A look at issues that could keep energy executives up at night.
Gary L. Hunt is vice president-Consulting & Advisory Service, at Henwood Energy, a division of Global Energy Decisions. Jon Ecker is president of Energy Velocity, also a division of Global Energy Decisions.
The most common strategic issue depriving utility executives of sleep is the looming clash of investor expectations for steady growth in earnings compared with what utilities can deliver given slow growth in customers and demand. While many dream of assured regulated rates of return, the reality for most utilities is that the 1.5 percent retail growth experienced between 2002 and 2003 will prove unsatisfactory for earnings. Wall Street expects 10 percent growth. Even with improving gross domestic product, the best organic growth we will see is around 3 percent, leaving a gap of 7 percent.