Accenture
Debanjan Chakraborty is Managing Director, Accenture Technology Strategy. Miguel Torreira is Managing Director, Accenture Global Utilities Strategy Lead. Jim Mazurek is Managing Director, Accenture North America Utilities Strategy Lead.
Utility leaders are confronting a convergence of pressures their organizations were never designed to handle. Electrification, regulatory mandates, and the rapid integration of distributed energy resources are challenging long-standing operating models.
At the same time, customer expectations have shifted decisively. Consumers now expect real-time insight into usage, costs, service status, personalized engagement, and digital experiences that resemble those of leading service industries.
Together, these shifts are unfolding under mounting economic pressure, sharpening leadership focus on one overriding issue: affordability. As energy prices rise and infrastructure investment requirements grow, utility bills are placing increasing strain on households, particularly low- and middle-income customers.
Legislators and regulators are responding accordingly. For example, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) affordability framework requires utilities to explicitly address rate impacts and socioeconomic customer metrics in regulatory proceedings. Other jurisdictions are moving in the same direction, reframing how utility performance is measured. Reliability and sustainability remain essential, but cost effectiveness has become equally important.