A corporate venturing veteran reflects on the lessons telecoms operators have faced in dealing with technology change and innovation during a period of regulatory change in the utilities sector.

When I heard that US utilities PG&E, Sempra Energy Utilities and DTE Energy had corporate venture divisions, it came as a surprise to me.

These are stodgy utilities focused on delivering extremely reliable service for their customers – in fact, required to do so as part of their mandate as regulated utilities. They cannot afford the risk of innovation. Further, they are not even rewarded for taking risk as their profits are regulated by state and federal commissions.

For that…