The digitalization of the electricity grid can provide politicians and different kinds of companies with solid benefits in terms of efficiency, renewable integration and control. However, some part of the deployment of smart grids is only possible with the engagement of consumers who are required to change their behavior significantly. This behavioral change can be induced if energy companies (incumbents and new players) adopt business models that do not sell a technology but use technology to wrap a viable business case around the core task to “solving a customer’s problem”. This paper investigates different business models in the smart grid context on their possibility to diffuse in the market. Furthermore, it stresses that the emergence of smart grids will provide incumbents and new companies with new possibilities to offer new services. However for incumbent companies these new roles, increased competition, and new services also imply challenges. Old paradigms of the traditionally conservative utilities need to be changed. This paper finds out that the electricity consumer of today is not uniform, but rather can be divided into four segments who seem to describe the market well (at least in Germany) and have very different needs and preferences. In order to become agents of change in the future utilities will have to transform their business model, if they are not already on their way to do so. Throughout the paper, a EU (European Union) and North American perspective is considered, with primary focus on Sweden, Germany, and the USA.