2017 PUF Reader Survey Page 1 Public Utilities Fortnightly appreciates the time you’re taking to complete this brief 15 question survey, and will safeguard your responses as confidential. We’ll only use them to put together graphs for our upcoming industry outlook report. All participants will receive a copy of the report when it is published. Question Title * 1. Which one of the following legacy issues is the greatest challenge for utilities today? Flattening (or declining) load growth Grid reliability and resilience Generation asset devaluation Transmission bottlenecks Aging infrastructure Cyber and physical attacks Aging workforce Existing regulatory model and rate structures Question Title * 2. Which one of the following trends is the most disruptive to traditional utility business models over the next decade? Increased penetration of renewables Increased penetration of distributed energy resources (DERs) Electrification of transportation and heating Changing customer needs Greenhouse gas (including carbon) emission reduction targets and policies Regulatory market reform Competition from utility industry stakeholders (e.g., retail energy providers, unregulated utilities) Competition from outside industry stakeholders (e.g., blue chip tech, oil & gas, telecom) Question Title * 3. Please rank the following exponential technologies from one that offers the most revenue growth potential for utilities (1) to the one with least revenue growth potential for utilities (8)? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Renewables 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Distributed generation 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Energy storage 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Electrification of transportation 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Advanced (data) analytics 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Transactive energy 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Drones and robotics 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Machine learning 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Internet of Things (IoT) Question Title * 4. Which of the following transformational shifts must utilities prioritize to prepare their organizations for sustained growth through 2030? Improve customer engagement to anticipate changing needs Market new energy and products and services Development of new business models Digital transformation Departmental integration across organization Adopting an agile management culture Radically improve ability to innovate None, preserve status quo Question Title * 5. Which of the following is the most viable resource alternative to backfill a widespread decline in baseload generation? Wind and solar (combined with storage) Advanced or next-generation nuclear Demand response and energy efficiency Load shifting, reducing peak demand Next generation fuels (bio, hydrogen) Next
