Utility Week

T he utilities industry is changing. It's being forced to innovate to meet the challenges of climate change, population growth and affordability, driven by changing policy and ever more stringent regulatory targets. As part of that remodelling process, disruptive companies are ploughing new furrows into the way business has traditionally been done. Some have formed in reaction to the changing times, others are evolving the way they operate, while further afield established companies are circling eagerly around the ever- changing opportunities that disruption creates, poised to enter the market at any given moment. In short, with disruptive new technologies and business models emerging, utilities must find new strategies and solutions to survive and thrive. Recognising the significance of this process, Utility Week Live 2018 (22-23 May) has chosen disruption as its headline theme. Held at the NEC in Birmingham, Utility Week Live 2018 will have themes including the Internet of Things, water innovations, gas network innovations, electricity network innovations, water retailing, customer-facing solutions, game- changing technologies, and streetworks, among many others. Industry speaks In the build-up to the main event, Utility Week Live got to the heart of the matter by surveying its audience, and those of its supporting publications U lity Week, WWT, WET News and Network about the impact disruption is having on their sectors. The results showed that within the next 15 years, established utilities are facing disruption on a significant scale, with respondents rating potential disruption at seven out of a possible ten. We also asked our readers to name the companies and technologies they believe will most disrupt utilities in the next five to ten years. In the first of a five-part series detailing the responses of more than 700 utilities executives to our survey, we reveal the top ten companies disrupting the sector – and the results may just surprise you. For a start, they're notably light on traditional utilities. Alongside the movers and shakers making waves in the market – namely SSE, Npower and British Gas – there are companies you wouldn't have dreamed of including ten (or maybe even five) years ago. Perhaps the reason for fewer traditional providers is that the industry must become more flexible, more transparent and more agile, or become the fall guy for failed decarbonisation efforts and frustrated consumer wants. These failings may not always result in dramatic company collapses, but they could certainly lead to the side-lining and marginalisation of traditional infrastructure providers and retailers. The market is changing and it's broadening, meaning it's ripe In May the utility industry's leading conference and exhibition comes to Birmingham's NEC once again, and the theme of the event in 2018 is 'disruption'. Here, we look at the businesses making this happen. U t i l i t y W e e k L i v e P R E S E N T S 10 | 26TH JANUARY - 1ST FEBRUARY 2018 | UTILITY WEEK P R E S E N T S

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