Issue Utilities: from asset owner to system orchestrator

Summary

This issue describes how power and utility companies are changing their role and their work. Utilities are moving from reacting to events toward predictive, real-time decisions using digital twins, AI analytics and platforms that join information and operational technology. This affects every level of the workforce, as inspection drones reshape frontline jobs, decision-support tools change control rooms and probabilistic forecasting redefines planning. EY frames the strategic change as a move from owning assets to orchestrating the whole system. It stresses that people remain essential, since operators must interpret AI recommendations, handle exceptions and supervise systems that grow more autonomous. Success, it argues, requires deliberate redesign of work and new skills, not technology spending alone.