A powerful confluence of architectural, technological, and socio-economic forces is transforming the U.S. electricity market. These trends and developments are placing tremendous pressure on utilities triggering changes in electricity production, transmission, and consumption. Increased democratized choice over energy usage, for instance, is empowering consumers to take key actions such as peak shaving, flexible loading, and installation of grid automation and intelligence solutions. A key step to achieving full benefits of these programs is repurposed Utility 2.0 concepts: the distributed grid, innovations in electric market design, real-time automated monitoring and verification, deployment of microgrids, increased uptake of 'smart meters and smarter' grids, and investment in data analytics in order to incentivize efficient market design and flexibility. Using a seven-part multi-dimensional framework, this paper examines the role of infrastructure network, revenue models, customer interface, business model resilience, organizational logic and mandate, risk management, and value proposition in improving communication with consumers and operational boundary of utilities in the new utility business model regime. The paper also assesses two prominent utility business models, the New York's Reforming the Energy Vision (REV) and Great Britain's 'Revenue = Incentives + Innovation + Outputs" (RIIO) legislation in order to illustrate potential changes that await the energy utility actors. We conclude that positioning the 'business model' as the unit for analysis provides a robust and multi-dimensional tool for evaluating the suitability of new proposals for electric utilities and energy governance.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.