Future Competitive Positioning of Electric Utilities and their Customers

Abstract

This paper addresses the future competitive positioning of electric and gas utilities and their industrial customers. Each must respond to a dramatic reshaping of the utility industry while confronting aggressive environmental pressures and taking advantage of new interactive technologies. Historically, the primary services that utilities offered their customers were limited to demand-side management (DSM) programs and on-site audits. In the face of new competition, utilities are experimenting with a wider variety of innovative services including distributed utilities, a new emphasis on waste management, and modernization of their communications, data acquisition, and information processing services. We conclude this paper by proposing some additional services that utilities may wish to offer their industrial customers. We suggest a future in which utilities take advantage of interactive, real time communication in addition to their market position and demand-side management experience to form partnerships with their industrial customers to monitor and manage energy consumption, material flows, and environmental performance.