Energy & Utilities Software Development

Challenges in energy software

• Field crews working from paper work orders
• Asset data spread across spreadsheets and legacy systems
• Large volumes of sensor and meter data with little analysis
• Customer service under pressure during outages
• Strict safety and regulatory reporting

Software we build for energy

Compliance and security

We build the technical controls these rules require and work with your compliance and legal advisers, who confirm obligations.

Systems we integrate with

From sensor data to decisions

Energy companies collect vast amounts of time-series data from meters, turbines, panels, pipelines and substations. We build platforms that ingest it reliably, store it efficiently in time-series databases, detect anomalies and present dashboards that operations teams use daily — turning data that was simply archived into earlier warnings and better maintenance planning.

Security and regulatory considerations

Energy software sits close to critical infrastructure, so security expectations are higher than in most industries. Depending on your role and assets, relevant frameworks can include NERC CIP standards for entities operating the bulk electric system, the IEC 62443 series for industrial control system security, and the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. Practical consequences include strict separation between operational technology (OT) and IT networks, carefully controlled data flows out of control systems, strong access management and detailed change records. We design integrations to read operational data through approved, one-way paths rather than connecting business applications directly to control systems.

Systems and data sources we work with

• SCADA, historians (such as AVEVA PI) and IoT gateways using protocols like OPC UA, Modbus and MQTT.
• Asset management and maintenance systems such as IBM Maximo or SAP Plant Maintenance.
• Geographic information systems such as Esri ArcGIS for networks and field assets.
• Billing, customer information and meter data management systems.
• Weather, market price and grid data feeds for forecasting and trading.

Typical projects

Data platforms for energy companies

Energy organisations generate large volumes of time-series data from meters, sensors and market feeds. Making it useful requires a data platform that can ingest high-frequency readings reliably, handle gaps and late data, and keep historical data affordable to store and query. We build pipelines into cloud data platforms or time-series databases, define clear data models for assets and readings, and expose the results through dashboards, APIs and machine learning models. Good data quality checks matter as much as clever analytics — a forecast is only as reliable as the readings behind it.

Separating OT and IT: an architecture that keeps operations safe

Energy companies run operational technology (OT) — SCADA, protection relays, PLCs and historians — alongside business systems such as billing, asset management and customer service. New software must respect the boundary between the two.

A typical asset-inspection project

1. Inventory assets and inspections2 weeks

   Confirm asset hierarchies in the EAM and GIS, and the inspection forms currently used.

2. Design offline mobile forms3–4 weeks

   Checklists, photos, readings and GPS that work in remote areas without signal.

3. Integrate EAM and GIS4–8 weeks

   Download assigned assets and maps; upload results and create follow-up work orders.

4. Pilot with one crew3–4 weeks

   Compare against paper records and adjust forms with crew feedback.

5. Add analytics4–6 weeks

   Condition trends and risk scoring to prioritise maintenance.

6. Scale across regions

   Roll out with training and a change process for adding new inspection types.

Build or buy for energy and utilities

Implementing NERC CIP and OT security expectations

For bulk electric system entities in North America, the NERC CIP standards set mandatory requirements for cyber security of BES cyber systems, including electronic security perimeters, access management, change control and incident reporting. Other energy organisations commonly follow IEC 62443 and the NIST Cybersecurity Framework. For software projects that touch these environments we:

• Keep new applications outside electronic security perimeters unless your OT team explicitly designs otherwise
• Use one-way, read-only data flows from operations to analytics
• Document accounts, ports and services for your compliance evidence
• Follow your change management and testing requirements before any deployment
• Provide software bills of materials and vulnerability information for supply-chain reviews

Your compliance team determines applicability and scope; we design and document the software to fit those controls.

Common mistakes in energy software projects

• Connecting cloud dashboards directly to control networks
• Building mobile apps that assume constant connectivity in the field
• Duplicating asset registers instead of integrating with the EAM and GIS
• Starting analytics before historian data quality has been checked
• Leaving OT engineers out of design decisions

Related services: IoT and embedded development, data engineering and customer portals.

Customer-facing software for utilities and energy retailers

Customer expectations are shaped by banking and retail apps, and utilities increasingly need digital self-service to manage call volumes, outages and new services such as solar, batteries and EV charging. We build customer experiences on top of the customer information system rather than replacing it:

Customer data in energy is sensitive: usage patterns can reveal when people are at home. Many states regulate how utilities share customer energy data, so consent management, data minimisation and careful access control are built in from the start.

Forecasting and planning with your data

Once operational and customer data is collected in one place, it supports better planning. Typical uses include load forecasting by feeder or region, maintenance prioritisation based on asset condition and criticality, renewable generation forecasts using weather data, and planning for growth in electric vehicles and distributed generation.

We start with transparent statistical methods and move to machine learning only where it clearly improves accuracy. Forecasts are always compared with actual outcomes, shown with ranges rather than single numbers, and reviewed by your engineers and planners before they inform investment decisions.

Planning tools are most useful when engineers can explore scenarios themselves — different growth assumptions, weather years or maintenance budgets — so we build them as interactive applications with documented assumptions, not as one-off reports that become outdated within months.

Energy and utilities metrics to surface

Illustrative metrics; which ones matter depends on your organisation and goals.

Operational data stays on the OT side of the boundary; we replicate only what reporting needs through controlled, one-way paths agreed with your security team.

Energy glossary for project teams

Because field and operational teams often work across large regions with patchy connectivity, we design inspection and work-order apps to queue data safely offline and sync automatically when a connection returns.

Services for this industry

Related: data engineering, machine learning and field and fleet software.

Explore more in Industry Software Development for the Sectors We Serve.