New services of energy companies

Growing competition in the market causes that the energy companies increasingly are looking for new services that they can offer to their customers. The requirements of these customers are systematically increasing. They expect similar benefits as from other highly competitive and customer-focused industries. So some services offered by energy companies at first glance are not closely related to the energy market, and often involve very distant spheres of sales and supply of electricity. By analyzing the market it is possible to distinguish several groups of services (apart from electricity sales), which are present in the offer of energy companies. These include services accompanying the core businesses of these companies, such as home energy management systems, energy efficiency services, electrical equipment servicing, electric car charging stations and services that are no longer clearly linked to the energy market. Examples include warranty and insurance services, Internet and television signaling services, gardening services, technical customer support for individual customers, smart home building advice, authorization services and loans. The purpose of this paper is to characterize existing and new services – not related to electricity sales – which are presently offered by energy companies operating on the energy market and to assess the benefits of the introduction of these services to the market.