Distributed energy has long been seen as a challenge to utilities. A power revolution that will change electricity provision, allow new players into the sector and, of most concern to utilities, alter the flow of money within the industry. However, 2016 has seen a change of attitude by an increasing number of traditional power providers who now accept the inevitability of a distributed energy system and the need to adapt to the new opportunities it will bring. Traditionally, the power sector — be it regulated or deregulated, wholesale or retail — operated on one simple premise: we have the power, and when our customers need it, we will provide it. Considering this, even with limited or no load growth, the electric power sector had been counting on long-term earnings growth, and therefore, shareholder value creation via the so called virtuous cycle: capital investment leading to satisfied customers, in turn leading to accommodating regulators. Utilities have […]