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As the largest generational cohort in the history of the U.S. inches closer to paying their own electric bills, utilities have a novel chance to reinvent themselves. If they can't, the millennial generation is more likely than any other age group to take their energy business elsewhere without a second thought.

More than half of millennials are likely to sign up for solar panels in the next five years, compared to 18 percent of baby boomers, according to new data from Accenture.

Members of the millennial generation are not just glued to their phones for Pokemon GO and Snapchat, but also for daily tasks like banking, and ideally, energy management. More than half are interested in smart home technology and are willing to pay for it, according to the Accenture survey. Nearly 80 percent of those in the age group 18 to 34 would like to be able to log in to their energy provider's website the way they log in to nearly every other website they use: with social media credentials.

Younger consumers are already leading a shift toward LEDs at the expense of CFLs, according to a new survey from Sylvania, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. Accenture found that 87 percent of millennials globally are likely to consider distributed energy resource products and services after receiving information about them.

The eagerness to embrace technology and clean energy gives utilities an opportunity to sell new services to a massive consumer group, whether that’s a product sold through utility online marketplaces or community solar.

The utility industry has seen an uptick in customer satisfaction in recent years, according to J.D. Power, but that is largely driven by a lack of big power outages. The industry is still woefully behind nearly every other industry J.D. Power tracks, including car insurance, banking and airlines. For example, only 11 of 137 utility brands studied outperformed the airline industry average.

Utilities desperately need to catch up, but they may only have one chance to...