Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Utility Analyst

🎯 Role Definition

The Utility Analyst is responsible for analyzing utility operations, rates, consumption and cost data to inform commercial, regulatory, and operational decisions. This role blends energy/utility domain knowledge with data analytics, rate modeling, regulatory filing support, and stakeholder communication. The Utility Analyst turns complex usage, billing, and market data into actionable insights that reduce cost, improve service, and support regulatory compliance.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Junior Data Analyst (energy, utilities, or finance focus)
Billing Analyst or Utility Billing Specialist
Regulatory or Rate Analyst intern/assistant

Advancement To:

Senior Utility Analyst / Lead Utility Analyst
Rate and Regulatory Manager
Energy Markets Analyst / Demand Forecasting Lead
Director of Utility Analytics / Head of Energy Strategy

Lateral Moves:

Energy Efficiency Program Manager
Grid Operations Analyst / AMI Data Analyst
Commercial Energy Analyst (corporate procurement)

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Lead quantitative analyses of energy, water, or natural gas consumption and cost data to identify trends, anomalies, and opportunities for cost savings, demand optimization, and improved revenue capture.
Develop, maintain, and validate detailed rate models and tariff impact simulations (residential, commercial, industrial) to quantify bill impacts, revenue shifts, and scenario outcomes for rate proposals and customer communications.
Prepare and support regulatory filings and testimony (PUC, PSC, FERC or local regulatory bodies), including the production of exhibits, workpapers, and responses to data requests with full audit trail and documentation.
Design and implement load forecasting models using time-series methods, machine learning, and weather normalization to inform procurement, budgeting, and capacity planning.
Conduct cost-of-service studies, revenue requirement analyses, and cost allocation modeling to support rate design and fairness evaluations across customer classes.
Reconcile billing system (CIS) data with meter/AMI and financial records to correct billing errors, identify revenue leakage, and support customer billing dispute resolution.
Analyze AMI/metering and SCADA telemetry data to detect meter issues, verify demand response events, measure program impacts, and validate distributed energy resource (DER) performance.
Run sensitivity and scenario analyses on energy procurement contracts, wholesale market exposure, and spot price risk to quantify business risk and hedge strategy effectiveness.
Create automated ETL pipelines and data quality checks to ingest, clean, and aggregate large time-series meter datasets from AMI, CIS, GIS, and third-party sources.
Build and maintain dashboards and visualizations (Power BI, Tableau) that track KPIs: usage, peak demand, customer churn, billing exceptions, delinquency, and program participation.
Support tariff and contract negotiations by modeling commercial customers’ bills under alternative rate structures and demand charge options.
Conduct economic and financial modeling (NPV, IRR, payback) for capital projects, DSM programs, and DER investments to support investment approvals and grant applications.
Perform program evaluation, measurement & verification (EM&V) for energy efficiency and demand-side management initiatives to quantify savings and improve program design.
Coordinate cross-functional stakeholder reviews with operations, metering, finance, legal, and customer service teams to implement rate changes, new tariffs, or billing system changes.
Monitor and interpret regulatory and market policy developments (net metering, TOU, DER integration) and translate impacts into operational and financial implications for the utility.
Create and manage data-request responses for auditors, regulators, and third-party evaluators; ensure traceability and reproducibility of analyses.
Maintain and improve documentation, model governance, version control, and standard operating procedures for analytical workflows and regulatory deliverables.
Lead root-cause investigations into outages, billing anomalies, or unusual consumption patterns using advanced analytics and meter-level diagnostics.
Support procurement and vendor management for metering, CIS, and analytics platforms by developing requirements, evaluating proposals, and validating deliverables.
Provide pricing and tariff guidance for customer-facing teams (sales, account managers) and produce customer bill impacts and comparative reports for large commercial/industrial accounts.
Drive data-driven recommendations that reduce operating costs and energy loss (non-revenue water, theft detection, meter inaccuracies) and support implementation follow-through.
Mentor junior analysts and coordinate with external consultants to deliver complex modeling, forecasting, and regulatory projects on time and within scope.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis.
Contribute to the organization's data strategy and roadmap.
Collaborate with business units to translate data needs into engineering requirements.
Participate in sprint planning and agile ceremonies within the data engineering team.
Provide subject-matter expertise in cross-functional projects such as DER integration pilots, TOU rollouts, and AMI deployments.
Assist in customer education materials and internal training to explain rate changes, new tariffs, and billing impacts.
Prepare regular stakeholder briefings and board-level summaries with clear visuals and executive takeaways.
Participate in vendor/consultant selection and oversight for technical studies, ensuring analytic rigor and regulatory defensibility.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Advanced Excel (pivot tables, Power Query, VBA/macros) for rapid ad-hoc analysis and model prototyping.
SQL for extracting, joining, and aggregating large meter/CIS datasets from relational databases.
Python or R for time-series analysis, machine learning forecasting, statistical testing, and automation.
Experience with AMI, CIS, SCADA, GIS, or meter data platforms and an understanding of meter-level schemas and event logs.
Proficiency with data visualization tools (Power BI, Tableau, or Looker) to build operational dashboards and regulatory exhibits.
Rate modeling and tariff simulation experience (rate calculators, tariff engines, or custom-built models).
Load forecasting techniques (ARIMA, Prophet, LSTM, regression with weather normalization) and model validation.
Familiarity with regulatory filing processes and document preparation for public utility commissions (PUC/PSC/FERC).
Financial modeling skills: NPV/IRR, cash-flow modeling, sensitivity analysis and budget forecasting.
Experience with EM&V methodologies and program evaluation for DSM/efficiency programs.
Knowledge of energy markets, wholesale/retail pricing, hedging instruments, and contract structures.
Data engineering basics: ETL best practices, data quality checks, and working knowledge of cloud data platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure).
Experience with scripting or automation tools for data ingestion and report generation (Airflow, dbt, cron).
Familiarity with regulatory frameworks (net metering, time-of-use, demand charges) and utility accounting principles.

Soft Skills

Strong written and verbal communication for translating technical analyses into concise executive and regulatory narratives.
Critical thinking and problem solving with attention to detail and ability to manage complex spreadsheets and models.
Stakeholder management: collaborate with regulators, operations, finance, and commercial teams while balancing competing priorities.
Project management skills: plan workstreams, set milestones, manage external consultants, and meet filing deadlines.
Adaptability and curiosity to work across data, policy, and operational domains within a dynamic utility environment.
Presentation skills: produce clear, persuasive visuals and present findings to non-technical audiences.
Ethical judgment and integrity when working with customer billing data and sensitive regulatory information.
Team leadership and mentoring ability to uplift junior analysts and coordinate cross-functional teams.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Energy Systems, Economics, Finance, Data Science, Statistics, or related quantitative field.

Preferred Education:

Master's degree in Energy Economics, Engineering, Data Science, Public Policy, or MBA with utility/regulatory emphasis.
Professional certifications (Certified Energy Manager (CEM), PMP, or industry-regulatory training) are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Electrical, Mechanical, or Energy Engineering
Economics or Energy Economics
Finance or Accounting
Data Science, Statistics, or Applied Mathematics
Public Policy with Regulatory Focus

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range: 2–7 years of progressively responsible experience in utility analytics, rate analysis, energy markets, or related roles.

Preferred:

4+ years of experience supporting regulatory filings, rate cases, or tariff design.
Demonstrated experience with AMI/CIS data and meter-level analytics.
Proven track record of building forecasting and rate models used for procurement or regulatory decision-making.
Prior exposure to cross-functional utility operations, customer billing, and finance teams.