IDC FutureScape: Worldwide Utilities 2025 Predictions
This IDC FutureScape provides the outlook of IDC's Energy Insights analyst team for the worldwide utility industry for 2025, as well as the planning horizon for the next five years."The next phase of the energy transition will push utilities even more as challenges around rising costs, energy system complexities, and impacts of climate change worsen," said Gaia Gallotti, research director, IDC Energy Insights. "It is paramount that utilities invest in digital technologies to guarantee energy security, reliability, resilience, and affordability as they service all their diverse customers on their own energy transition journeys."
IDC FutureScape Figure
Executive Summary
IDC FutureScape Predictions
Summary of External Drivers
Predictions: Impact on Technology Buyers
Prediction 1: In 2028, 60% of water companies will use advanced subseasonal forecasting services to predict the impact of weather events on demand with up to 97% accuracy to support supply and maintenance planning.
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Guidance
Prediction 2: In 2025, to counteract grid congestion bottlenecks caused by booming electrification, 45% of utilities will automate network connection requests, reducing wait times for customers by half.
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Prediction 3: By end-2029, 75% of developed power markets will implement grid-scale battery energy storage systems, reducing black start cost and emissions from traditional peaking units by 80% and 60% respectively.
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Guidance
Prediction 4: By 2027, 55% of transmission system operators will have deployed robots for perimeter control and asset inspection in demanding environments, reducing cost by up to 90% and halving time to repair.
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Prediction 5: By 2026, 50% of gas utilities will implement wearables and other lone-worker safety technology, helping workers perform tasks more safely and efficiently and reducing field accidents by at least 25%.
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Prediction 6: By 2029, up to 65% of cloud infrastructure electricity demand will be supplied with hourly carbon-free energy, offsetting 90% of increased emissions from growing workload demand, including from AI.
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Prediction 7: By end of 2029, 50% of energy suppliers in advanced markets will offer dynamic pricing tariffs for EVs, unleashing vehicle-to-grid flexibility worth 10% to 15% of their total power system flexibility.
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Prediction 8: By 2029, 55% of utilities will leverage GenAI in their integrated resource planning and the design of energy infrastructure projects, reducing project planning time and costs by 50%.
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Prediction 9: By 2027, 60% of utilities will provide AI-driven energy management, supporting C&I customers' energy transition strategies, orchestrating loads and production, and cutting average energy bills by 30%.
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Prediction 10: By 2028, 70% of utilities will have invested in digital customer engagement systems and applications, increasing customer program offerings and increasing non-commodity revenues by 100%.
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Guidance
Advice for Technology Buyers
External Drivers: Detail
AI-Driven Business Models — Moving from AI Experimentation to Monetization
The Drive to Automate — Toward a Data-Driven Future
Future-Proofing Against Environmental Risks — ESG Operationalization and Risk Management
AI-Driven Workplace Transformation — Building Tomorrow's Workforce Today
Responsible and Human-Centric Technology — Ethics in the Enterprise
Customer Experience Squared — Consumer and Citizen Expectations for Digital Services
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