Current trends in serving industrial customers

Abstract

This chapter reviews best practices of energy utilities serving industrial customers. The chapter first addresses 'macro-trends' that are giving rise to direction and momentum in energy market evolution: supply chain management, security of supply and the search for ways of achieving energy efficiency. Secondly, the 'micro-trends', including level of market competition, industrial energy consumer and utility capabilities and the evolution of financial engineering of industrial services contracts, are examined. Finally, with special emphasis on highly developed energy markets, specific best practice examples applied by RWE are reviewed. The conclusion reached is that the new energy service environment is defined by service innovation and a cooperative partnership attitude between energy utilities and customers, allowing the design of tailored products. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.