, and additional handhelds will be deployed by year-end, company officials say.

The embrace of mobile computing means that information concerning trouble tickets and equipment repairs is updated at the end of each shift, instead of one to three days later. The data is more accurate, says Ian McIntyre, manager of program and workforce stations for the utility. Field workers no longer have to print, fill out, check, mail and fax pages of paper reports.

The results are savings in paper processing and more accurate maintenance data.

"We have almost eliminated all the paper processing," McIntyre says. The utility was able to cut two full-time positions as a result. Other savings were realized by no longer having to correct data and eliminating some ad hoc surveys of equipment at substations.

"Our quality measurements showed about 70% of the [paper-based] reports were getting back to the system [on a timely basis] and about 70% of the data was accurate. Now both of those measures are over 99%," he says.

That accuracy and timeliness is critical for the heavily regulated utility.

"Being regulated, we have to make submission to the Ontario Energy Board for rate [changes]," McIntyre says. "We have a set rate-of-return against our assets. To justify investments in maintenance and expansions, we have to show the status of our assets." The utility and the regulators now have a clearer idea of how to allocate maintenance resources and the costs of maintaining the transmission and distribution grid that covers 400,000 square miles.