The chart above is one of the best visual representations of the long-term issue facing the electric utility industry: Electricity sales simply are no longer going up, and haven’t been for quite some time. And the flat line won’t change when Statista updates its statistics to roll in the data from 2016: EIA just released final figures for the year putting total generation at 4,078 billion kwh. Given that, the industry’s efforts to defend its market share by opposing net metering (or at the least trying to make it less cost-effective for customers) and to develop new markets by expanding into the EV charging infrastructure arena make perfect sense.

Follow