The Covid-19 pandemic is triggering massive and lasting changes in all dimensions of our European society, from the way we interact with each other to our hopes for tomorrow’s world, from the relevance of our jobs to our working methods, from border crossing to going to school, and so on.

Electrical contractors, just as any trade, are at a turning point. The good news is: these professionals are experts at solving problems, this is what they do all day long, whether it is integrating state-of-the-art lighting systems in a heritage buildings or retrofitting a family house on a limited budget.

Of course, electrical contractors acknowledge that Covid creates a systemic risk for a trade comprising almost 2 million workers across Europe, with a vast majority of very small to medium enterprises. Nonetheless, they are still hopeful for the future because they know their trade is becoming even more relevant in tomorrow’s world, provided that all public and private stakeholders concretely take action. Under this condition, the “new normal” can lead to a useful re-setting of policy, commercial and operational strategies to enact digital and green transitions.

Companies have collectively been taken off guard when Covid struck. Now is the right time to be pro-active and to identify new or increased opportunities in the Covid era. By contributing to making tomorrow’s world greener, more comfortable, increasingly digital and safer, electrical contractors will also expand their businesses in a successful and purposeful way.

It is important to emphasise that most of the leads which are explored below are already being implemented by electrical contractors in some European regions, but there is undeniably room to develop these future-proof business opportunities further.

This short report is organised as such:

I. New societal priorities and the role of electrical contractors to address them:

mitigating climate change with a green recovery / improving indoor life quality / transforming ways of working
II. New or increasing business opportunities that electrical contractors are developing to make a positive change in the “new normal”, from services to integration, from digitalisation to decarbonisation, from consumer empowerment to contactless technologies

III. Areas of vigilance which are exacerbated since Covid, especially the risk that recovery plans favour a quick fix rather than an ambitious green and digital transition IV. Policy asks to switch on the digital and green transitions for all

This document is relevant for:
- Electrical contractors willing to bounce back and strengthen their position in the value chain,
- Actors of the value chain wishing to contribute to green and digital transitions,
- Policymakers working for the best recovery from Covid.