Services provided by utility organisations like electricity, natural gas, water and sewage are key inputs to most modern economies and are possibly facing their toughest challenges. From a supply perspective, environmental and resource processes are becoming more challenging, particularly for large projects. Energy supply for example is a capital intensive process and a long term one. For large scale projects to be viable it is necessary to have reasonable stability over the economic life of plant. This is particularly challenging in the face of fluctuations and changes of regulatory frameworks, consumption patterns and behaviour and price changes in international oil.

New Energy Technologies

There are an increasing number of available new technologies such as wind generation that provide much shorter construction periods and operate with significantly different economic profiles than traditional energy sources. The economics of these types of plants often provides opportunities to energy producers to change their risk and hedging profiles compared to being based on traditional sources only.

Environmental management is taking a much larger role in the process of energy product and is now also becoming a consumer behaviour driver.

Distribution Economics

Distribution is critical for markets to operate successfully. The ability to move energy or water efficiently from where it is produced to where it is consumed is vital to effective competition. Without efficient distribution, consumers have to be close to the source. Consumers get ‘captured' by these economics, competition reduces, output prices rise and industry reduces efficiency.

Gravelroad Services

Gravelroad can assist in the development of many parts of these processes with our deep background and skills in commercial engineering, modelling, regulatory framework development and review, and knowledge of best practice customer care.