The Forlì remote control technology hub, the heart of Hera To run efficiently, cars need an engine that works optimally. Hera's engine is its Forlì Remote Control Technological Hub. This facility is unique in Italy and among the most advanced in Europe. It controls and monitors more than 6,600 plants and 67 thousand km of networks. telecontrollo_Forlì_FC.jpg Our sophisticated IT system enables us to remotely control the water, sewerage, gas, and district heating distribution networks in real-time, and covers Hera Group's entire service area. It enables us to continuously monitor malfunctions or failures and take direct action on the systems. In a control room of over 400 square meters, a team of 68 professionals controls the networks thanks to 130 monitors, 34 operating stations, and ten process engineering stations. Also, a giant 60 m2 screen enables operators to view networks and plants in real-time, monitoring them also using precise 3D representations, in addition to all the network operating parameters. The control room, the "heart" of Forlì's technological centre, receives over 9 million pieces of information daily through 360 thousand sensors installed throughout the local area. Every day, its operators handle about 8 thousand events or alarms coming from the field, with a broad range of criticality levels. The synergy between networks and the remote control centre is also ensured by the technical call centre, that supports the emergency response service, and handles around 340 thousand incoming calls per year, equal to an average of over 920 per day, and around 150 thousand outgoing calls. Thanks to the information received in real-time and the very detailed graphical representations, our technicians can immediately assess the extent of each report and activate the necessary actions, such as local emergency services. Remote control

Ferrara, the city of "green" heat ferrara citta verde.jpg A treasure is hiding under the soil of Ferrara. Not a chest full of gold coins nor a vault containing hidden works of art. It is a gift that nature gave this city. About two thousand metres under the Casaglia hamlet, there is a geothermal deposit from which water is drawn at around 100 °C. It is one of the world' s largest geothermal sources and a completely clean and renewable source of energy. This natural treasure makes Ferrara's district heating one of the most advanced geothermal plants in Europe. This reservoir, in fact, supplies 43% of the thermal energy to a 160 km long network that serves about 25 thousand housing units. Thanks to geothermal energy, combined with the recovery of the heat generated by the Via Diana waste-to-energy plant, 87% of the heat we distribute in Ferrara is "green". This result is confirmed by the recent Carbon Footprint certification validated by SGS, according to which Hera district heating helps the city of Ferrara to save 22 thousand tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. The Hera Group, partnered with Enel Green Power in a specially created temporary grouping of companies, has been managing this treasure trove of clean energy since the end of 2019. We began this process in 2017, when we obtained the concession to exploit the geothermal reservoir in the Ferrara subsoil, and we recently completed it by acquiring the Casaglia geothermal power plant. Thanks to this operation, we expect to increase the Ferrara district heating system's use of geothermal energy by a further 23% by 2023, compared to the 2016-2019 average. In recent years, our strategy has had a single objective: to boost district heating in the city and create an advantage in both the residential and production markets. For example, under an agreement with the Municipality of Ferrara, customers who convert their systems, installing a district heating controller, already receive an 80% discount on the installation. District heatign no

Hergoambiente, waste bin speaking What would a waste bin say if it could talk? Probably incredible stories of extraordinary everyday life. But above all, it could tell us some practical information: where it is, if it has been damaged and if the time has come to be emptied. We thought it was impossible to make our waste bins talk. But nothing is impossible when you want to provide a useful service to your local area. hergoambiente.jpg Thanks to HergoAmbiente, the "intelligent" system designed and implemented by the Hera Group to support waste collection and street cleaning, we "tagged" each of the 300 thousand bins of our network, giving them a first name, a last name and a voice. By doing so, we can always be updated in real-time on any information concerning them, from where they are to how they are working, and when they were last emptied. With Hera, it's not just the waste bins talking. Thanks to HergoAmbiente's dedicated technologies and cutting-edge IT systems, we have also assigned a unique identity to all other assets, including vehicles, drop-off points, and plants, to locate them in space, organise their activities over time and evaluate the quality of the services we provide. It is an extraordinary opportunity at the service of local communities. HergoAmbiente thinks and works as a network, i.e. a network of people and devices interconnected with each other, able to govern all the processes through which its waste management services work: design, planning, operational planning, reporting management, field execution, reporting and... redesigning services, because the data analysis can always help to define and achieve new customized objectives. What's our objective? To improve the quality, effectiveness and efficiency of services for the local area, optimising resources and ensuring real-time traceability of the waste we collect. A project, in short, the initiatives of which are part of the Hera Group's Utilities 4.0 plan, which is being extended every year with new ideas: in 2019, as part of the cassONetto Smarty smart waste bin project, we developed the innovative functionality that enables citizens to open the electronic waste disposal device using the "The Wasteologist" app, with NFC (Near Field Communication), without using their card. In its waste management services, HergoAmbiente exponentially increases the value of available information by blending the contexts they are located in, geo-referencing them, connecting them together, and transforming them into a treasure trove of knowledge which can be promptly used to continuously improve the service provided to citizens. With a drastic reduction in data entry and data transmission errors. Thanks to HergoAmbiente, in fact, it is possible to: know and keep up to date on the number and position of waste containers in the service area and their condition (for example, to know if they have already been emptied and when); seek continuous improvement in the design and operational scheduling of services; track waste collection and street-sweeping in a timely manner; quickly and flexibly organise the workforce; ensure the timely collection of information from the field sent at the end of the shift by Hera operators and subcontractors that are carrying out part of the services; exactly determine the current "productivity" of a collection centre, a drop-off point or even of a single bin; increase the efficiency of the service for the collection of bulky waste; complement the flow of information from call centres and apps such as The Wasteologist, translating it into corresponding services to be performed; produce reports aimed at carrying out precise analyses of our services, with a view to transparency towards citizens and institutions. With HergoAmbiente it is now possible to know the real position of the bins in the local area, to know if they have already been emptied and when. The benefits of HERGOAMBIENTE

