Utility priorities shift to grid resilience and affordability

According to a global study conducted by Censuswide across 850 C-level and senior utility leaders, the industry is recalibrating its capital deployment towards grid resilience, network reliability, and customer affordability.

Commissioned by enterprise software specialist IFS, the research outlines a sector navigating compounding pressures: deteriorating legacy assets, severe weather events, and mounting consumer sensitivity to energy bills. The findings highlight that operators can no longer treat the green transition in isolation from basic network security and operational balance.

Carol Johnston, VP of Energy, Utilities & Resources at IFS, puts the findings into perspective:

"The pendulum in the energy sector has swung fast. Sustainability continues to be a critical objective for utilities, but evolving operational and geopolitical realities are driving a more balanced investment agenda. Decades of under-investment, coupled with rigid regulatory rate cases and an aging grid, have created an operational environment where reliability, resilience, and affordability must be addressed simultaneously."

Fortifying ageing assets against growing volatility

Hardening physical networks against extreme weather disturbances and cyber threats has quickly become the primary operational focus for utility providers. Decades of deferred maintenance are catching up with operators, driving organisations to scrutinise existing substations, power lines, and transformers rather than chasing greenfield schemes alone.

• 26% of utilities are actively re-evaluating asset portfolios to redirect investment into existing infrastructure.

• 49% of organisations admit operational data silos hinder real-time decision-making during volatility.

• 51% have asset management systems deployed that remain siloed with poor predictive capabilities.

• 33% of leaders consider their current asset lifecycle management capabilities to be advanced.

Bridging these foundational data divides is now considered essential. Without unified insight into equipment condition, network managers struggle to plan capital expenditure effectively or anticipate points of failure before outages disrupt communities.

The role of industrial AI in modern grid operations

Rather than treating digital tools as experimental, power companies increasingly rely on Industrial AI as an operational cornerstone. Executives view artificial intelligence as a practical bridge across fragmented data sets, automating workflows and anticipating equipment failures before service interruptions occur.

Cost management and capacity planning are leading drivers of this technology adoption:

• 57% of utility executives consider AI critical for reducing soaring operational expenditures.

• 47% rely on AI to optimise equipment performance and manage structural demand growth from electrification.

• 46% state artificial intelligence is essential for accelerating the integration of renewable and distributed energy resources.

As Carol Johnston explains:

"Utilities cannot invest their way out of today's challenges through new infrastructure alone. Addressing growing demand and affordability pressures requires a balanced strategy that gets more from existing assets while making smart investments in new capacity, grid modernization, and resiliency. Industrial AI provides the decision intelligence needed to optimize asset performance, maximize returns on capital, and maintain reliable service in an increasingly complex operating environment."

Engineering future clean baseload and storage

As traditional grid management approaches hit functional limits, operators are adopting flexible architectures to mitigate supply volatility. Deployments of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) and Distributed Energy Resource Management Systems (DERMS) are expanding to absorb fluctuations and prevent widespread blackouts.

Looking further ahead, utility executives are assessing alternative technologies capable of securing firm, continuous baseload capacity. When questioned on which future innovations will deliver the greatest long-term impact on clean baseload generation, leaders pointed towards:

• Advanced geothermal energy (22%)

• Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) (18%)

Modern energy security ultimately relies on striking a viable compromise. By pairing unified asset lifecycle management with Industrial AI, utilities can defend aging assets, satisfy regulatory rate cases, and keep energy affordable without compromising long-term net-zero goals.