Electric service is typically a rated service per unit of time. Consumers get a monthly bill. The primary variation is peak versus non peak service rates. Historically, this was true in other types of utility based industries. Telephone provided POTS (plain old telephone service) based upon a telephone line and rated (long distance) service per unit of time. Cable television provided a monthly fee based service for basic and tiered broadcast television, plus per use movie rentals. Water and sewer have similar profiles.
In each instance, the entity went through a metamorphisis: change of physical form, structure, or substance. 2. : a marked and more or less abrupt developmental change in the form or structure of an animal (as a butterfly or a frog) occurring subsequent to birth or hatching.
Today, the telephone and cable television companies have diversified services to include wireless, broadband, television, internet, home security, equipment rental, in-home maintenance, services portals, owned content, and much more. Can the power utility create this same evolution? In this series, we will look at a multiple step program to consider this, based upon an architecture for distribution I originally saw at MIT.
