Green Mountain

The Consumer-Centric Utility

Empowering Consumers while Managing Risk and Optimizing Assets

Electric utilities do not simply sell a commodity. They sell safe, affordable, reliable and clean electric service. The “Consumer-Centric Utility” business model provides a viable framework for utilities while enabling new products and services that meet growing consumer expectations.

The Powerwall Follies

A year later, reality is kicking in.

One year after Elon Musk rolled out the Powerwall: The real price is 60 to 80 percent more than Musk claimed. A handful (yes, I mean about five) have actually been installed in Germany and Australia. None in the U.S. so far.

Community Storage: Coming to a Home Near You

A readily available option for storage may be coordinating existing devices that have untapped storage capacity

Despite battery technology’s ability to grab clean tech media headlines, industry still lacks a clear, practical, cost-effective path.

Four Utilities, Four Strategies

Installing utility-scale, grid-connected battery storage.

Stories on installing grid-connected battery storage from AEP, Green Mountain Power, Imperial Irrigation District, and Kauai Island (Hawaii) Utility Co-op.

Creative Disruption

Today’s technologies are causing utilities to rethink their business models.

Fifteen years into the 21st Century, the utility industry is being asked to think forward, beyond 2050. To some, that's a bit of a stretch for a mostly regulated enterprise that has been producing power and sending the electrons reliably for the last 150 years or so. To many others, though, it's past time for an evolution.

Microgrids: Friend or Foe for Utilities?

For many, it’s the next logical step for smart grid technology.

A small, but growing, number of utilities are embracing these technologies. Microgrids offer a networking platform that the utility can both aggregate and optimize.

NRG Energy Acquires Pure Energies Group

NRG Energy acquired Pure Energies Group, a residential solar industry leader in the critical area of web-based customer acquisition. Pure Energies completes the residential solar capabilities NRG has been working to assemble and complements NRG’s acquisition earlier this year of Roof Diagnostics Solar. Pure Energies and its proprietary customer acquisition process will help NRG Home Solar reduce customer acquisition costs while providing a simplified solar adoption process.

The Fortnightly 40 Best Energy Companies

The industry’s transformation has begun. Should the F40 transform too?

(September 2014) Our annual ranking of shareholder performance tracks the long-term returns of leading utilities. But can it predict success in a transformed energy market?