The Utility of the future

Digital is transforming companies across diverse sectors, societies and lives. All this is taking place thanks to the connected era of devices, human-machine interface, intelligent systems and products. The same is true for the power sector as well, which was traditionally asset focused and utility driven.

Electricity consumers in India are increasingly becoming more informed, connected, and demanding in the coming years. Power is shifting to consumers, thanks to the rise of smartphones and connected devices, increasing penetration of renewables, decline in prices of battery storage, adoption of EVs and financial technology revolution. New age digital consumers expect 24x7 quality power supply, low cost supply, access to green energy, generate their own energy, convenience and control and value added services. Policy does play a significant role, but given the uncertainties around the timelines for these changes, future ready power utilities will have to be prepared to undergo a paradigm shift, potentially revamping their business models completely to effectively ride these changes.

Digital can help utilities address evolving consumer expectations and power utilities will have to adapt and make changes to the entire utility ecosystem, accordingly. To become a digital utility of the future, it would be important to identify innovative business models that not only provide new revenue streams, but also help in leveraging the digital ecosystem in creating value to the consumers, enterprise and all the other key stakeholders in the power value chain.

Success will come from breaking the complexity into a sequence of manageable chunks and creating a robust implementation plan. Efficient program management, effective change management, and risk management also go a long way in enabling utilities transform to digital. Perhaps the most important aspect however, for any firm in this journey, would be to develop a digital mindset which would change the organizational culture to become a true utility of the future.