Beyond Kilowatt Hours: How utilities can monetise demand-side flexibility

These legally binding targets support a fundamental shift in how energy is generated, distributed, and consumed. However, while much of the policy (and public attention) focuses on expanding renewable energy supply, far less of the focus is on how energy is used.

As more intermittent renewables enter the grid, demand-side flexibility (DSF) is becoming essential. DSF allows utility companies and system operators to adjust consumption in response to price signals, grid constraints, and carbon intensity.  

And yet, demand-side flexibility still isn’t being used to its full potential in many European markets.

According to a recent report from the National Energy System Operator (NESO), Europe will need a six-fold increase in demand-side flexibility capacity within the next five years to stay on track for Net Zero. However, the incentives and infrastructure to support this growth are far from uniform.  

A 2025 report from the European Union Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators (ACER) reveals that 70% of EU households are still on static tariffs, with no opportunities to access real-time pricing signals that reward off-peak use.

Despite this, Europe has great potential to scale demand-side flexibility as part of its broader energy transition. In Germany for example, households can contribute two-thirds to the country’s theoretical potential for demand-side flexibility. However, Germany’s 2025 Energy Policy Review, published by the International Energy Agency (IEA) finds that grid congestion and price zone inefficiencies still impact the country’s energy market, sustainability and society as a whole.  

France, on the other hand, has made solid progress in its local energy flexibility. The IEA’s most recent Energy Policy Review for the country (from 2021), reveals that France has 2.9 GW of demand response capacity, including 2.3 GW participating in its national capacity mechanism.  

According to Italy’s most recent Energy Policy Review from 2023, the country is targeting the building sector to deliver 60% of its projected energy savings by 2030, with government schemes focused on retrofits and behaviour change.  

Outside of Europe, countries like Australia are also exploring various demand-side initiatives. For example, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) recently updated its Demand Side Participation (DSP) forecast methodology to better capture the potential of demand response in the National Electricity Market.

What these markets have in common, is a growing recognition that demand-side flexibility is becoming a structural necessity. An analysis by the Energy Transitions Commission suggests that a third of total electricity demand in 2050 could be flexible, which is the equivalent to today's entire electricity consumption.  

For utility companies, this shift presents new operational challenges, but also the potential for entirely new revenue models.

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Demand-side flexibility as a revenue opportunity

Demand-side flexibility refers to the ability of consumers to adjust their electricity usage in response to changing conditions on the grid. These conditions might include real-time price changes, grid constraints, carbon intensity, or the availability of surplus renewable generation.

Traditionally, DSF has been seen as a tool for system operators. It helped to balance supply and demand, and reduce strain on network infrastructure during peak times. However, the commercial landscape is changing.  

DSF is increasingly being recognised as a monetisable asset that can be integrated into utility business models, product offerings, and pricing strategies.

For utility companies, the appeal is threefold:

1. Revenue diversification: By participating in local and national flexibility markets alongside Distribution System Operators (DSOs) and Transmission System Operators (TSOs), utility companies can generate revenue for reducing load at the right time.

2. Cost avoidance: Flexibility can reduce the need for costly infrastructure investments by flattening peaks during demand. For utility companies, it could mean mitigating the imbalance of costs.

3. Customer retention: New business models built on flexibility enable utility companies to offer dynamic pricing, incentives for load shifting, or tailored services for prosumers. All of which can help retain customers in an increasingly competitive market.

There are several flexibility-related business models already in circulation. Dynamic and real-time tariffs, for example, encourage users to shift demand away from expensive or carbon-intensive periods.  

The ‘‘flexibility-as-a-service’’ model enables utility companies to act as aggregators, offering tailored programs to commercial and industrial customers that integrate energy management with financial optimisation.  

Likewise, load-shifting incentive schemes can be adopted to reward users for responding to flexibility events, or for achieving reductions during peak demand periods.

However, leveraging these opportunities is dependent on utility companies having the technical capability to track, quantify, and bill flexible behaviour in real time. At triPica, we integrate billing, customer relationship management (CRM) software, real-time data, and AI-powered insights into a single operational platform.  

In turn, this enables utilities to manage consumption, pricing, customer service, and revenue in the one place, reducing system complexity, and enabling smarter, more agile product delivery.

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How utility companies can monetise load flexibility at scale

Turning demand-side flexibility into commercial value calls for an integrated approach that spans platform enablement, customer engagement, and product innovation. Utilities that get this right can leverage new revenue streams, reduce operating costs, and build longer-term customer loyalty.

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Accessing the required infrastructure

The foundation for monetising flexibility lies in having the right infrastructure, which includes:

• Real-time data insights: Combining smart meter data, Internet of Things (IoT) signals, market pricing, and customer profiles into a single decision-making platform.

• Automated billing logic: Enabling dynamic pricing and real-time adjustments based on actual usage, participation in flexibility events, or bidirectional flows (such as energy exported from electric vehicles or home batteries).

