Dive Brief:

• The opportunity for electric utility customers to take advantage of so-called dynamic pricing will remain elusive without aggressive action by the industry, according to a new report by Navigant Research.
• Less than 1% of customers will adopt dynamic pricing—which adjusts rates according to grid conditions—by 2020 without "a significant shift in regulatory momentum," Navigant said. Even then, the level of adoption would reach only 5%, or 7.7 million customers, the report said.
• Currently, about 3% of utility customers have access to dynamic pricing. That number will climb to roughly 14% by 2020.

Dive Insight: 

Navigant's conclusion should raise some alarms for advocates of smart meters. Aren't the next generation of meters being installed across the U.S. supposed to make dynamic pricing accessible? The report implies that customers access to time-of-use pricing will depend largely on policies set by state regulators.