Utilities today are faced with unprecedented challenges. The energy they manage is transitioning from fossil-fuel based to renewable-based; the way they manage it is transforming with the addition of distributed energy resources (DER), and meanwhile their grids are increasingly impacted by extreme weather because of climate change. It’s as if they are attempting to upgrade the engine of a plane while flying it through turbulence.
A new report from Itron is focused on how utilities are using real-time data to meet these exact challenges. Released on Monday, September 26 at Itron Inspire 2022 – the company’s customer-focused event, the report also shows that customers would be willing to pay more for insights about their energy use that could be gained from real-time data.
More Intelligence and More Possibilities: An Itron Resourcefulness Report dives into why 93% of utilities say it’s extremely/very important to be able to gain insights from real-time data and analytics. Driving this significance is the need to gain insights for greater efficiency, reliability in the face of extreme weather, personalized customer experiences and integrating renewables/promoting sustainability. Consumers agree that the top priority is improving efficiency to lower their costs, however they rank gaining personalized insights higher than utilities do.
“Data is one of the most important assets for every organization and individual. But data becomes much more powerful when we recognize its value in real-time and then act on it. Our future – especially within the utility industry – will be shaped by data and the actionable insights that come from it,” said Marina Donovan, vice president of global marketing, ESG and public affairs at Itron.
Building greater grid resilience remains a key priority with 77% of consumers stating it is extremely/very important that utilities use data analytics to help with extreme weather. This is especially true in India where 96% agree with this point.
The report also found that sustainability is increasingly important to consumers — and consumers who are early adopters of one technology tend to invest in others as well. The survey found that EV owners are five times more likely to generate electricity and are 2.6 times more likely to have battery storage. Of those producing their own electricity, 77% have their own battery storage, and 84% would like to sell their electricity back to the grid (14% already do).
Related: EV owners are more likely to own smart appliances, research finds
Securing and protecting consumer data privacy is a larger concern for utilities (81%) than consumers (42%). The consumer’s concerns are based on hacking/cyberattacks (41%) and keeping their personal usage data private (27%).
The report summarizes key findings from surveys of 600 utility executives and 600 informed consumers from five countries – United States, Australia, India, Spain and the U.K. – on the key usage, priorities and barriers that data and analytics bring to the utility market.
The survey found that among all technology deployed by utilities for key use cases, data analytics is currently ranked between third and sixth, yet it moves to be in the top three investment priorities across the use cases of operational efficiency, extreme weather, personalization and sustainability in the next five years.
Utilities in each country have different perspectives on the most important use for data analytics:
| US | Australia | India | Spain | UK | |
| 1 | Operational efficiency | New revenue streams | New revenue streams | Operational efficiency | Integrating renewables |
| 2 | New revenue streams | Operational efficiency | Operational efficiency | Resilience in extreme weather | New revenue streams |
| 3 | Integrating renewables | Integrating renewables Smart city services | Integrating renewables | Personalized insights Smart city services | Personalized insights Operational efficiency |
While smart city services are ranked lower in the chart above, the deployment of solutions related to EV charging is a high concern for utilities especially as many countries and regions implement legislation around required adoption of EVs beginning in 2035. Today, EV charging ranks third in deployed smart city services but this moves to the No. 1 investment priority in the next five years.
“Smart meters and sensors provide the real-time data that will assist utilities in improving grid resiliency in the face of disruptions from weather, unpredictable demands from EVs, supply from renewables and growing urban populations,” added Donovan.
Download the Itron Resourcefulness Insight Report here.
Itron is the Diamond Sponsor of DISTRIBUTECH International, set for February 7-9, 2022 in San Diego, California. Learn more.
