The Demise of Conventional Energy - how to survive and win on a changing market

We are pleased to present you with the fifth edition of our report

The crucial issues discussed in this document are not linked to the ones which we drew attention to only five years ago. Since then, the energy sector has undergone fundamental changes: from a limited but certain profits activity, it has turned into regular business. It is now a sector that can bring extraordinary gains, but on the other hand bankruptcy is no longer an unrealistic scenario.

Right before our very eyes the largest energy groups are altering their strategies in order to survive on the market. The external environment has given rise to conditions in which a conventional power utility model does not work any more. The change has become fact.

This transition affects all countries to a greater or lesser extent; and it concerns trends observable in the sectors of conventional energy generation, distribution and sales. It is disputable whether Poland, amongst others, should follow the directions of change visible in the world; after all perhaps our energy sector is different and reflects domestic factors. It is however doubtless that the changes affecting the European energy sector have already become visible in Poland.

In this report we offer some hypotheses on the strategies of companies operating on the electricity market. Some of them may seem controversial, but we do believe they are viable. It is the extent to which those strategies will be pursued that will decide which players will lead the market, and which will merely fight for survival. The examples of activities undertaken by international companies in reaction to trends that are also visible in the Polish energy sector are the best evidence that preserving the status quo will be untenable.