We’ve recently had the webinar “Top 7 Trends Driving Revenue in Energy & Utilities in 2025” with MaxBill visionary leaders whose expertise is grounded on decades of experience in the field (e.g., Rost Bitterlikh, MaxBill VP of R&D, 29 years in the domain) and on a strong grasp of what’s going on in the sector today and where the opportunities lie.
Drawing from key trends in the energy and utility sectors, real-world challenges, and past experiences that help identify actionable opportunities, we have transformed these insights into strategic questions.
By addressing these questions, utility decision-makers can ensure their business is future-ready and uncover potential business cases embedded within these emerging trends, positioning themselves for sustainable growth and innovation.
Q1: Is your company technically ready to provide sustainability reporting?
What we mean by that is that ongoing and upcoming sustainability regulations in Europe are obliging large energy providers to report on how energy-efficient they are. Some are already effective, and some are announced but about to be applied in 2025.
For example, the Revised Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) уnforces stricter targets for reducing energy consumption across sectors. For energy providers, it means that billing systems need to be able to track and report energy savings and efficiency metrics provide consumer insights and support energy-saving initiatives.
Renewable Energy Directive III (RED III) targets 42.5% renewable energy share by 2030. Billing systems utilities have to support tracking and certification through Guarantees of Origin (GoOs). ComQ2panies are obliged to integrate renewable energy data for transparency and sustainability reporting.
Last but not least, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requires energy companies to report detailed ESG data. They will have to track energy sources and carbon footprints (Scope 2 and 3 emissions) and align emissions reporting in billing statements for improved accountability.
Q2: How much is your organisation customer-centric?
See, nowadays energy suppliers switch from this meter-centric approach to customer-centric. They strive to communicate with customers and build relationships based on their journey with the company. This fact requires some sort of hyper-personalisation.
How to achieve efficiency in comms with customers and ensure an efficient level of personalisation? Nowadays, it’s where chatbots and AI agents come in.
AI agents integrate natural language understanding and generation, enabling more conversational and action-oriented interactions that align closely with customer expectations for quick, human-like responses.
For utilities, AI agents provide significant value by streamlining workflows across departments. For example, they can link customer service seamlessly with billing and maintenance teams, reducing operational friction.
Moreover, AI’s ability to handle sensitive customer data has driven advancements in security, ensuring compliance with robust InfoSec standards.
Q3: Where’s the place for your business in a flexible market?
It’s for you to define. But the fact is as it is: the flexibility market does exist inside the energy sector delivering business opportunities and potential new revenue streams.
The year saw the fastest global renewables growth rate ever recorded, with a more than 60% increase in 2022.
This means that the energy system needs flexibility solutions, incl. demand side management. Why? To help manage electricity price volatility during the different phases of renewable integration and avoid congestion on the grid.
There is an opportunity for new business models, with the smart demand response market valued at more than USD 29 billion globally in 2024 and estimated to grow at a CAGR of around 19% between 2024 and 2032.
We see governments across the globe, incl., Europe greenlighting flexibility markets (e.g., Flexibility Market strategy in GB, France – tenders for demand response solutions, etc., Netherlands – 108M investments into battery storage and solar to overcome grid constraints.
Nowadays, power utilities innovate with flex advanced platforms allowing utilities to balance the grid by shifting energy loads, storing surplus energy, and participating in ancillary service markets.
Others invest in battery storage and their integration with renewable energy sources. This way, they monetise the flexibility of these assets. In due turn, this creates new revenue streams by allowing utilities to actively participate in various energy markets, such as balancing and short-term markets.
We see giant power utilities testing innovative tariffs like residential one that follows wholesale prices based on half-hourly meter data. Another power supplier is trialing an automated EV smart charging scheme where 300 participants will provide flexibility during peak loads in exchange for lower bills.
In a nutshell, flexibility market is an area where traditional market participants can find their next business case.
Q4: Can your organisation apply dynamic pricing ‘cause that’s what customers will ask any time soon?
If you do not offer dynamic pricing that allows customers to pay for what they actually consume, they will go to your competitors.
Dynamic pricing has emerged as a transformative trend in the energy sector, driven by increasing centralization and integration of consumer data. This approach allows for real-time market-based pricing, providing a more efficient and responsive energy system.
Dynamic pricing is automatically generated outside the supplier, enabling instant calculations and charging based on fluctuating market prices. Integration hubs, such as Nord Pool, play a critical role in this ecosystem by delivering real-time market prices to all consumers and simplifying the implementation of dynamic pricing mechanisms.
Energy service providers are key players in this shift, transitioning to advanced pricing schemes that leverage demand response as a mainstream market feature. By adopting modern billing solutions, energy suppliers can seamlessly implement these advanced schemes, facilitating real-time charging and billing. This not only optimizes energy usage but also enhances transparency and operational efficiency.
End customers also benefit significantly from dynamic pricing. They gain access to more accurate pricing reflective of market conditions, enabling better energy cost management. The system fosters a win-win environment where both suppliers and consumers enjoy increased flexibility and efficiency in the energy market.
Q5: Have you considered adding EV charging business to your portfolio or jumping into a network?
