Electric utilities must build and operate more generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure—faster, more reliably, and under greater public scrutiny. Data centers, electrification, advanced manufacturing, and reshoring are driving demand, while utilities also face aging assets, severe weather, workforce constraints, customer expectations, and complex regulation.

The challenge is not simply building more infrastructure. It is building the operational capacity to manage it.

The Capacity Constraint Is Operational, Not Just Physical

Grid expansion often focuses on substations, transformers, conductors, generation, storage, and interconnections. All matter. But physical investment alone does not create a scalable operating model.

Every new asset brings more inspections, work orders, condition data, vegetation risk, customer interactions, compliance evidence, and field decisions. Every storm tests whether the organization can see what is happening, prioritize accurately, dispatch effectively, and close work with confidence. Delayed handoffs, duplicate truck rolls, incomplete work orders, and unclear asset records compound the challenge.

Core platforms such as SAP, Maximo, Oracle, ArcGIS, OMS, ADMS, and mobile workforce systems remain essential systems of record. They carry transactions, controls, and history. But many were built for recordkeeping and stable workflows—not real-time field orchestration.

They do not replace the judgment of a crew leader beside damaged infrastructure, reconcile field reality with system data in real time, or turn completed work into faster learning. Operational AI can.

Operational AI Is Not Another Dashboard

Utilities have reason to be skeptical of AI conversations centered on chat interfaces, pilots, and distant promises. Operations runs on safely completed work, rapidly restored assets, prepared crews, satisfied regulators, and informed customers.

Operational AI applies AI to the work itself: planning, prioritizing, dispatching, executing, documenting, validating, and improving field operations. It works alongside existing data and systems while respecting governance, security requirements, business rules, and operating policies.

The goal is not to replace core platforms. It is to make them more operationally effective. Traditional enterprise software is optimized for structured processes; Operational AI is optimized for urgent, changing conditions where decisions must happen in minutes.

AI Is a Security Concern—Unless It Is an Operational Discipline

Utility leaders are right to be wary of uncontrolled AI. Ungoverned tools can expose sensitive data, produce inaccurate recommendations, obscure decisions, and create operational risk. In critical infrastructure, “move fast and break things” is irresponsible.

But the answer is not to ban AI or leave it to shadow experimentation. It is to deploy AI as an operational discipline.

Operational AI should use only the governed, cross-platform data required for a defined outcome: restoring service faster, prioritizing high-risk assets, reducing unnecessary truck rolls, improving work-package quality, or directing the right crew to the right job. Not every source must connect, every decision must be automated, or every user must see every signal.

A disciplined approach works within existing data fabrics, identity controls, governance policies, approved rules, and systems of record. It supports role-based access, traceability, human review, and auditable workflows.

The Scoreboard Matters

The question is not whether AI is interesting. It is whether it improves operational performance.

Utilities should establish a baseline and track truck rolls per completed work order; first-time completion; outage-to-dispatch, arrival, restoration, and closeout times; mean time to repair; outage duration; SAIDI, SAIFI, and CAIDI where applicable; crew utilization; rework; backlog age; inspection coverage; customer-update accuracy; and O&M cost.

These are not vanity metrics. Fewer truck rolls reduce cost, fleet wear, emissions, and crew exposure. Better work packages reduce repeat visits. Smarter dispatch can shorten outages. Accurate field capture improves asset records and future maintenance and capital decisions.

Reliability Must Be Built Into the Daily Work

Storms, wildfires, flooding, heat, cyber risk, supply constraints, and aging equipment are creating a more volatile environment. Utilities need to prioritize work based on safety, customer impact, critical facilities, asset condition, crew capability, location, materials availability, and changing field conditions.

Operational AI supports that response without sacrificing control. It does not replace policy; it operationalizes policy. Human accountability remains central, especially for high-consequence decisions.

A New Operating Model—Starting Now

Utilities can begin with a high-volume, high-friction workflow: storm damage assessment, pole inspections, vegetation management, corrective maintenance, service restoration, make-ready work, or work-order closeout. Connect relevant governed data, preserve systems of record, define approved rules, establish baseline metrics, measure results, and scale what works.

