Shareholder interests and customer interests are typically at odds in a monopoly utility today. The key change to watch is the disruption of monopoly power though regulatory action and technological advances. NY REV with LO3 is a great case study of what can happen when customer interests and incumbent utility interest are not aligned. California has introduced community choice because the incumbents were not moving fast enough to meet customer demand. In Texas, GRID+ plans to use the next generation of advanced metering infrastructure to enable peer to peer power trading and demand aggregation. In these three examples of technology and regulation, the common thread is the power of the customer. I think the incentive is pretty clear.

I don't want to overstate my case. In total my examples are small ripples in a sea of business as usual. The sky is not falling. These changes won't happen overnight. However, we need to prepare now so we can be ready to embrace the changes that are coming. As industry, we need to develop curiosity and a willingness to experiment, but most importantly we need to learn to see through the eyes of our customers.