# Impact of Digital Transformation on the Energy Sector: A Review
## 5 Discussion  
As we stated earlier, digital transformation is beyond digitalization. Hence it is not just the implementation of digital technologies. Instead, digital transformation changes the whole aspects of an industry, as it must generate additional value for its customers, business, and key stakeholders. Some believe that digital transformation has increased the demand for and consumption of electricity. However, others believe that it has not caused an increase but a decrease in demand, causing savings in electricity, less energy consumption and preventing energy losses. Because of new technologies and intelligent electronic devices, energy management can be more effective, sending electricity only where it is needed. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{|p{113.8 pt}|p{113.8 pt}|p{113.8 pt}|} \hline \multicolumn{1}{|c|}{**Social**} & \multicolumn{2}{c|}{**Economic**} \\ \hline
**Positive** & **Negative** & **Positive** & **Negative** \\ \hline Energy access & Job displacement & Improved reliability & Job displacement \\ Energy efficiency & Digital divide & Increased flexibility in operations & Regulatory compliance \\ Energy security & Cybersecurity risks & Environmental benefits & Infrastructure costs \\ Renewable energy & Data privacy concerns & Better customer experience & Data privacy concerns \\ Job creation & & Increased efficiency & Cybersecurity risks \\ Energy democracy & & Increased competition & Digital divide \\ Environmental impacts: to improve environmental sustainability, by enabling the integration of renewable energy sources and reducing energy consumption. & Environmental impacts: increased production of electronic waste and carbon emissions from energyintensive data centers. & Improve sustainability of energy sector: enabling the integration of renewable energy sources and improving energy efficiency. \\  & & Reduced costs & \\  & & Investment opportunities & \\  & & New revenue streams: sale of data and value-added services & \\  & & Supply chain optimization: improving logistics, reducing waste, and increasing transparency. & \\  & & Increased productivity: automating routine tasks and enabling faster and more accurate decision making. & \\ \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 7: Socio-economic impacts of digital transformation on power industry. Digital technologies have also changed the process and speed of work, which, as a result, reduces the demand for and consumption of electricity. According to the existing definitions, \"digital transformation\" is a process that affects the business process, society, lifestyle, business strategy and culture, and most aspects of life. As a result, it may have a different effect than digitalization which only focused on automation. The digital transformation process began decades ago, has altered multiple sectors, and is continuously accelerating. Energy, transportation, construction, health, education, government, and public administration are some sectors that have witnessed massive changes due to digitalization, and more radical transformations are expected in the future. Hence, the world population is expected to move increasingly from rural to urban areas due to this transformation. Consequently, the number of smart cities will increase to provide their growing population with the required utilities, including power. Therefore, there will be a growing need to adopt smart energy systems. Numerous digital applications have been embraced in the energy sector, and many others are expected in the future. These technologies will make global energy systems intelligent, efficient, trustworthy, and sustainable in the coming decades. Big Data, analytics, and networking breakthroughs enable many new digital applications, such as smart appliances, shared mobility, and 3D printing. Future intelligent energy systems will identify who requires energy and deliver it at the appropriate time, place, and cost. However, it will not be easy to carry this out properly [67].