Helping an investor owned utility develop strategies to address the opportunities and threats of distributed generation
“When we engaged with MCR, there was a fundamental process and fundamental deliverables, but they didn’t presume any answers. They facilitated brainstorming with the executives, which I thought was very useful. They had a broad comprehension of the many different things happening in the industry to be able to dig deeper into ideas that participants presented.”
—Director of Strategy
Background
Like many investor owned utilities, MCR’s client faced a rapidly changing market environment driven by the emergence of distributed generation (DG) technology. This technology posed the threat of fundamentally changing the company’s business model, yet also represented an opportunity to develop new products and enter new markets.
Solution
MCR worked with our client to define four alternative future scenarios for their electric market. From these scenarios, we developed a set of “no regrets” strategies that made sense to pursue under any of the four scenarios. We then assessed a series of strategic options that represent a “strategic bet” for the company – bets that were likely to pay off under only one or two of the scenarios. The “no regrets” and “strategic bet” scenarios were incorporated into the client’s overall strategic plan.
Results
The results of our work provided our client with important intelligence about the threats and opportunities surrounding the evolving DG market. With informed strategies in place, the client is developing plans to conduct a launch of their own portfolio of DG products. Plans are also being implemented to address the regulatory and legislative issues surrounding the transition to a new business model.