• Integrated CRM and customer portals: Providing customers with transparency, insights, and control over their participation and rewards.

triPica’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platform is designed with this exact use case in mind. It enables utility companies to combine electricity, gas, water, waste, injection-to-grid services, and even non-commodity products into a unified, AI-powered environment.  

The platform handles everything from consumption tracking to tariff application and customer communication in real time.  

Our AI-powered CRM Assistant also helps utility agents make better decisions to meet customer needs, which improves service quality and enables more personalised energy advice.

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Enabling new business models

Once the technical foundation is in place, utility companies can start developing flexibility-focused services that go beyond basic load management. Some of the most scalable models include:

• Real-time pricing offers: Customers receive energy price signals based on grid conditions, carbon intensity, or wholesale costs. These tariffs can be particularly attractive for businesses with high flexibility potential, like those with electric vehicles (EVs) or heat pumps.

• Opt-in flexibility programmes: Consumers are invited to participate in predefined flexibility events, such as reducing or shifting demand at peak times, in exchange for bill credits, loyalty points, or other rewards.

• Proactive engagement with prosumers: Households and businesses that generate energy via renewables, or store it using batteries can be integrated into the wider flexibility scheme. By leveraging export capacity and usage patterns, utility companies can treat these customers as partners rather than passive consumers.

• Gamification and behaviour change: Flexibility can also be made appealing through UX design. Dashboards showing avoided carbon, peer comparisons, or even badge-style achievements can all contribute to turning energy efficiency into an active experience.

A real-world example of these business models in action can be seen in triPica’s partnership with The Mobility House, the supplier of Europe’s first commercial Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) service for private customers.

Launched in France in September 2024, the platform allows EV owners to sell energy back to the grid during peak hours, earning money while contributing to overall grid stability. triPica’s AI-powered billing and CRM platform tracks electricity usage and reinjection in real time, ensuring each transaction is monetised accurately and transparently.

Raphael Hollinger, Energy Lead at The Mobility House said:

“V2G is a game-changing innovation for both energy suppliers and customers. With our technology and triPica’s adaptable billing platform, EV owners can contribute to the energy transition and save on energy costs.”

By enabling real-time bi-directional billing, dynamic pricing, and customer-level visibility, triPica’s platform helps transform flexible consumption from a backend concept into a customer-led value proposition.

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The need to evolve policy and regulations to enable demand-side flexibility

For demand-side flexibility to scale across Europe, infrastructure needs to be matched by regulatory ambition. Without consistent policy frameworks, investment signals remain weak, customer offers stay fragmented, and the true value of flexible demand remains untapped.

Although the European Commission has recognised the importance of DSF in recent legislative packages, progress across Member States remains uneven. Without standardised rules on metering, billing, and data exchange, it will be challenging for pan-European utilities offer coherent flexibility propositions across markets.

To enable demand-side flexibility at scale, regulation needs to keep pace with technological progress. This means giving demand-side actions the same recognition and value as supply-side generation within energy markets.  

It also requires long-term policy mechanisms that provide investment certainty, whether through capacity markets, location-based incentives, or guaranteed revenue models for aggregators.  

Likewise, at a structural level, standardised metering and billing practices are essential to support cross-border scalability and to ensure fair access for smaller retailers. And critically, regulatory frameworks must enable secure, privacy-compliant data access so customers can benefit from personalised insights and optimisation tools offered by providers like triPica. Without these regulations, the commercial potential of DSF will remain limited to isolated pilots and niche offerings.  

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Turning flexibility into value

The energy sector is under pressure to transform on multiple fronts - faster decarbonisation, greater grid resilience, better customer experience, and more transparent pricing. These demands are growing, even as margins tighten and infrastructure ages.

Demand-side flexibility offers a rare opportunity to address all of these pressures at once. It creates system value by reducing peak demand and smoothing volatility. DSF also creates customer value by offering greater control over usage and cost.  

And it creates business value by opening new revenue channels, enabling smarter tariffs, and improving customer loyalty.

However, to capture this value, utility companies need to evolve beyond traditional metering and billing systems. They need digital infrastructure that can track consumption and behavioural change in real time, and adjust pricing dynamically based on grid and market signals.  

The infrastructure also needs to be able to automate billing across devices and energy flows, and present the entire experience to customers in a way that’s engaging, intuitive, and fair.

That’s where providers like triPica play a critical role. By integrating AI, CRM, billing, and user experience into a single operational platform, triPica enables utilities to transform flexibility from a system burden into a commercial asset. The result is a platform that supports technical compliance and actively drives competitive advantage.

Utility companies that embrace these platforms and leverage demand-side flexibility will be better positioned to deliver cleaner, smarter energy to their customers, and develop business models that will withstand the next decade of disruption.

Ready to explore how your company can monetise demand-side flexibility?

Get in touch with us today to learn more.