It used to be that the household electric bill was a simple recurring monthly statement. Regulation gave customers confidence that they were being charged a fair price for their energy. The monthly price fluctuated in a predictable way. Customers got into the habit of setting up a recurring direct debit from their payment account and then not really thinking about it again. But forces are at work now that are causing household energy consumers to pay more attention to the details on their bill and to sense the fluctuations more acutely. So, don’t think your customers aren’t paying attention to the electric bill. Your customers are actually getting increasingly interested in the details of their bill.

Domestic energy, cable, and media companies have a short-term opportunity to take advantage of chaos in the consumer utilities market. As the shock waves of deregulation ripple through these industries, we will continue to observe consolidation, mergers, acquisitions, and new partnerships between and among cable, internet, energy, and streaming content, and other domestic service providers. Energy companies, in particular, will be compelled to diversify their product offerings to include services such as internet connectivity and streaming media services. At the same time, new providers will flood the market with bundles that include energy as well as cable subscriptions, home security, clean grid options, programming, and streaming content.