Chapter 18

The Future of Utility Customers and the Utility Customer of the Future

Robert Smith*
Iain MacGill†*    East Economics, Sydney, Australia†    Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets (CEEM) and School of Electrical Engineering and Telecommunications, UNSW, Sydney, Australia

Abstract

Focusing on residential customers, the chapter examines how the electricity utility industry’s model as a monopoly provider of a “universal” essential public good is being challenged by changing customer options, including self-generation, energy efficiency, “enabled” appliances, local energy storage, and electric vehicles. Against a background of falling peak demand and energy usage, the chapter explores the electricity grid’s place in the hierarchy of ...

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