Utilities need a better safety net for investing in innovative new technologies. : This is the third article in a six-part collaboration between Ben Bovarnick and Sara Harari. The collection closely examines the barriers facing adoption of new, advanced energy technologies that can revolutionize electric-grid operations and utility business models and spark potential solutions to elicit faster transformation in this expansive industry. Look at the electrical systems around you. You might not know it, but from power plants with towering smokestacks to wires across the nation, the grid is changing faster than ever before. Now guess who pays for all that infrastructure.