Bridging the digital divide: Overcoming the challenges of serving C&I utility customers in a data-driven era

As utilities increasingly modernize infrastructure and improve customer experience, one segment stands at the heart of the digital transformation challenge: commercial and industrial (C&I) customers. Representing approximately 40% of the world’s consumption — in addition to significant revenue, grid demand, and political influence — these customers are central to the energy transition. And with solar generation growing 30% over the last year, utilities are even more pressured to manage renewable assets at scale. Utilities are often constrained by outdated legacy CRM, billing / utility Customer Information Systems (CIS). As a result they typically face challenges managing dynamic C&I products, corresponding complex account hierarchies and organizational structures.
The complexity beyond the meterC&I customers are anything but simple. With complex load profiles, multi-site operations, and evolving energy needs — including onsite generation, storage, and electrification — their needs extend far beyond conventional residential service management. They expect granular energy data, seamless digital self-service, and proactive support for sustainability goals. And, things get even more complicated when signing solar and wind power purchase agreements (PPA), over 10-20 year periods. For instance in August 2019, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) North hub experienced a significant price spike: a Hub Price at $9,000 per megawatt-hour (MWh) and Node Price at $1,000 per MWh. For a 300MW project with a VPPA settled at the hub, this discrepancy resulted in a $2.4 million loss in a single hour due to the $8,000/MWh price difference. Yet many utilities still rely on disjointed legacy systems, making it difficult to deliver on these expectations.
Utilities face the paradox of increased data availability but diminished data usability. Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and smart grid sensors now generate enormous data volumes, such as 15-minute interval reads, power quality metrics, and real-time alerts. But, traditional billing systems can’t keep pace, which leads to delays, customer disputes, and potential revenue loss.
What’s required: a modern product and tech stackMeeting these demands at scale isn’t about patching outdated systems — it requires technology built for the realities of modern energy.
A comprehensive, future-proof platform that addresses C&I needs to:
- Provide a single view across the entire portfolio from account to meter location
- Enable configuration and rapid launch of products, including time-of-use products and Power Purchase agreement (PPA)
- Manage the sales pipeline and quoting for complex, multi-site deals
- Support multiple sales channels for both direct and indirect sales
- Streamline onboarding and market specific switching processes
- Handle regulatory compliance for flexible assets
- Deliver fast, automated responses to meet support service levels
- Handle large volumes of meter readings and perform accurate collective billing for corporate portfolios
- Proactively manage credit risk across counterparties
- Keep customers engaged with transparent insights
This is no longer a “nice-to-have.” Without these capabilities, utilities and retailers face mounting operational costs, regulatory penalties, and customer churn.
Next-generation energy CIS platforms should be capable of orchestrating the entire commercial relationship from lead management to invoicing and managing commissions for B2B, B2C, and PPA agreements. From managing customer experiences and lifecycle management to complex PPAs, modern CIS platforms should transform the day-to-day experience for both sales and operations teams and their customers and partners.
Why C&I accounts require bridging the digital divideThe data volumes, contractual complexity, and pace of change in today’s energy market are only accelerating. Every day brings:
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More data: Automated meter reads logging dozens of reads per day
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Evolving rules: Constant product changes and settlement reforms
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More stakeholders: Generators, grid operators, financiers, insurers — all needing transparency
Without next-generation platforms — capable of orchestrating the entire commercial relationship from pre-sale product creation to performance settlement — the energy transition risks being held back by outdated, disconnected systems.
Utilities that address unique C&I constraints will lead the next era of energy innovation; those that don’t risk falling behind in an increasingly data-driven, customer-centric marketplace. The future of energy is distributed, dynamic, and digital — the technology managing it, like Kraken, needs to handle every sort of complexity, for both residential and C&I customers on a single unified platform.
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