An additional 27 percent plan to offer this option within the next two years. Utility companies are gaining ground in offering businesses the ability to procure power online. Nearly 25 percent of U.S. utilities now provide some form of online energy procurement to their largest commercial and industrial customers, but only an additional 5 percent say such plans are firmly in the works. These are traditional companies that are using the Web to better serve customers. Another 8 percent plan to offer this service to consumers in the future.
Customers can also monitor their own energy consumption online.
While just 14 percent of utilities currently offer such capabilities to residential and small-business customers, another 46 percent are planning or considering the addition of online monitoring. One quarter of the utilities surveyed allow their large commercial and industrial customers to access their energy usage data online, and one tenth provide customers with energy-management services online. Privacy Policy Stock data provided by Stockpoint and its data suppliers.