Smart Grid Stakeholders

Utilities, Regulators, Policymakers, Technology Providers,
Consumer Advocates, and Environmental Groups

Not only does the Smart Grid involve all of us, it changes everything for the better—from allowing us more choices about how and when we use energy to accommodating millions of electric vehicles to positively addressing climate change.

Six key stakeholders have been identified whose participation is critical to realizing the Smart Grid in the United States. Consensus building and concerted efforts among these groups is essential to surmounting the barriers and capitalizing upon the opportunities along the path to grid modernization. Successful Smart Grid transformation will eventually and inevitably require the active participation of most Americans. For now, the stakeholders responsible for impelling this transformation include:

• Utilities, the owners of the infrastructure. In addition to investor-owned utilities (IOUs), these include municipally-owned utilities as well as rural electric cooperatives.
• State and federal regulators, arbiters of fairness between those who provide energy and those who use it.
• Consumer advocates, professionals appointed to protect those citizens least able to protect themselves.
• Technology providers, innovators whose products are available now to catalyze Smart Grid transformation.
• State and federal policymakers, architects of our nation’s future.
• Environmental Groups, committed to ensuring that the modernized grid and the natural world remain in sustainable balance.