Global Corporate Survey 2026: Utility Budgets, Priorities And Tech Preferences (Retail And Customer-Facing Utilities)

Figure 1. Respondents offer a view of utility investment priorities across different countries and regions
Figure 2. Respondents cover multiple job functions across the utility and retail segment
Figure 3. For retail utilities, digital expectations, distributed energy and AI will have the largest impact over the next five years
Figure 4. Affordability and cost to serve dominate two-year priorities
Figure 5. Customer expectations are the biggest factor in technology budgeting decisions
Figure 6. Most retailers can dispatch flexibility, but few automate it in real time
Figure 7. Most flexibility programmes remain at limited deployment, with only C&I demand response widely scaled
Figure 8. AI and analytics, DER and flexibility programmes, and cybersecurity are the areas most likely to receive incremental budget investment
Figure 9. High upfront costs and legacy integration are the most widely cited barriers to investment
Figure 10. Interoperability and data aggregation are the main data challenges
Figure 11. The utility customer platform clover leaf
Figure 12. Accurate and transparent billing is the top CIS and CRM capability
Figure 13. Cost to serve and customer trust lead engagement priorities
Figure 14. DER, prosumer and VPP enrolment are the top flexibility capabilities
Figure 15. Customer engagement and data and AI tools lead spending growth over the next 24 months
Figure 16. Retailers favour point solutions and incremental change over a single-provider platform
Figure 17. Most retailers are deploying or piloting AI, but few have embedded it
Figure 18. AI-enabled customer service is seen as the most transformative innovation
Figure 19. AI value expectations are spread across service, billing, forecasting and personalization