utilities

Although the utility industry is the backbone of any economy, it lags in adopting the latest technologies. This is evidenced by the fact that utilities are underperforming in customer satisfaction and retention and are struggling with high operating costs. However, the emergence of new competitors and local threats is forcing utilities to align their priorities […]

As the frequency and intensity of wildfires continue to increase across the U.S., electric utilities face unprecedented challenges in maintaining a reliable power supply and keeping communities safe. In

The push for vehicle electrification and renewable energy as catalysts for decarbonization holds immense global potential. Recent studies indicate that the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) is projected to skyrocket in the coming years. COMMENTARY According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), electric vehicles are expected to make up 60% of total global car sales […]

If you’re a marketer at an energy or water company, you could be forgiven for thinking customers are only interested in brand utility. The clue is in the sector name, after all. But even in an industry where function, service and price are front and centre, brands that overlook the growing importance of customer experience […]

Engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractors deliver many benefits to power projects. Besides the experience they bring that can help keep schedules on track, they often have longstanding

TROY, Mich. (Feb. 22, 2023) — Across virtually every industry and nearly every type of customer interaction, digital customer engagement via mobile apps has surged, raising customer satisfaction and increasing brand loyalty for companies with superior digital strategies. Utilities, apparently, are not getting the message. According to the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Utility Digital Experience […]

Several major power companies have launched a software assurance database that will serve as a software bill of materials (SBOM) repository for the power industry. Part of a long-sought solution to address a critical supply chain cybersecurity risk, the collaborative effort announced on Feb. 8 seeks to help vendors identify and remediate vulnerabilities in software […]

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Feb. 7, 2023) — The Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA) today released the 2023 Utility Transformation Profile, providing unique insights and recommendations that all utilities can utilize to accelerate their transition to carbon-free energy. SEPA is a non-profit member organization of over 1,100 utilities, corporations, and government entities singularly focused on, accelerating the transformation to a […]

As fuel and power price volatility continues across the U.S., the push to transition away from fossil fuels to lower-cost renewable, clean energy intensifies. But in order to reach President Biden’s goal of 100% carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035, utilities, developers, and regulators need to align and work together to improve the interconnection process. COMMENTARY Though […]

While homeowners are increasingly eager to both save money and conserve energy, when it comes to allowing outside entities to enter their lives and help them manage energy decisions in order to accomplish these goals, the picture is more complicated. Trends, including the electrification of everything and an increasing need to manage energy consumption at […]

EY earlier this month released the findings from its Energy Consumer Survey 2022. The report is “focused on how energy impacts the lifestyles and wallets of consumers,” according to the company. EY is the trade name for Ernst & Young, the multinational professional services group headquartered in London, UK. The report is based on a […]

In 2023, U.S. utilities have a multipronged ambition to realize: how to provide customers with reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy, and safe water. However, increased pressure around decarbonization and the adoption of cleaner energy sources, electrification, and related infrastructure needs, and customer-driven disruption will make this energy trilemma even more difficult to balance. Management at […]

Hurricane Ian, which struck Florida in late September last year, was a devastating storm and a harsh reminder of the impact of Mother Nature’s wrath. Unfortunately, extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and powerful, and our aging grid is struggling to keep up. COMMENTARY Sanibel Island on Florida’s west coast, for example, lost power […]

Building on analysis in its February 2021 Public Citizen, Inc. v. Centerpoint Energy, Inc. opinion, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) recently issued decisions in Evergy Kansas, Inc. (Evergy) and Transalta Energy Marketing (U.S.), Inc. (Transalta) analyzing whether investments that were under 10% of outstanding voting shares, but were paired with appointment of directors that […]

In a constantly plugged-in world, people rely on always available and uninterrupted electricity, now more than ever. While the electric industry has invested significantly to meet customers’ demand on the grid, utilities increasingly turn to their customers to provide reliable, cost-effective grid services with customer-sited distributed energy resources (DERs) like energy storage and demand response. […]

Like it or not, property acquisition for utilities, especially through eminent domain, is changing. What once was an easy, efficient process is now being met with more frequent resistance from property owners

Utilities function in the present but must always plan for the future. That’s even more true today, as the rapid pace of change with power generation technologies, and the transition to cleaner forms of energy, means utilities—whether they deal with electricity, natural gas, water, transportation, or are a municipality that pays attention to all those […]

CLEVELAND (August 16, 2022) — Intelligent power management company Eaton today announced new research on the relevance of the energy transition in digital transformation planning for power-critical businesses. Commissioned by Eaton, this S&P Global Market Intelligence report – The Intersection of Digital Transformation and the Energy Transition – highlights that although 77% of companies surveyed expect to transition away […]

Operational innovation—creating new ways of performing core business functions like grid asset management—can provide reliable, relatively low-cost transformation for electric utilities. One area for

Electric vehicles are coming. Do you hear them? (Probably not.) The exact speed of our collective embrace of electric vehicles (EVs) will vary around the country—due to factors such as EV familiarity, vehicle availability, purchase prices and incentives—but the cars are coming down the road at a steady clip. In the immediate future, U.S. President […]

Electric utilities will play a critical role in new broadband infrastructure deployment under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021, known as the Infrastructure Act. Whether access to the internet

Today, hydrogen is experiencing unprecedented demand. Its potential to become a key facilitator of a global transition to a net-zero emission economy, and provide a clean energy solution, has not gone unnoticed by industries worldwide—especially in the energy, utilities, and resources sector. But introducing a hydrogen-powered energy economy is no light decision, it will affect […]

ANN ARBOR, Mich., (March 22, 2022) – Residential customer satisfaction with the energy utilities sector overall creeps up 0.3% to 72.2 (on a scale of 0 to 100), according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index Energy Utilities Study 2021-2022. Of the three categories measured in the report, cooperative energy utilities, unchanged at 73, now share […]

The fog of uncertainty that hangs over the global power industry is getting larger and denser as generating companies and utilities navigate ever more complex challenges.

We cannot begin to count the number of unsung heroes that have come out of this pandemic. From frontline healthcare workers to grocery store clerks, package carriers, manufacturers, and all the other essential workers who stayed on the job, often at the risk of their own health, to enable our lives to go on with […]

On any given day, the electric power industry’s operations are complex and its responsibilities vast. As the industry continues to play a critical role in supporting global climate goal challenges, it must simultaneously support demand increases, surges in smart appliance adoption, and decentralized operating system expansions. And that just scratches the surface. Behind the scenes, […]

The COVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for business. Utilities have had to quickly overcome the challenges associated with this crisis, without letting critical services such as heat

There are many challenges to overcome before electric trucks fill the road, and the timing for full adoption is many years away. However, now is the time to prepare for the inevitable shift toward

Utilities have a two-fold relationship with energy efficiency. On one side, public and private utilities gain from finding efficiencies in energy usage to reduce costs in their own operations—just like many other businesses. The U.S. Department of Energy’s 2002 Motor Market Assessment established that pumping systems offer the greatest optimization potential of all types of […]

As many as 179 million Americans are at risk of losing utility services as the country heads toward winter, and electric and gas utility companies are looking at $24.3 billion in unpaid bills, according to an analysis released Oct. 1 by the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association (NEADA). Many utilities at the start of the […]