Multi-Utilities : Trends - Blurring Industry Boundaries
The prospects of cost savings, increased market share, and other competitive advantages are prompting more, and more utilities to cross traditional industry lines, and offer services in several sectors. The note reviews the changes occurred during...
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| Format: | Viewpoint |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2012
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2001/03/16253073/multi-utilities-trends http://hdl.handle.net/10986/11401 |
| Summary: | The prospects of cost savings, increased
market share, and other competitive advantages are prompting
more, and more utilities to cross traditional industry
lines, and offer services in several sectors. The note
reviews the changes occurred during the last two decades,
when deregulation, and private sector development raised the
quality, and expansion of utility services, opportunities
enhanced by technological developments, particularly in the
field of information, and communications technology, all
conducive to a multi-utility strategy. Horizontal
integration of infrastructure services occurred both at the
wholesale, and retail (distribution) levels: energy
companies at the wholesale level are seeking to leverage
trading skills between the gas, and electricity sectors;
and, at the retail level, multi-utility strategies have
taken the form of either leveraging the physical
infrastructure as a conduit for a range of services, or are
integrating separate utilities under the same corporate
umbrella. Thus integration of physical networks, of service,
and corporate, although not yet clearly defined, will strive
to capture the potential advantages of offering two, or more
utility service. However, even if integration makes sense,
certainly unforeseen policy, and regulatory implications
will need to respond and safeguard public interests, without
stifling innovation. |
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