Enterprise Energy Management: The Key to the Right Power At the Right Price

Abstract

The evolving global energy environment is more closely connect-
ing the needs of large industrial, commercial, and institutional energy
consumers with those of the power utilities and energy services compa-
nies that serve them. In some regions, deregulation of the electricity
industry is introducing consumer choice, competition amongst energy
suppliers, and significant demands on the electrical infrastructure.
Beyond price, large energy consumers are increasingly demanding
higher value for their energy investment. For many businesses, espe-
cially those that are part of the burgeoning digital economy, this in-
cludes an expectation of energy delivered at higher levels of quality and
reliability.
These factors are driving enterprises on both the supply and demand
side of energy to seek better strategies to manage the cost and quality of
the energy product and the energy assets that produce, deliver, control
and consume it. However, to achieve this, all enterprises face three very
large and fundamental challenges:
• The need to support the economic and efficient delivery, purchas-
ing, and use of energy.
• The need to guarantee higher levels of power quality and reliabil-
ity the grid cannot currently deliver.
• The need to supply the increasing demand for energy while estab-
lishing a market-based pricing system.