This is not a strategy for replacing skilled people. It makes crews, dispatchers, planners, supervisors, and asset managers more effective.

The grid will not meet tomorrow’s demand through more software complexity. It will meet it through better operations: measurable, secure, responsible, and scalable.

Affordability is one of the most pressing challenges facing utilities. But the conversation often starts at the end—with rates, regulatory filings, and customer costs. By then, those costs have already been shaped by decisions made much earlier: How work was prioritized, how crews were deployed, and how effectively operations stayed aligned and adapted as conditions changed.

Every work request creates choices about scope, crews, materials, and follow-through. When those processes rely on disconnected systems, such as paper or spreadsheets, increased costs are inevitable. Crews wait idly for assignments. Jobs require repeat visits because information was incomplete. Back-office teams spend time reconciling records instead of managing work. Contractors create parallel streams of information that make it harder to validate and pay invoices.

Across thousands of work activities, these moments increase expenses with no measurable benefit. Viewing operations through an affordability lens is about asking a simple question: Are we delivering the work customers expect, at the required level of safety, reliability, and service, at the lowest responsible total cost?

Reporting can offer some of those answers, but a complete picture requires a current, shared view of people, work, resources, and priorities. With that operating picture, the right crew can be matched to the right work, information can move faster, and resources can be adjusted as conditions change.

The need for efficiency is amplified during emergency restoration. U.S. electricity customers experienced an average of 11 hours of interruptions in 2024, with major events accounting for 80 percent of those hours. During restoration, decisions are compressed into minutes and mutual aid adds another layer of coordination. Current, connected information becomes critical to keeping people, work, and priorities aligned. Disconnected information creates friction when there is the least tolerance for it.

The key to affordable operations lies in that single, shared, real-time picture of operations in the field, a “control tower” platform for utilities that brings people, work, and data into a shared operating view, helping leaders coordinate work and make decisions with greater confidence.

Utilities cannot control every affordability pressure. They can control how efficiently they turn people, resources, information, and time into customer outcomes. That makes affordability more than a discussion about what customers must pay. It makes affordability an operating discipline.

Read our white paper on the deep connections between affordable power and operational efficiency.

At POWER Magazine's Data Center POWER Exchange in Washington, D.C. on October 1, Edison Electric Institute (EEI) Chief Legal Officer Rachael Marsh emphasized that affordable, reliable electricity must remain central as electricity demand grows. 

Marsh joined moderator Mark W. Menezes, president and CEO of the United States Energy Association; Nidhi Thakar, senior vice president for policy at the Corporate Energy Buyers Association (CEBA); Todd Snitchler, president and CEO of the Electric Power Supply Association; and Marcus Nichol, vice president of nuclear deployment and fuel cycle at the Nuclear Energy Institute. 

Below are key takeaways from Marsh's remarks: 

1.) Affordability and reliability must remain central as electricity demand grows. 

Marsh said America's investor-owned electric companies are preparing to meet growing demand by investing in the infrastructure needed to serve all customers. 

“Our members are poised to invest $1.3 trillion in the next five years to build the infrastructure we need for the future, and that's because of demand growth,” Marsh said. “For the first two decades of this century, demand growth was essentially flat. We've spent this time talking about AI data centers, but that's just one segment. We're seeing manufacturing growth, electric vehicles, building electrification. There are a bunch of different factors that are contributing to demand growth.”

“Our central focus is on doing that reliably and affordably," she said. "Our members have an obligation to serve all customers, big and small.” 

Marsh pointed to EEI's new report, Powering Customer Savings: Helping Residential Customers Save on Energy Costs, which showcases how America's investor-owned electric companies are helping customers through bill assistance, energy-saving programs, and innovative affordability initiatives. 

“Electric companies are working every day on customer programs and ways to keep things affordable for families,” she said. 

2.) Large customers should pay their fair share, and existing customers should be protected. 

Marsh said electric companies are working with state regulators to develop large-load tariffs and other safeguards that ensure new large customers cover the costs associated with serving them. 

