Energy and utilities firms spend on services as the sector clarifies its goals

• Your peers in the energy and utilities (E&U) industry are spending. The market for consulting, technology, and broad business services from IT to engineering is growing: revenues, headcounts, and client numbers grew 44%, 36%, and 17%, respectively, over the past three years across eight large, comparable services firms that disclose their E&U breakdowns across our 2022 and 2025 market analyses.
• The E&U industry is focused on efficiency above all else. This clarity is an unmissable opportunity to align the technology suite, including AI in its various forms, toward shared goals throughout organizations and ecosystems, such as optimization, decarbonization, or new positive, proactive customer experiences (we deep-dive here).
• The industry also needs clarity from its CIOs. While E&U enterprises target efficiency, their technology, data, people, and processes must work together, with security ensured and innovation maximized (we outline this agenda here). CIOs are being called to lead the new E&U system, so small wonder they look to strategic partners to maximize their impact.
• Geopolitical tension, tariffs, supply chain disruption, and energy security concerns are buffeting and reshaping global energy markets from the oil price to the increasing attractiveness of clean energy for many. The IEA forecasts $2.2 trillion clean energy investment for 2025, and $1.1 trillion for fossil fuels. From the war in Ukraine to shifting alliances on energy transition policies, E&U firms are rethinking sourcing, generation, and distribution strategies. Some are also spending big on Global Capability Centers (GCCs), such as Chevron’s $1bn ‘ENGINE’ investment.
• Unpredictability can create a premium on advisory and managed services that help firms scenario-plan, stress-test systems, and shift operations—particularly in grid modernization, distributed energy resources (DER), and risk.
• Finally, the E&U sector is grappling with an aging workforce, specialized skill shortages, and increased demand for digital fluency. As utilities modernize, they face a gap in data science, cybersecurity, automation, and sustainability expertise, especially with the sector not viewed as high-tech or sustainable, as we cover here. Services firms are stepping into this vacuum with outsourced capacity and capability development, training ecosystems, and embedded teams that help clients build resilience while evolving their workforce models.

The Bottom Line: Your enterprise peers are spending on consulting, tech, and services… don’t let an efficiency drive mean you’re not spending on the future.