Actionable Insights for the New Energy Consumer - Accenture

ForewordAround the world, energy providers face rapidly evolvingmarketplaces and an environment of continuous change.Concerns over climate change, volatile energy prices andsecurity of supply continue to provide momentum to therollout of disruptive technologies. Consumers are nowcentral to these deployments. At the same time, newconsumer opportunities are emerging with the increasingadoption of smart technology, mobile devices and theintegration of web-enabled platforms, such as socialmedia. The energy landscape is increasingly defined by thevalues and preferences of the new energy consumer.More than ever, consumers are seekingadded value, personal connection andproducts and services that align withtheir lifestyles—all of which go beyondthe traditional energy experience. Even ashome automation, energy managementand digital consumer technologiesare enabling a new marketplace forenergy providers, nontraditionalplayers are quickly emerging anddeveloping new value propositions forconsumers. Current global economicconditions have also placed a renewedfocus on the bottom line for bothconsumers and energy providers.Within this environment, energy providersneed to move quickly to define and delivervalue in traditional energy markets and inthe “beyond-the-meter” market. Providersneed to carefully address a broad set ofstrategic and operational imperatives,including:• How do providers adapt to theconstantly changing needs of consumersand anticipate the needs of the future?• How do providers effectively balanceand embed consumer preferences intotheir operations and product offeringswhile maintaining the lowest possiblecost-to-serve?• What traditional capabilities need tochange? What new capabilities need to beaddressed?Standing still is not an option. And yet,more than ever, energy providers facea difficult balancing act of managingoperational realities while creating andcapturing value in the evolving energymarketplace. Accenture’s New EnergyConsumer research program and ourexperience working with providers aroundthe world have shown that a numberof market and consumer trends haveemerged. Previous Accenture studieshave revealed findings around how toengage, educate and create value withsmart technologies and in the beyondthe-metermarket. To help understandthe new energy consumer landscapeand study the specific operationalsteps required for energy providersto achieve high performance todayand in the future, Accenture presentsour latest research in this report.The companion reference guide to ourresearch, The New Energy Consumer:Balancing Strategic and OperationalImperatives, provides global perspectiveson the critical areas of focus, emergingbusiness models, and actionable steps forenergy providers to prepare their retailbusiness or customer operations for thenext decade. For more information, seepage 47.“The energy consumer landscapeis constantly shifting with smarttechnologies, new products andservices and challenging economicrealities. Developing long-termstrategies and practical next stepsis a complex endeavor. Successrequires a balanced and targetedapproach to identify and delivervalue at scale.”Greg Guthridge, global managing directorAccenture Retail and Business Servicesfor Utilities3