Energy

The Innovation Imperative : Shaping the Next Era of Utilities

The utility sector is at a critical juncture where technological disruption, regulatory changes, and sustainability goals are reshaping how organizations approach innovation. NGP, a leader in utility innovation research, partnered with Jasper Colin to conduct a structured study capturing insights from senior decision-makers across U.S. utilities. The objective was to benchmark innovation practices, assess AI adoption, and identify emerging technologies that will define the industry’s next wave of transformation.

Business Challenge

NGP sought to understand how utility companies are structuring, funding, and scaling innovation initiatives in an increasingly complex operating environment. With growing pressures around net-zero commitments, grid modernization, renewable integration, and AI adoption, NGP faced challenges in obtaining:

To address this, Jasper Colin designed a survey-based research approach targeting directors and above at U.S. utilities-ensuring insights came directly from leaders influencing innovation strategy.

Approach & Research Methodology

Jasper Colin deployed a two-pronged methodology:

Customer Sample: Leveraging NGP’s internal network (n≈200) to gather peer-driven insights.
External Respondents: Reaching an additional 200+ utility executives across the U.S., ensuring diversity across company size, geography, and innovation maturity.

Survey Design Highlights:

Key Findings

Innovation Budgets
- 42% of utilities reported budgets above $25M, while 28% allocated $5M-$25M.
- ~35% confirmed a dedicated innovation/R&D fund, while others relied on operating budgets or regulatory recovery.
Funding Sources & Priorities
- Top criteria for funding innovation projects: regulatory compliance (30%), customer experience (25%), and grid resiliency (22%).
- Digital transformation, renewable integration, and grid modernization emerged as the top three innovation priorities.

3. AI Adoption

Only 18% had enterprise-wide AI programs, while 47% were in early adoption stages.
Key applications included predictive maintenance, outage prediction, customer chatbots, and demand forecasting.
Top barriers: lack of skilled talent (40%), integration with legacy systems (35%), and high implementation costs (30%).

4. Scaling Innovation

Average time from pilot to roll-out: 1-2 years.
Only ~40% of pilot projects get implemented at scale.
Cultural resistance and difficulty in demonstrating ROI were cited as the biggest hurdles.

Recommendations

Short-Term Recommendations:

Establish dedicated innovation units with cross-functional talent to fast-track pilots.
Expand startup partnerships for faster deployment of proven solutions.
Implement structured ROI measurement frameworks (e.g., combining financial impact, CX, and system reliability).

Long-Term Recommendations:

Invest in AI talent pipelines (via academic partnerships and workforce reskilling).
Build flexible innovation funding models integrating government grants and private partnerships.
Prioritize grid modernization and renewable integration while embedding cybersecurity safeguards across all digital initiatives.

Way Forward: Jasper Colin’s Difference

Jasper Colin’s data-driven research capabilities helped NGP move beyond anecdotal insights to deliver statistically validated, executive-level intelligence. By combining robust sampling, advanced cross-tab analytics, and year-over-year tracking, we enabled:

As utilities continue their transformation journey, Jasper Colin remains a trusted partner-helping organizations anticipate change, validate strategies, and scale innovation with precision.