“What we are focused on is making sure that we can bring on these large loads without shifting costs, making sure that the large customers pay their fair share, and protecting homes and businesses from cost shifts,” Marsh said. 

“Those themes are not controversial,” she continued. “New large customers should pay for the infrastructure that they rely on, and that includes the new infrastructure we need to serve them and the existing system.” 

As of September 2026, 25 states have approved at least one large-load tariff, and seven states have tariffs pending. These tariffs establish rates, contract terms, and financial commitments that help ensure large customers cover the full cost of serving them. 

“Cost-allocation guidelines are pretty well understood. The folks who benefit from infrastructure pay for it," Marsh said. "That's at the heart of these large-load tariffs that states and electric companies are working together to implement.”

“There are differences among regions and states, but there are common throughlines and common tools that have been adopted to make sure that large loads are paying the costs that are appropriate for them and protecting other customers,” Marsh said. "Those include minimum demand charges, exit fees, and financial assurances. These are tools that help make sure all customers are protected.” 

3.) A growing body of research shows responsible data center growth can benefit existing customers. 

When responsibly connected to the grid, data centers and other large customers can help fund infrastructure that benefits everyone and spread fixed system costs across a broader customer base. 

Research from EPRI, Columbia University, and the Brattle Group, shows that responsibly connecting data centers and other large customers to the grid can put downward pressure on rates and benefit existing customers.

Separate analyses from Charles River Associates, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and the Brattle Group also found that customers outside the PJM Interconnection region have largely been shielded from data center-related cost increases. 

“When you have more users on a shared system, it drives down those whole-system costs,” Marsh said. “When we have more people on the bus, the cost of the bus ride is lower for everybody. It makes intuitive sense, and we're seeing the data bear that out.” 

“What shouldn't be lost in the conversation is that when large customers connect to the grid in our communities and to our shared system, there can be shared benefits,” she said. “We're focused on that, talking about what we can do as electric companies to protect other customers and the benefits that these projects can bring.” 

4.) Building the infrastructure customers need will require a larger skilled workforce. 

Marsh called for the energy and technology sectors, manufacturers, organized labor, educators, and government to work together to expand the skilled workforce needed to build, operate, and maintain energy infrastructure. 

“This is a place where, as trade associations, we talk constantly about partnerships. This is where the partnerships really have to work,” Marsh said. 

“Our members have really strong relationships with organized labor, with workers, and with the building trades, and we think sectors newly trying to build are building those relationships,” she said. "Those relationships are particularly important for the speed-to-power piece, speaking to communities about the business and workforce benefits of these projects.” 

“There is an opportunity to use all those partnerships to align our future needs with educational programs. We have partnerships in place with universities, with veterans' programs, and apprenticeship programs,” Marsh said, adding that the industry needs a major, sustained push to align future infrastructure needs with the skilled workforce pipeline.

America's electric companies are driving innovation and investments to strengthen the grid and reduce customer costs. Through the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE's) Speed to Power through Accelerated Reconductoring and other Key Advanced Transmission Technology Upgrades (SPARK) initiative, 31 grid improvement projects will be implemented across 26 states, including projects led by 14 EEI member companies.

The projects will receive $5.2 billion in total, with nearly $2 billion in federal funding from DOE and the rest in recipient cost-share funding. Together, these investments will expand grid capacity, accelerate infrastructure upgrades, and deploy advanced transmission technologies that will benefit approximately 100 million Americans.

DOE expects project recipients to rebuild more than 1,500 miles of transmission lines and place grid-enhancing technologies across 21,000 miles, expanding the grid's capacity by more than 23 gigawatts and reinforcing the initiative's impact.

“Today’s announcement reinforces the Trump Administration’s commitment to commonsense energy addition policies that lower electricity prices and strengthen our grid,” said U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. “These investments will get more out of the infrastructure we already have, move more electricity across the grid, and help deliver affordable, reliable, and secure power that will fuel American prosperity for decades to come.”

