Utility Week

P R E S E N T S 24 | 25TH - 31ST JANUARY 2019 | UTILITY WEEK n recent years discussion about the future of u li es has been preoccupied with the concept of disrup on and the industry's evolu on. But as businesses embrace no ons of change, how should they make transi on a reality? What does the transi on mean in prac ce for u lity companies across the country – and how far along that transi on are we? A survey carried out by Insight Advantage for U lity Week Live (UWL) during November and December of those in senior posi ons in water and energy – ranging from director to heads of departments and managers – helped shape these answers. Not surprisingly, what transi on means varied hugely depending on the respondents' exper se. "Moving from a passive to an ac ve network"; "Moving from the tradi onal last century model of a centralised push u lity to a modern push/pull customer centric business"; "improved data quality, agile working, and flexibility in the workforce" – these were three responses we received from those working in networks. "Energy as a service rather than selling kilowa -hours" was one of the many comments that came from genera on and retail – with "moving from a centralised genera on and single supply to more fluid and decentralised transac on" coming through as another key theme. Meanwhile for water, "delivering customer expecta ons in a cost-effec ve and efficient manner" was a comment that characterised many coming from the water sector where customer service came through as a key tenet of transi on (see "The Shape of Water", p26). The survey found that while many businesses believe transi on is under way, there is not a sense of complete upheaval across the industry. Marked between 1 and 10, the average state of transi on in u li es scored 7.1, with the average for individual businesses scoring 6.7. Energy genera on and retail was the only category where respondents scored the state of transi on in their businesses (7.6) as higher than across energy genera on and retail as a whole (7.3) Looking ahead to 2030, the UWL survey also inves gated to what extent businesses are expec ng to transi on over the next decade. The current average state of transi on of 6.7 is expected to rise to 8.0 by 2030. Overall, businesses an cipate their state of transi on will be more aligned with the industry as a whole by 2030. The survey found that on average businesses expect the impact of industry trends driving transi on to be 23 per cent higher in five years' me. Key trends considered to be the major drivers for transi on include compe ve pressures (6.4 now versus 7.0 in five years), changing customer expecta ons or habits (6.1 versus 7.4), changing policy and regulatory framework (6.1 versus 7.2), sustainability considera ons (5.7 versus 7.1), big data (5.6 versus U lity Week Live at the NEC on 21-22 May will be exploring transi on in the sector in all its guises. In the first of a series of monthly reports Nadine Buddoo begins by asking – what does transi on mean, and how much progress has been made. ARE WE NEARLY THERE YET?

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