Dinosaurs and Pioneers: Benchmarking Progress and Identifying New Opportunities for the Utility of the Future

Electric utilities today are faced with unprecedented challenges, and their fundamental business model is at risk. Utilities have reacted in different ways, with some rebelling against change while others proactively find ways to adapt to a new status quo. In this report, we benchmark the world’s most important utilities in their progress toward becoming “utilities of the future,” revealing that a handful of European utilities are leading the pack. We also use investment and acquisition data to gain insight into how utilities see their futures, and we find that deals involving energy storage and software have becoming increasingly common in recent years. Finally, we explore four major revenue streams that utilities are pursuing beyond their core business: commercial and industrial energy management, distributed generation systems integration, rural electrification, and electric vehicle charging.