New technologies and a changing landscape for power consumption are quickly creating a bill that drive customers to find alternative solutions, such as:
- Newly harnessed energy sources
- Distributed energy generation
- Improved energy storage
- Energy-efficient homes
- Relocation of energy-intensive industries
These factors and the accompanying regulatory costs—often invisible to the consumer—increase the fixed cost burden on the final bill. What’s more, globalization and automation compound the problem, redistributing wealth away from the working and middle class. With disposable income shrinking, consumers in many markets are spending a greater portion of it on their energy bills for reasons they do not understand. As a result, consumers are finding and demanding access to affordable technologies that could help to reduce their energy bills. They feel powerless against utilities in a world otherwise dominated by customer choice.