The utility sector stands vital to the growth and sustenance of any country. It powers up all establishments and is pivotal to the performance of all other Industries. While coal-based power utilities were the norm earlier, nuclear, hydel, thermal, gas–based became popular later. With the focus on Climate change and the environment, renewable sources of energy like wind, solar, and bio are among others. Government controlled, Public sector entities, private entities, and Joint-ventures dominate the sector from an ownership perspective. Given that this is one of the oldest types of “Industry,” the last three decades have seen these entities embarking on transformation programs to drive efficiencies and effectiveness, sometimes with mixed success.
From distributed energy resources, microgrids, and smart cities to electrical mobility, utility providers are being forced to rethink how they operate, the services they provide, work on flexible demand management, and in some cases, how to evolve entirely new business models.
Transforming utility operations and systems by leveraging Industry–specific business solutions like SAP and Oracle, an enterprise-wide application and infrastructure modernization, and leveraging new-age technologies like AI, ML, IoT, and Digital Metering is on the agenda of most forward-thinking utilities globally.
