State of the Utilities Industry
Utilities face technology challenges on multiple fronts driven by rapidly changing customer behavior and expectations, increased availability of advanced technologies, growing demand for sustainability and renewable energy sources, aging infrastructure and the impact of severe weather events on both service reliability and Utility revenues.
Escalating financial impacts of increasing severe weather events and shutdowns increase the need for utilities to be able to operate in a stable, efficient and effective way. Service disruptions are not limited to only impacting revenue streams, but also exposes utilities to potential regulatory penalties for failing to provide reliable service. Lengthy outages subsequent to natural disasters have a direct impact on communities’ ability to recover post event. Maximizing the performance of the assets throughout the whole hierarchy is a crucial element in limiting the impacts of disruptions. Enabling assets themselves are sustainable or operate using the least amount of energy, operate to their maximum potential are key factors in this drive for efficiency, safety and compliance.