Innovation takes flight and offers a variety of perspectives Cameras on. Three, two, one... take one! Or maybe it would be better to say... Go! Our drones are off. Yes, you got that right. To ensure high quality services, we have invested in the most modern technologies, such as drones, which have become alternative and complementary investigative tools for the Hera Group. innovazione spicca il volo (1).jpeg Drones offer us countless opportunities in the management of essential services, such as checking the status of power lines, which can present problems that are difficult for ground-based operators to identify. We use helicopters to inspect the nearly 1,500 km of overhead power lines under our responsibility. Drones also enable us to protect our service areas by checking for possible illegal discharges and observing the filling status of landfills, and offer increasingly timely services by monitoring the upgrades of public lighting, observing tanks and roofs. Not only that: specially designed drones support us in sewer inspection, providing accurate data to help optimise our work. Our drones soar through the sky but also dive under water. Indeed, to offer higher and higher quality standards, special aquatic drones enable us to analyse the state of drinking water tanks, and of reservoirs without emptying them, giving us information about the collectors even if they are filled with murky water. For us, leveraging innovation to contribute to the development of the local area and promoting efficient use of resources are the pillars of a broader project: creating Shared Value. For some time, we have been using cutting-edge technology that goes beyond drones, like satellite scanning. With this system, we can remotely assess the stability of the sewer collectors, pre-locate leaks in the water networks, and monitor landslides in our Apennine service area, to prevent problems in the gas networks.

The office in a device. Digital workplace We introduced smart working in 2017 because we strongly believe that it can increase productivity and business performance while offering an answer to the delicate "work-life balance", by building an even deeper trust relationship with the people working in the Group. Ufficio.png In 2019 we implemented the Digital Workplace – Office 365, to get even more familiar with digital tools and make them as useful as possible. This has enabled us to give our employees mobility, collaboration, integration, simplicity, flexibility, and security. We also changed our office layouts: we set up temporary offices, to work in when away from the home office, and smart points, spaces where colleagues can collaborate with each other more easily or find the right concentration. The Digital Workplace has literally transformed the way we work, making office presence increasingly unnecessary. Documents are securely accessible from all company devices and through all channels. We have also developed a continuous backup, a virtually unlimited mailbox, and can ensure maximum availability of services, even if problems occur on the company network. Thanks to the Digital Workplace, we have also simplified installations and updates, making it possible to store and manage data in accordance with the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union). The Covid-19 emergency did not take us by surprise and, thanks to our major digitalisation process and to smart working, we were able to protect the health of our employees, while ensuring continuity of service and maximum support for all our customers.

What about your bill? Pay it with a click Once upon a time there was paper-based billing. As soon as you saw the envelope in your mailbox you would start the usual rant: get the postal payment order, find the cash, and above all, a lot of patience to face the endless queues at the post office or at the tobacconist's. Today: your bill is digital and you pay with a click, from the comfort of your home and with your smartphone. bolletta (1).png No, it didn't take a time-travel machine to get to here. What only a few years ago seemed unthinkable, was our commitment to make Hera an even more digital company. Our mission has always been to fulfil the needs and requirements of our customers, who nowadays show that they want to express themselves through smarter ways of consumption. Such as digital payments, which can transform a repetitive and even somewhat boring activity, like paying bills, into a fast, simple and safe routine; the environment also benefits because by doing so, we contribute to reducing the use of paper. Today, there are several digital solutions (add links to The Bill > Bill payment page) that we offer our customers to help them pay without queues, without wasting time and without any risk. Thanks to our partnership with Unicredit we were the first in Italy to generate no fewer than 6 million virtual IBAN codes, which we communicated in bills or invoices. Thanks to this customers can complete their payments directly from their Internet banking site, quickly and easily. Thanks to its multi-bank and multi-channel approach, CBILL also lets our users make payments from the dashboard of their online bank, providing complete and integrated coverage of the entire bill collection process, from notice issuance to settlement. Many customers have subscribed to the Online Services of the Hera Group or use our myHera app . For them we thought of two even smarter payment methods, such as Jiffy/Bancomat Pay, with which you just need to enter your mobile phone number to be debited from your current account, and Amazon Pay, which is directly linked to your Amazon account and your default credit cards. There are a total of 149 digital wallets that we have made available to our customers, such as Masterpass, Pay with Postepay, and Apple Pay, which simplify payments via smartphone or desktop, providing a transparent and straightforward user experience. The digitalisation of our services is one of the pillars of our path towards the UN’s 2030 Global Agenda, in line with the European Union's strategy for creating a digital single market. "In 2017 alone, we invested Euro 78 million in projects designed to spread digitalisation, in areas such as smart cities, data analytics, business intelligence, Utilities 4.0, circular economy, and customer experience. We are already the most digital utility company among the 13 examined in a survey by Utilitatis, but that's not enough. The service sector is constantly changing, and the partnerships we have entered into are crucial to making a quantum leap and addressing the needs of our customers”, explains Stefano Venier, CEO of Hera Group from April 2014 to April 2022. Servizi Online Hera My Hera Android My Hera Apple no https://servizionline.gruppohera.it/auth/hera/login?goto=https:%2F%2Fservizionline.gruppohera.it%2F https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=it.gruppohera.app&hl=it https://apps.apple.com/it/app/my-hera/id1245611790