Europe is at the forefront of EV charging business development, showcasing impressive growth rates and ambitious infrastructure plans. With an average annual growth rate of 55.4% from 2021 to 2024, Europe currently boasts around 900,000 public charge points. By 2030, the EU aims to scale this to 8.8 million charge points, and by 2035, a staggering 65 million chargers will be needed to meet climate goals.
Many energy providers in Europe are capitalizing on this growth by becoming Charging Point Operators (CPOs). These providers are not just installing charge points but are also integrating their operations into broader networks to expand geographically and diversify revenue streams. By joining roaming hubs, energy providers can extend their business reach beyond borders, making their charging services available internationally.
Roaming hubs are revolutionizing the EV charging ecosystem by simplifying customer experiences. EV drivers can charge their vehicles at any station within the network without signing up for multiple providers. Charging session data is shared between the visited network (which provides the service) and the home network (which bills the user). Pre-arranged agreements ensure the visited network receives its share of the revenue seamlessly.
Powerful billing systems are essential to reconcile revenues efficiently among all participants. These systems enable transparent revenue sharing between networks and ensure a smooth customer experience, driving the scalability and profitability of EV charging businesses.
Q6: Smart Cities: where can utilities find business opportunities in this ecosystem?
Smart cities are urban environments designed to integrate advanced technologies and intelligent infrastructure to improve residents’ quality of life, enhance operational efficiency, and achieve sustainability goals. With a global market value of $748.7 billion in 2023 and an expected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 25.8% through 2030, smart cities are rapidly becoming a central focus for innovation and investment.
These cities rely on interconnected systems to deliver real-time data, optimize resources, and support initiatives such as renewable energy integration, public safety enhancements, and resource conservation.
For smart cities to succeed, three critical components must be in place: smart grid infrastructure, advanced network systems, and smart metering. Smart grids serve as the backbone of smart city applications, enabling seamless partnerships between local utilities and municipalities. Advanced networks, often built upon smart grid infrastructure, ensure device connectivity and facilitate the real-time flow of data, unlocking the full potential of citizen-focused applications.
These networks must also support diverse devices and applications while remaining scalable and reliable. Smart meters, particularly for water usage, play a vital role in conserving resources and improving operational efficiency in response to limited natural resources.
Utilities can find significant business opportunities in the smart city ecosystem by acting as enablers of this infrastructure. By collaborating with local governments, utilities can unlock new revenue streams through network lease agreements while supporting the implementation of renewable energy, EV charging networks, and smart building solutions.
Additionally, utilities can expand their role by providing the data-driven platforms necessary for efficient operations and scalable applications. These opportunities create a mutually beneficial environment where utilities, cities, and citizens all gain from improved services, sustainability, and innovation.
Q7: Do you leverage AI to turn customer data into a monetisable asset for your business performance?
AI transforms customer data into a strategic asset for utilities by offering advanced tools to analyze, predict, and optimize performance. By leveraging AI-driven billing systems and predictive analytics, utilities gain deeper insights into customer consumption patterns, payment behaviors, and potential service disruptions.
This enables proactive measures, such as tailored pricing strategies and fraud detection, enhancing revenue protection and operational efficiency. AI-powered analytics also help utilities forecast customer usage and revenue, supporting more accurate resource allocation and long-term planning.
Beyond analytics, AI enhances customer interactions through advanced virtual customer service representatives (CSRs) and chatbots. These systems provide hyper-personalized advice, such as energy-saving tips, and streamline operations by integrating seamlessly with back-office systems like billing and maintenance.
By offering natural conversational interactions, virtual CSRs improve accessibility and customer satisfaction while reducing staff workload. Secure and compliant with regulations like GDPR, they facilitate self-service options for submitting meter readings, resolving billing queries, and generating reports, creating a more efficient and customer-centric utility experience.
Moreover, AI’s predictive maintenance capabilities and outage reporting tools improve service reliability and resource optimization. By continuously learning and evolving, AI not only addresses immediate operational challenges but also positions utilities for long-term success, ensuring they remain competitive and aligned with modern customer expectations. This ability to integrate insights, enhance security, and improve customer satisfaction makes AI an indispensable asset for utilities aiming to maximize performance and value.
Pick any of the top 6 MaxBill’s webinars for utility decision-makers!
Explore cutting-edge trends, strategies, and tools to stay ahead in the utility industry.
- Top Trends Driving Revenue in Energy Utilities in Sweden 2025: Key trends shaping revenue growth in Sweden, focusing on renewables, regulations, and customer innovation.
- Top 7 Trends Driving Revenue in Energy Utilities: Global trends reshaping utilities, emphasizing digital transformation, new revenue models, and sustainability.
- How to Grow Your EV Charging Business: 4 Successful Use Cases: Proven strategies from real-world cases to expand EV charging businesses and boost profitability.
- Innovative Pricing Strategies for Utility and Energy: Modern pricing models like subscriptions and dynamic pricing to enhance revenue and customer satisfaction.
- Top 5 Cases of MaxBill Machine Learning Models in Utilities: Real examples of AI applications, such as predictive maintenance and customer insights, driving utility innovation.
