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Founder CEOs lead a significant number of public U.S. firms, and these firms often differ from other firms led by non-founder CEOs in terms of various important firm characteristics. In our paper, we investigate the financial choices of founder-CEO-led firms and non-founder-CEO firms in a utility industry setting within the context of the U.S. Our results show that founder CEO status has a significant positive influence on financial choices (cash holdings, investment ratio, equity ratio, and interest coverage) of utility companies. After addressing potential causality and performing additional robust measures, our findings still hold and suggest that CEO origin is important for explaining variation in financial choices of utility companies. Overall, our findings make a valuable contribution to the literature on utility firms, founder CEOs, and CEO characteristics by connecting them through an angle that is previously unexplored.

Since the 1990s, market liberalization of the electricity industry has advanced all around the world. To survive in the drastically changing business environment, incumbent electric utility companies have conducted operational reforms, including Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As), to enhance and/or complement existing business capabilities. The purpose of this study was to measure the operational efficiencies of 31 of the world’s largest electric utility companies using data from 2010 to 2020 and examine regional differences in and the impacts of M&As on the efficiencies. For this purpose, we applied a new type of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Tobit model regression. We provide findings from the empirical analyses and discuss the business implications of M&As for electric utility companies. The operational efficiency measures were different among regions, but did not show statistically significant changes over the study period from 2010 to 2020. Furthermore, the results of regression analyses indicate that the increasing number of M&A buying transactions and M&A total transactions has a negative marginal impact on the operational efficiency or leads to a lower operational efficiency for utility companies. Since electricity utility companies have not received gains in operational efficiency from increasing the number of M&A transactions, they need to be more cautious about whether M&A transactions can provide value to the operation and technology management.

Background The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) initiated the National Wastewater Surveillance System (NWSS) in September 2020. Four initial Centers of Excellence (COEs) were established between 2021 and 2023 in Houston (Texas), Colorado, Wisconsin, and California to guide wastewater surveillance efforts for public health. Our objective was to increase understanding of factors that facilitated implementation of wastewater surveillance from the perspectives and experiences shared by health department COEs and wastewater utility partners. Methods We used purposive sampling to select one key respondents from each of the four COEs and four respective wastewater utility partners. We conducted eight in-depth interviews related to the implementation of wastewater surveillance and identified common experiences and key points from interview transcription files. Insights on WWS implementation from COEs and wastewater utility partners were distilled from the responses into lessons learned. Results Three primary themes emerged after we analyzed the interview responses: perceived community benefits from wastewater surveillance, collaboration and trust building among partners that helped program advancement, and sustainability strategies and considerations. Conclusion This analysis provides insights into novel collaborations between utility companies and the public health sector. It highlights the need to have leadership support for program continuation and to help showcase the public health importance of WWS.

This paper reviews the customer behaviour in energy usage under Time of Use (ToU) pricing scheme using systematic literature review method. This paper is used to reveal customer characteristics in terms of the equipment used, the activities performed and how they shift their use of equipment from rush hour to unsaintly hour to save energy. This paper is used to help decision maker in an Indonesia state-owned electricity company namely PT PLN (Persero) to support the policy on determining electricity price using ToU scheme. This paper provide insight for utility companies to analise the customer behavior and find out the best pricing strategy that can help achieve their goal.

Features and modern operating conditions of utility companies (institutions, organizations), in particular, the processes of democratization, decentralization, openness of society,necessitate improving the system of indicators that define requirements for the criteria used to evaluate their performance. Given the goals, objectives and current functions, the evaluation of performance of a utility company(institution, organization) should be carried out both according to economic and social criteria, which is explained by the fact that activities of a utility company(institution, organization) are aimed at solving social problems of the corresponding territorial community.This means that its performance efficiency is not always determined by profitability.It is possible to assess effectiveness of utility companies’ using local finance, which are the main income item in their budget, and the level of influence of a utility company(institution, organization) on the development of a territorial community only if the enterprise is transparent and open. It is proposed to single out the criterion “Public awareness of activities of a utility company (institution, organization)” in the system of criteria for assessing social performance of a utility company(institution, organization). Accordingly, in the system of indicators for evaluating social performance, it is appropriate to determine the level of transparency and openness ofa utility company(institution, organization). An algorithm for assessing the level of transparency of a utility company(institution, organization) as one of the stages of evaluating performance efficiency of utility companies (organizations, institutions) is given.

