Utilities and other power organizations nowadays are caught in a crossfire of patterns and trends that often-run counter to what seemed indisputable fact just a few years ago. Other perplexing conditions are present, also, that seem difficult to gauge – changes in the mix of supply and demand side resources, the impact of technology on the grid and access it allows to system and customer data, dramatic shifts in commodity prices, the emergence of intermittent and variable resources, flat to declining load growth, and so on.