Consumers, Prosumers, Prosumagers

Customer stratification in the electric power sector argues that customer stratification is poised to become one of the fundamental drivers of the 21st century power network, as distributed energy generation, storage, sharing and trading options become available at scale. Four roles are now possible to envisage: consumers who continue to buy all power from the distribution network; prosumers who invest in distributed generation resources, reducing or eliminating their net electricity purchase; prosumagers who invest in distributed storage to store excess generation for use at later times; and more exotic types still, such as peer to peer (P2P) traders and sharers of energy generation and consumption imbalances. This book addresses the interface and the relationship between these roles, and their impacts on incumbent as well as disruptive service providers. It describes the service innovations which lead to consumer stratification. It explores how regulatory policy can and will impact the evolution of service and the speed and spread of stratification. The book further reviews potential business models and strategies of incumbent distribution companies and newcomers given the expected transformation of the power sector over time. Given these dynamics, retail rates and tariffs or other payments for services rendered will evolve accordingly, and pricing and tariff models are covered systematically herein. The work also covers the evolution and potential end-states of electricity service provision, from its basis in current pilot programs as distributed generation scales up to supplant industry norms.

• Explores the impacts and trajectories of increasing distributed power generation and storage adoption
• Analyzes the growing number of electricity services and their impact on the existing power grid and service providers, including incumbent and disruptor utilities
• Discusses future market trends and trends in costs, pricing and business models