Dual Plenary Session: Utility Business Model (1/2)

This session will address profound challenges to its traditional business model faced by the electric utility sector worldwide. Utilities must redefine their business, driven by the proliferation of efficient but potentially disruptive digital technologies; by customers' new options including distributed self-generation, time-of-use price responsiveness, and electricity storage; by entrepreneurial third parties seeking to serve those customers directly; by environmental mandates including decarbonization of generation; and by the need to maintain or improve power quality, reliability and resiliency in the face of increasing potential for outages caused by weather or cyber-intrusions. All of these factors imply major investments, none imply major increases in the sales of electricity on which utilities have traditionally based their revenue requirements, and some imply potential for deregulation or competition where monopoly service is now assumed. This panel of experts will suggest how electric utilities world-wide are planning or hoping to survive or even thrive in the very different electric sector business environment of coming years, and how energy economists can bring their particular skills and expertise to bear in this challenging transition.