The traditional view of utilities is that they are the turtles of the US economy — steady but cautious. That view is starting to become dated because clean energy is changing the utility business as we’ve known it.
Look no further than Xcel Energy’s annual shareholders meeting in Pueblo, Colorado, in May.
An audience member asked Xcel’s chief executive Ben Fowke, about utilities’ approach to competition, hinting that many utilities rely on their monopoly power to stymie energy competition in the marketplace, and fail to innovate as a result.
