CRM software and services revenue and electric utility billing is expected to more than double by 2020.
The industry will increase from $2.5bn this year to $5.5bn in 2020, according to a report from Navigant Research.
Increased adoption of the electric utility billing business is being driven by smart grid deployments and is expected to grow further in the coming years.
Navigant Research’s research director, Eric Woods, said that the new billing and customer information systems enable utilities to exploit the rich data extracted from meter data management systems and offer a point of leverage for selling new products and services.
"They also provide a two-way communication platform that utilities can use to empower customers to manage their own energy consumption," Woods added.
The report revealed that while distributed renewable energy generation, net metering, and microgrids develop and spread, traditional models are giving way to a more transactive energy business.
The report said in future the role of utilities as suppliers of energy will be challenged by the establishment of peer-to-peer relationships between utility customers who will generate their own energy and feed the residue energy to the grid.
As the relationship between utilities and customers is set to change the billing systems, CRMs must adapt to the new relationships, the report suggested.
