If you take a helicopter view, the energy sector seems poised for a successful transition to a brave, new, decarbonised world. In New Zealand, the country’s largest grid-connected solar power plant is now up and running in south Taranaki. In Australia, new company LAVO is poised to roll out its first green hydrogen generation and storage unit. In Europe, a new report from the European Environment Agency has found that the increase in electricity from renewable sources has significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions in EU member states. So the future looks bright, doesn’t it?
From a distance, yes. But when you zoom in to a more granular level, not everyone is ready for change. A recent survey by global consultants EY found that while many in the energy sector know they need to change, they’re struggling to get started. EY’s Power & Utilities Digital Transformation and the Workforce Survey checked in with 159 power and utility executives worldwide. The results shine a light on how these leaders are dealing with a raft of pressures in a world that’s not quite post-pandemic. Increased expectations around tackling the climate emergency and the global transition to a low-carbon energy system have highlighted a need for speedier changes within the energy sector. More than 90 per cent of survey respondents say they will be adapting to increasing consumer expectations for a cleaner-energy economy. The survey found that respondents are aware of the need for digitisation, but few seemed confident about how to efficiently transform their organisations.
“The number of disruptive threats continues to rise, the number of nontraditional competitors continues to grow, and technology is developing at the most rapid pace in history,” Cyntressa Dickey, EY Global and Americas People Advisory Services — Energy & Resources Leader, told Smart-Energy.com.
EY says utilities “need to proceed with unwavering focus to simultaneously identify and fund a cohesive strategic plan that creates both the right skill sets and mindsets to power their investment in technology.
This isn’t news to us at Flux. From our vantage point, the relationship between the parties that make, move, sell and use energy are more complex than ever before, thanks to new models of generation, distribution and consumption as well as societal forces. We know that how energy retailers embrace this change will determine their success.
That’s why our software is designed to keep pace with and reflect the rapidly changing nature of the energy industry. We believe your system shouldn’t be a straitjacket. We deeply understand the need to reduce cost-to-serve. Our Flexible Billing product, which sits at the heart of the Flux offering, eliminates barriers to entering new markets, offering new products and services, and responding to changing generation, distribution and consumption models.
We design and build industry-leading web and mobile apps that connect your business with your customers. Our communications can be fully integrated via event stream, API and embeddable components, fitting seamlessly into your technology ecosystem. Integration is Flux’s middle name. The Flux suite of products are created to play seamlessly with others and we’re proud to work with some of the best in the business, like AWS, Gorilla and SendGrid. So we’re ready for the energy revolution. If you need some help to spark meaningful and lasting change in your business, we’re here to help.