“We appreciate DOE's commitment to working with EEI member companies to unlock more value from today’s grid while strengthening the grid for tomorrow,” said EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney. “As electricity demand continues to grow, investments in grid infrastructure and innovative technologies are essential to keeping electricity reliable and as affordable as possible for customers.”

Several EEI member companies that received funding explained how these projects are delivering value to their customers.

• “A strong transmission system is essential to delivering the reliable power our customers depend on and to support continued economic growth across the communities we serve,” said Bill Fehrman, American Electric Power Chairman, President, and CEO. “We appreciate the U.S. DOE’s support for these transmission investments, which will allow us to use advanced technologies to improve reliability and make better use of existing infrastructure, delivering long-term value for our customers.”
  
• “Strengthening the grid requires targeted investments that improve reliability and help ensure our system is ready to meet customers’ evolving energy needs in a cost-effective manner,” said Scott Batson, Duke Energy Executive Vice President and Chief Power Grid Officer. “I thank the Trump administration and DOE for selecting Duke Energy. By making smarter use of existing infrastructure, we're able to bring customer benefits to our communities faster, including improved outage response, a more flexible electric grid, and greater readiness to meet the region's growing energy needs.”
  
• “This Department of Energy funding will help PPL Electric modernize critical infrastructure, strengthen reliability and resilience and deploy advanced technologies that will help inform future grid investments,” said PPL Electric Utilities President Christine Martin. “By bringing these federal resources into Pennsylvania, we can maximize the impact of every infrastructure dollar invested while helping minimize costs for customers and delivering long-term value for the communities we serve.”
  
• “Our mission is to build the most resilient coastal grid in the nation for the 2.9 million customers we proudly serve in the Greater Houston area, and we’re grateful to the DOE for this vital investment in both Houston’s and Texas’s energy infrastructure,” said Jason Ryan, CenterPoint Energy Executive Vice President, Regulatory Services & Government Affairs. “This selection is historic for our region, and it will directly fund industry-leading technology improvements that are expected to strengthen resiliency, reliability, and meet the growing energy needs of our region.”
  
• “[This] project will help deliver a more reliable, resilient, and affordable electric system for our customers by giving us better information to make smarter operating and planning decisions,” said Andrew Schneller, National Grid Vice President of Engineering & Network Strategy. “By getting more value from the infrastructure we already have, we can strengthen the grid while helping keep costs as affordable as possible.”
  
• “We greatly appreciate the Department of Energy's investment in innovative solutions that can strengthen the New England electric grid and deliver significant reliability and affordability benefits to our customers,” said Bill Quinlan, Eversource President of Transmission. “As demand for electricity continues to grow, the DREAM initiative will help us maximize the capability of our existing transmission system — which, importantly, will also help keep costs as low as possible for customers. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with DOE and Dartmouth Engineering to demonstrate how advanced, state-of-the-art grid technologies can help meet the region's evolving energy needs with an ever-present focus on affordability for our customers.”
  
• “Installing this new technology is intended to help us deliver more reliable, affordable electricity to customers by reducing congestion, improving system readiness for large loads, and potentially avoiding capital costs for other transmission upgrades,” said John Hudson, Entergy Chief External Affairs Office. “With this federal funding, we’ll be able to deploy advanced dynamic line rating technology across more than 1,000 miles of transmission lines across Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, boosting the amount of power we can safely move using the infrastructure we already have. We appreciate the Department of Energy’s partnership and its commitment to strengthening energy resilience in our region. This is another example of Entergy doing all we can to modernize the electric grid while reducing the financial impacts of these large projects on our customers and communities.”

DOE moved quickly to review applications in order to help America’s electric companies strengthen grid reliability for their customers.

“These selected SPARK projects put advanced transmission technologies to work, modernizing critical infrastructure, maximizing the capacity of existing lines, and unlocking more than 20 gigawatts of additional grid capacity,” said DOE Office of Electricity Assistant Secretary Catherine Jereza. “DOE is moving with urgency to strengthen our grid, lower costs, and ensure America has the energy infrastructure needed to power the next generation of economic growth.”

The SPARK program supports three categories of projects focused on strengthening and modernizing the electric grid.

