Utility Marketing Strategies and Pricing Trends (An Overview)

Abstract

"Industries and utilities alike find themselves today in a very competitive environment. Industry finds that it must defend against threats to its markets from both domestic and foreign competitors. Likewise, utilities are challenged by industry and by neighboring utility companies to achieve new levels in customer service, reliability, and pricing. The two, industry and utility, are not antagonists, but are actually partners in the same venture--the industrial customer's costs are oftentimes tied closely to the price of electric power, and the utility's economic health depends upon the continued success of its customers.

To work, a utility's marketing strategy and pricing arrangements must form a cohesive whole. Electric 'power rates must be able to recover a utility's costs and provide a sound fiscal footing for the utility, and yet still be attractive to industry and encourage the economic development of the region. However, lower rates are simply not the only answer in a sound marketing strategy. Rather than merely developing plans in accordance with the lowest feasible rates, it is reasonable for the utility to promote electrical efficiency and industrial productivity to ensure that electricity becomes a decreasing economic burden on industry.

The utility and its industrial customers must work together as partners for the success of any marketing strategy. In this way, new arrangements may evolve which pave the way for industrial growth.

I chair this tutorial having firsthand experience of the value to a utility of fostering trusting relationships with the industrial customers it serves. Through such relationships, TVA has been able to learn at an early date the needs of the customers it serves, and to do what it can as a utility to meet those needs.

This tutorial panel consists of national experts from industry, utility, and consulting firms, each having direct experience in the important area of utility marketing, pricing, and customer relations. "