Utilities are at the nexus of three major trends transforming the energy industry: climate change, community leadership to decarbonize, and companies providing the tools and services to achieve decarbonization.

In an Energy Central article, Guidehouse’s Judy Simon, explained how utilities should develop a strategy—one that involves their customers—to take advantage of these trends, or risk losing out on market share.

The utility-centralized model of one-way energy flow is being transformed into a dynamic, digitized system, with multi-directional energy flows. This shift is being encouraged by disruptors in communities and companies which are putting pressure on utilities to change. It is also enabling customers to have more decision power and influence on how they interact with the grid. 

Simon said utilities will be forced to decide how to respond, and highlighted three approaches they can take: 

• Do nothing: Waiting for regulators to force the change
• Buck the trend: Actively lobbying and combating the regulator to adopt the utility’s strategy
• Embrace and encourage transformation: Co-creating the new utility industry with regulators, customers, and technology championing new entrants

“Utilities that embrace and encourage the transformation now will likely be more sustainable and profitable in the long run,” Simon said.