RESA - Retail Energy Supply Association

87 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 9, ISSUE 12 streaming, beyond the imagination of early critics. To give an example, their landline telephone bill. Taking a page from the telephone experience, electricity suppliers are finding new ways to offer similar innovations. One example is emulating the flat rate plan now available for making telephone calls. One supplier, Inspire, currently offers their consumers a fixed-cost electricity subscription program. Looking at historical usage, square footage, home location and other factors, Inspire can offer customers a fixed monthly bill rather than a rate measured in cents per kilowatt-hour. Many more opportunities for innovation lie ahead in integrating ways for consumers and businesses to reduce or manage their consumption (energy efficiency, time- varying prices and demand response), create their own supply (rooftop solar and home energy storage) and manage their supply from the grid (renewable content and carbon reduction). Many more opportunities for innovation lie ahead in integrating ways for consumers and businesses to reduce or manage their consumption (energy efficiency, time-varying prices and demand response), create their own supply (rooftop solar and home energy storage) and manage their supply from the grid (renewable content and carbon reduction).