IEEE Power Enginrierng Society

The natural gas and electric industries are currently undergoing the most fundamental transformation in nearly a century, moving from a heavily regulated monopoly structure to an industry based on competition and customer choice. In this paper, the author describes the distribution company (DISCO) of the Future Forum, which is an assembly of 50 industry leaders, and has focused on the challenges faced by electric and gas distribution utilities, the companies with wires and pipes to homes and businesses, under this new paradigm.