Category 1: Grid Resilience

DOE’s investment supports upgrades to existing transmission infrastructure that increase the amount of electricity the grid can carry while improving reliability and resilience for customers and communities. EEI members selected to support these projects include:

• PPL
• Puget Sound Energy
• Rocky Mountain Power

Category 2: Smart Grid

DOE’s investment in this category supports deployment of advanced technologies, monitoring systems, software, and controls that enable utilities and grid operators to manage electricity flows better and maximize the efficiency of existing infrastructure. EEI members selected to support these projects include:

• Alabama Power
• American Electric Power
• CenterPoint Energy
• Duke Energy Carolinas
• Duquesne Light Company
• Entergy Mississippi
• Eversource Energy
• National Grid
• NorthWestern Energy
• Pacific Power
• PNM

Category 3: Grid Innovation Program

The investment also supports large-scale, collaborative projects that address regional transmission needs. This includes efforts to expand the grid's ability to serve growing electricity demand and connect new energy resources.

As electricity demand continues to grow across the economy, these investments will help EEI member companies maximize the performance of the existing transmission system. DOE funding will help offset a portion of project costs, accelerating deployment of grid-enhancing technologies and infrastructure upgrades that help keep electricity reliable and as affordable as possible for customers.

To learn more about these programs, visit the Department of Energy website.

EEI joined Axios Live in September to host a series of conversations about the policy solutions and infrastructure investments needed to protect customers, meet rapidly growing electricity demand, and maintain grid reliability

Scroll through for highlights from the event, and watch a full video recording above or at the Axios Live YouTube channel.

Summer heat is driving up energy demand, as Americans crank up their air conditioners amid record-breaking heat to stay safe and comfortable. Over the past two weeks, more than 200 million Americans were under extreme heat alerts, with temperatures as high as 115°F across central and eastern parts of the United States.

This led to weekly electricity output hitting record levels in early July. America’s electric companies delivered twice as much energy in seven days as New York City uses in an entire year.

EEI’s member companies work every day to deliver reliable, affordable energy to the customers counting on them, maintaining a range of initiatives to drive efficiency and lower customer costs.

Dominion Energy

Dominion Energy’s EnergyShare assistance program gives eligible customers up to $300 from June 1 through September 30 and up to $600 October 1 through May 31 to help cover cooling and heating costs. The EnergyShare program also helps customers weatherize their homes to save money long term.

“Don’t make assumptions about whether you’re eligible or not. It’s not a lengthy or arduous process. You can check it out, see if you qualify, and if not, there are other options to explore,” said Dominion Energy spokesperson Craig Carper in a statement.

Entergy Texas

Entergy Texas’ energy efficiency team partners with local contractors each year to provide customers with free air-conditioning system tuneups. They recently worked with customers in the Orange and Dayton areas and are expanding to more communities across the state of Texas. Through the CoolSaver program, technicians optimize home cooling systems by cleaning, inspecting, and adjusting key components during tune-ups.

“We know summer heat in Southeast Texas can be intense, and inefficient cooling systems can add stress to a family’s budget,” said Entergy Texas Energy Efficiency Program Manager Weslyn Brown in a statement. “These tune-ups and upgrades help improve comfort, reduce energy use and put customers in a better position during the hottest months of the year.”

Eligible customers may also qualify for weatherization improvements, including air sealing, upgraded attic insulation, and duct sealing. These services help maintain indoor comfort by keeping cool air inside and blocking heat from entering the home. The company values these services at more than $250 per unit. Due to a high volume of applications, the CoolSaver program is not accepting new applications until next year.

Duke Energy

Duke Energy helps customers manage their summer energy use with tools and programs designed to meet customers where they are. Usage Alerts help customers stay informed about their projected energy use and estimated bill amount before their next bill arrives. Customers may also be eligible for a free home energy assessment, which offers personalized recommendations to help them better understand their home's energy use and identify opportunities to improve efficiency.

“Summer can be a challenging time for many households, and our goal is to give customers simple, practical tools that help them better understand their energy use and identify options that fit their needs, lifestyle and budget,” said Duke Energy spokesperson Caroline Fountain.

