[qi:_earth2tech] When it comes to the smart grid, utility executives seem willing to embrace the dumb pipe status that their cousins in the telecommunications world are so leery of. That’s because the history of heavy regulation — and near-monopoly — has created an environment where competition and innovation aren’t commonly baked into the utility business model. At a panel discussion held at the Clean Energy Venture Summit in Austin, Texas today, utility executives debated the idea of whether utilities should focus on adding value-added services on top of the power network (like phone companies have rushed to do on their data networks) or if utilities should remain content to provide the basic energy pipes. Earth2Tech has more on the panel, notably the similarities between the electricity and the telecommunications industries — and the lessons each can learn from one another.
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