Most of the regulations indicate that the best way is to determine limits or reference costs for the operations of electricity utilities, and thus compel them to look for ways to be more efficient and offer services at a lower cost. This has been an effective means of controlling the fair value of electricity tariffs, but it can be a great challenge for companies whose capacity to adapt is reduced. This activity includes also the accounting, financial, procurement, and budgeting practices of the utility. 

Irrespective of the circumstances, these plans are indicative of the utility’s future actions and are not a tool to constrain decision-making. Therefore, plan formulation and implementation must include the adjustments and flexibility needed to deal with unforeseen requirements that arise over time. Having a good investment plan in place is critical for good business decision-making, particularly in the power sector, which requires considerable investment in long-term infrastructure.  

In several countries, having an investment plan in place is also a requirement established by the regulator as it forms the basis for tariff setting and for monitoring the utility’s compliance with its obligations. Investments can also be classified in two groups although in some cases due to economies of scale and indivisibility, they may serve both purposes. In other countries they have other categories; for example in Brazil the regulator requires information in three categories: (i) expansion, (ii) improvements, and (iii) renovation. In general, for most countries, investments can be divided and measured in two categories: 

* Replacement or maintenance investment, where existing assets are repaired to ensure continued provision of an existing service at present quality levels, given the continual consumption of capital inputs during their use. 

* Non-technical losses or commercial losses, where new assets are provided to improve quality or expand output, or both. New investments aimed at expanding quality may be addressing issues such as reliability and the quality of the service per se, or the mitigation of environmental impacts that arise from producing the service. 

This area considers these fundamental criteria: (i) existence of a documented investment plan with minimum content; (ii) appropriateness of the methodology used to develop it; (iii) the way in which the utility manages and implements the plan over time; and (iv) special inclusion of physical asset management.  

This activity of efficiency and execution of the investment plan and asset management in the utilities is currently under development and will be incorporated soon. 

In the field of energy, it is common for governments or companies, when planning the population's access to different energy services, to seek to increase or improve household access to electricity, or the use of clean technologies and fuels to cooking food. However, to achieve the objectives of access policies and programs, in addition to considering the infrastructure coverage rates, it is essential to analyze other aspects that reveal the population's impediments so that they can benefit from the services provided by the use of energy. These aspects are the affordability of electricity consumption, and the ability of the population to access and pay for home technologies and equipment that allow the use and benefit of energy. 

Affordability is a key concept in this analysis, and it cuts across both access to energy infrastructure and access to energy services. It refers to the capacity of groups of consumers to pay a minimum level of a certain service. One way to measure affordability is through the proportion of the household's monthly income that it allocates to pay for basic public services. In other words, if this proportion is high, a service is less affordable and vice versa. 

In this discussion, regarding access to electric power, it is important to consider both the ability to pay for electric power failure and the ability to acquire and pay for these technologies and electrical appliances. 

This activity of access to service in the utilities is currently under development and will be incorporated soon.

The attention to the client continues to evolve and become more relevant considering the advances in technology, the increase in use of distributed generation, and the evolution and importance of clients as prosumers. These innovations are presented in the last activity of the document in utility of the future. This section focuses on the current activities of enabling a good customer service system, aimed not only to satisfy customers but also to exceed their expectations. In this context, the attention to customers must be designed and developed to meet the following objectives: 

* Show integrated, accurate and reliable information 

* Ensure a high degree of performance to minimize response time to users 

* Facilitate integration with the internal and external systems that permeate the company. 

* Use modern technologies that facilitate interaction with the customer 

* Have several types of channels to serve a heterogeneous audience. 

The main challenge for utilities is to support in a cost-effective manner a demanding customer who will demand companies in the face of any problem encountered. 

This activity of attention to the client is currently under development and will be incorporated soon