The Brazilian electrical utility companies must meet continuity indicators for energy supply, which are represented by the indices of average interruption duration and frequency, according to targets established by the Brazilian Regulatory Agency for Electrical Energy (ANEEL). In a nationwide base, ANEEL has defined 30 clusters, each one having specific targets for Customer Average Duration Interruption Index and Customer Average Frequency Interruption Index; still, very frequently the utility distribution companies are financially penalised for not meeting these indicator targets. This study proposes a decision support system based on machine learning techniques so that the utility distribution companies can emulate the characteristics and procedures used by the ANEEL, and help in obtaining more adequate customer groups to evaluate the duration and frequency indicators. The proposed system was applied in a case study of a distribution utility whose supply area is located in the Brazilian Amazonia. The methodology proved to be adequate for seeking better customer grouping configurations that could result in a decrease in goal violations as well as providing more consistent goals, considering the specific characteristics of each distribution utility. Although this methodology was applied to a Brazilian scenario it also can be applied to other distribution utilities worldwide.

The growth of energy service company (ESCO) markets in the private sector is restricted by a fragmented and highly uncertain market and by customers who are often unknowledgeable and unwilling. This study explores the potential role of utility companies as intermediaries in connecting supply-side ESCOs with potential demand-side customers in a manner that ensures customer satisfaction. The paper adopts a customer-centric, service-dominant logic perspective to examine how a utility company facilitates value co-creation in an in-depth case study of an extensive retrofit programme in the Emirate of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. The findings underline several value co-creation roles associated with the utility company intermediary, notably relationship-enabling, communication-enabling and knowledge-enabling roles. We conclude with recommendations on how utility companies can facilitate the co-creation of value at the ESCO–customer interface and, hence, support the development of ESCO markets towards decarbonising the built environment.

Electric utility companies (EUCs) play an intermediary role of retailers between wholesale market and end-users, maximizing their profits. Retail pricing can be well deployed with the support of EUCs to promote demand response (DR) programs for heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems in commercial buildings. This paper proposes a pricing strategy to help EUCs and building operators achieve an optimal DR of price-elastic HVAC systems, considering peak load reduction. The proposed strategy is implemented by adopting a bi-level decision model. The nonlinear thermal response of an experimental building room is modeled using piecewise linear equations, which helps convert the bi-level model to the single-level model. The pricing strategy is implemented considering a time-of-use (TOU) pricing scheme, leading to low price volatility. Case studies are conducted for two types of load curves and the results demonstrate that the proposed strategy helps EUC promote the price-based DR of the commercial buildings for conventional load curves. However, EUC cannot reduce the peak load on duck curve caused by the large introduction of photovoltaic generators, even with price-sensitive HVAC systems in commercial building. This will be addressed in future studies by inducing DR participation of HVAC systems in residential buildings.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to deal with the link between identity and crisis deriving by natural disasters, exploring the function of the shared identity linking individuals, groups, organizations and its external networks. The shared identity is not static. It is a dynamic self-reflexive learning process and is reciprocal. The object of the research is a medium-sized multi-utility company, which experienced the 2012 earthquakes, and how responsibly and rapidly it responded and recovered in collaboration with its stakeholders in the local territory. Design/methodology/approach Semi-structured interviews were directed to both managers and to selected representatives of the “vertical external networks” of the company (local authorities, a consumer association and a trade association). The primary data were supplemented by archived materials for data triangulation. Findings The research highlights the importance of identity and relationship with local stakeholders and communities when facing the earthquakes. Believing themselves to be socially responsible, ethical and capable, employees were highly motivated and collaborative. Resuming normal services was AIMAG’s priority. The behavior of AIMAG, its employees and its local stakeholders were guided by a shared community identity. After the earthquakes, this shared community identity was strengthened, thus improving the community’s resilience. Originality/value The paper highlights the role of identity in linking both inside and outside an organization, in contributing greatly to joint decision making and action, and, finally, in increasing the awareness of the company leaders and staff regarding the importance of their actions for the whole local community. This research advocates the role of identity in disaster risk reduction.