The customer’s relationship with utilities is evolving as three key industry drivers reshape the power industry and transform customer expectations: digitalization, decentralization, and decarbonization. However, this relationship and the emerging new utility platform face challenges for utilities as their business model will need to shift towards new service integration and education of consumers of these new opportunities by showing the clear benefits and cost savings.

Successful customer engagement can help overcome these challenges. In order to reach a destination where they are profitably leveraging new technology while enhancing the user experience, utilities should consider three capabilities that build on one another: data-driven personalization, customer engagement in demand-side management (DSM) of the smart energy home, and a distributed energy resource (DER) platform for energy services and businesses.