Depending on where they live, customers may also have access to time-of-use rates, bill credits through demand response programs and rebates for energy-efficient home upgrades. Together, these tools and programs help customers better understand their energy use and find options that fit their household needs, lifestyle and budget. Program availability varies by location, so customers should check the offerings available in their area.

Resources and Tips to Help Reduce Energy Bills

Electric companies across the country are also proponents of the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps qualifying customers with their energy bills. August is LIHEAP Action Month, when EEI and the National Energy & Utility Affordability Coalition raise awareness about LIHEAP and advocate for continued federal funding for the program.

Learn more about how EEI’s member companies keep electricity prices low during LIHEAP Action Month and throughout the year. 

There are also simple ways you can save energy and money while simultaneously keeping your home cool. EEI and our member companies encourage customers to follow these seven energy efficient tips in the summer:

• Service Your AC: Schedule a professional tune-up and replace filters as recommended.
• Use a Smart Thermostat: Program temperatures to improve comfort and reduce energy costs.
• Keep Airflow Clear: Make sure vents and the outdoor AC unit are free of obstructions.
• Cover Windows: Close blinds, curtains, or drapes on sun-facing windows to reduce heat gain.
• Switch to LEDs: Use LED bulbs and take advantage of natural daylight when possible.
• Seal Air Leaks: Caulk and weather-strip cracks and openings to keep cool air inside.
• Cook Smarter: Grill outdoors or use a microwave to minimize indoor heat.

For more tips on how to save energy during the summer, check out EEI’s More Than 100 Ways to Improve Your Electric Bill booklet.

Electricity is having its biggest moment in a generation. After two decades of flat growth, U.S. power demand is climbing at a historic rate, driven by advanced manufacturing, electrification, and load growth from data centers. Even though data centers have captured public attention, their role in America’s energy landscape is nuanced: When connected to the grid, they lower price pressures, drive economic development, and ultimately benefit customers and communities across the country.

Large-load data centers not only help reduce electricity costs for retail customers but also deliver meaningful community benefits through investments in the local areas where they operate. EEI member companies actively work with tech companies and data center developers to strengthen benefits in surrounding communities.

Rate Payer Protection

EEI member companies ensure new customers pay their full cost of service, freezing or even lowering rates for existing customers in the process. This same principle is reflected in the White House Ratepayer Protection Pledge that formalizes an approach electric companies have been executing for years: hyperscalers are responsible for securing their own power supply, funding necessary infrastructure upgrades that benefit everyone, and paying for the capacity they reserve regardless of actual electricity use.

Alliant Energy

Regulators in Wisconsin recently approved We Energies’ Customer Protection Plan, ensuring that the cost of hosting data centers will not affect residential customers. In addition, Wisconsin regulators approved a contract for Alliant Energy to power a Meta data center without impacting residential customers. Alliant Energy is currently in the middle of a five-year rate freeze facilitated by the company’s data center customers.

DTE Energy

DTE Energy announced that, following its latest filing with the Michigan Public Service Commission, it intends to pause requests for electric rate increases for at least 2 years. The decision is driven by growing demand from data centers, with two new data center agreements expected to support nearly $9 billion in grid upgrades funded by large-load customers.

NiSource

In April, NiSource announced a data center agreement with a subsidiary of Alphabet and expanded an existing agreement with Amazon. Under the NIPSCO Generation LLC (GenCo) model, NiSource customers will receive a total of $1.4 billion in savings. The GenCo model ensures residential customers are not impacted by large load customers' new generation and that tech companies pay their fair share of the cost.

“As data center demand continues to grow across our service territory, we are helping to ensure that new large-load customers support the infrastructure needed to serve them while existing customers benefit through bill credits as those customers ramp,” said NiSource President and CEO Lloyd Yates in a statement. “We are proud to support Indiana’s economic development momentum through a model that advances affordability, reliability and long-term growth.”

Southern Company

Georgia Power and Alabama Power announced plans to freeze customer rates due to their work with data centers and large load customers. Alabama Power’s freeze lasts until 2027, while Georgia Power’s freeze runs through 2028.

Investing in Communities

Beyond customer savings, data center partnerships are generating direct, measurable benefits for the communities that host them.

Dominion Energy

In Henrico County, Va., Dominion Energy has collaborated with Virginia’s Local Initiative Support Corporation (LISC) to create the Solar Access Henrico program. This new model helps low-income households install solar systems and lower their electricity bills through a $5 million contribution from the QTS data center.

Since launching in 2025, the program has already helped 96 homeowners in five communities across Virginia install solar systems. Over the next 30 years, these households are expected to save more than $5 million thanks to the solar system.

“County leaders worked with the data center, the developer and the power company on a strategy to allay fears and reduce expenses for residents,” said Executive Director of LISC Virginia Jame Ferrara in a statement. “It helps people protect their homes while also creating more local jobs.”

To qualify, households must earn 80 percent or less of the area median income, or up to $90,800 for a family of four in the greater Richmond area that includes Henrico County. Installation runs approximately $20,000 per home and includes a 20-year warranty.

Entergy

Entergy’s recent partnership with Meta is expected to deliver $2 billion in savings to Entergy Louisiana customers over the next 20 years, while also giving back to local educators. Increased tax revenues from Meta’s data center project have recently enabled Richland Parish teachers to receive annual bonuses of up to $50,000. The annual bonuses are 400% higher than the previous year.

“It’s life-altering for our teachers and their families, and it’s transforming our schools,” said Superintendent of the Richland Parish School District Sheldon Jones in a statement. “Meta’s investment has made Richland Parish a destination for education as well as industry,” Jones explained.

Bringing Jobs

Data centers also create new opportunities for workers, local businesses, and regional economies.

Dominion Energy

Through the partnership among QTS data centers, Dominion Energy, and LISC, the solar panel model is not only designed to reduce utility costs, but also to support local jobs. These jobs include local solar installations and clean-energy opportunities.

“This program is offering proof of concept for the larger idea that solar and efficiency funding can address the larger housing and energy affordability challenges, while also creating jobs in partnership with utilities and major data firms,” said LISC Senior Vice President John Moon in a statement.

Duke Energy

Duke Energy has partnered with Amazon to power the AWS data center in Richmond County, NC. Amazon’s data center brings 2,000 temporary jobs to the area and 500 permanent roles. Additionally, Amazon has partnered with Richmond Community College to provide students with information about data center careers and pathways to enter the field. This initiative is designed to help local residents gain the skills and qualifications needed to secure higher-paying jobs within the data center sector.

Entergy

Meta’s partnership with Entergy Louisiana will create 1,000 jobs in a community of 20,000 people once operational. Louisiana Delta Community College is receiving a $5 million donation from Meta to create scholarships to train residents for data center jobs. Additional benefits include Louisiana local businesses receiving over $1.6 billion in contracts from Meta since construction began in 2024.

Meta also provides training to local small businesses in Louisiana and invests in programs connecting businesses and workers to opportunities at the data center site. This includes developing subcontracting partnerships that support workforce development opportunities through local colleges and universities.

Furthermore, thanks to the increased bonuses for teachers in Richland Parish, Superintendent Jones says this is the first time in his 30-year career that every teacher who interviewed was fully certified. Higher bonuses attract better educators, and Jones is confident that if the Richland Parish School District attracts the best teachers, they will become the best school district in the region.

Research Shows Data Centers Benefit Communities

An increasing number of studies, including those from the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Charles River Associates, reach a similar conclusion about data centers. Research suggests that data centers typically exert downward pressure on electricity rates and benefit existing customers.

For example, a study conducted by EPRI found that the increase in the number of data centers from 2015 to 2024 led to a 4 percent decline in retail electricity prices. In addition, the Lawrence Berkeley study found that state-level load growth was associated with a decline in average retail electricity prices across most states from 2019 to 2025.

This system will only work if “fair share agreements,” or large-load tariffs, ensure that new customers on the grid pay their full cost of service. