October 2023
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Connecticut CBIA Releases 2023 Survey of Connecticut Businesses Hartford, CT – The Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) released the results of the organization’s 2023 Survey of Connecticut Businesses, produced in collaboration with Marcum LLP, at its “The Connecticut Economy” conference on Sept. 14. Key findings of the report include:
• Finding and/or retaining employees is difficult for 81% of surveyed businesses – essentially unchanged from last year. • The percentage of top executives who say the lack of skilled job applicants is the greatest obstacle to growth increased seven points over last year to 46%. • 76% of companies reported profits in 2022, up from 68% the previous year and the highest since 2019. • Two-thirds (66%) expect a profitable 2023, with just 7% projecting losses. • One-quarter of business leaders believe Connecticut’s economy will expand over the next 12 months, with 29% forecasting national growth. • 91% say the cost of doing business in Connecticut is increasing, with rising labor costs (25%) and state taxes (16%) the primary drivers. • Inflation remains a challenge for 83% of
businesses. • Only 10% of executives feel the state’s business climate is improving, while 41% say it’s static and 33% believe it’s declining. • 60% expect their employment levels to remain stable over the next six months, with 30% projecting increases. • 92% of employers offer employees health insurance benefits and 86% report coverage costs increased in the latest renewal period. CBIA president and CEO, Chris DiPentima, said the survey highlights the impact the growing labor shortage crisis is having on Connecticut businesses, but that it also shows their resilience, with 76% of companies reporting profits last year. “This survey highlights the need for aggressively pursuing solutions to the main challenges undermining our economy: the labor shortage, the state’s high cost of living, and the high cost of doing business,” said DiPentima. The featured speaker for the CBIA conference was Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation chair, Rodney Butler, who discussed the impact that Foxwoods
Resorts Casino has on Connecticut’s economy and plans to expand the resort as a world-class entertainment destination. The conference also featured a panel of business leaders who examined the findings of the CBIA survey, highlighting the challenges and opportunities companies face in an evolving economic landscape.
In response to the release of the Connecticut Department of Labor’s August 2023 employment report, DiPentima commented, “Employers are doing their part – it’s time for policymakers to do theirs and help build an economy that provides opportunities for everyone in Connecticut,” adding that, “The August report also shows construction employment is at its highest level in years, but the volume of work needs to match that. And that can only be accomplished through public-private partnerships that increase DOT capacity to get design projects completed and into the hands of those who can transform our roads, bridges, buildings, and overall infrastructure.” O&G Industries vice president, Christina Oneglia Rossi, said, ‘There is tremendous opportunity for large infrastructure projects that aren’t happening right now. The money is there, so we’re hopeful that some of these projects come to bear because investing in infrastructure has the highest return on investment in terms of job growth and in terms of improving the state economy.”
Avangrid to Create In-house Artificial Intelligence Systems Orange, CT – Avangrid, Inc., a sustainable energy company and member of the Iberdrola Group, announced it has launched a Data Science and Analytics team aimed at developing unique and proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) systems that are focused on improving reliability for customers. The goal of these machine learning models, once complete, is to change how the company approaches grid investments, equipment upgrades, storm forecasting and more. Avangrid’s Data Science and Analytics team sits within the Operational Performance organization and is made up of seven data scientists, engineers and analysts who come from industries like healthcare, astrophysics and finance. The team is creating three unique AI systems: Predictive Health Analytics, GeoMesh and HealthAI. Each technology will take existing data from Avangrid companies’ electric grids and analyze it to forecast future performance of the grid, determine the condition of grid equipment or target at-risk locations for inspections and investment, with the goal of increasing reliability for the 2.31 million electric customers served by Avangrid’s subsidiaries, including United Illuminating. Predictive Health Analytics
This project takes a proactive approach
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to determine the condition of substation equipment such as circuit breakers, which are like fuses in a house, and uses data to prioritize planned replacements and upgrades. Traditionally, equipment is replaced primarily based on age or if it malfunctions and causes an outage. Predictive Health Analytics will take a data-driven approach to determine equipment’s overall health and life expectancy based on numerous factors, including age, frequency of use, manufacturer and maintenance notifications. This means Avangrid will save money and help reduce outages for customers by replacing at-risk equipment, such as circuit breakers, before it causes an outage. GeoMesh
This project maps Avangrid’s service areas to identify the strengths and weakness of
its electric networks to help forecast its performance during both blue-sky and storm scenarios. The goal is to improve understanding about how the electric grid is performing under various weather conditions so that Avangrid’s companies can better plan upgrades, storm response and more. To accomplish this, GeoMesh breaks Avangrid’s service areas into small sections to allow the company to focus on one specific region at a time. For the chosen selection, GeoMesh makes predictions by analyzing millions of data points, such as average wind speed, precipitation type and amount, outage history and reason,
population and density of tree limbs and other vegetation. All of this lets Avangrid make informed, data-based decisions on things like where and what upgrades are most needed or which customers are most likely to be impacted by a storm.
HealthAI
This project analyzes Avangrid’s existing millions of high-resolution photos of its street-level distribution system – poles, wires and grid equipment – to identify the assets in the photos and, eventually, catalogue their health. This increases Avangrid’s awareness of the condition of its grid equipment and helps to identify areas of concern. HealthAI will save Avangrid time and money by targeting at-risk locations for inspections and maintenance. It will also reduce outages and improve safety for lineworkers by giving them more information before they arrive on scene. Currently, Avangrid is training the AI system to correctly identify grid equipment in photos, such as cross arms, transformers or wire. Next, the AI system will learn to analyze and determine the health of that equipment. For instance, it will identify if the cross arm is broken or if the wire is sagging. Right now, Avangrid learns of these equipment damages or failures from customer reports, manual inspections or outages. HealthAI will make it an automatic and proactive process to make adjustments before the customer is impacted. Long term, Avangrid aims to also use HealthAI to also identify threats to its distribution network such as hanging tree limbs or dead trees that may fall onto company electric lines.
