Utilities Industry To Spend Less On ITUtilities Industry To Spend Less On IT

The electric utilities industry has typically ranked near the bottom in IT spending. According to a new report to be issued today by Meta Group, some things never change. The research firm reports that IT spending by the utilities industry in 2005 is trending down even more.

Terry Ray, an analyst in Meta's energy management service, contributed to the annual Worldwide IT Trends & Benchmark Report the finding that IT spending among utilities is expected to be down 4% next year. (Spending had been down this year just 1% over the previous year.) That figure compares to 4% and 5% growth in IT spending among other industries.

The utility industry doesn't measure up in other ways, either, when it comes to IT spending. Electric utility IT spending as a percentage of revenue is 2%, compared with 4% in other industries, and IT spending as a percentage of operations is expected to be 3%, compared with 5% in other industries.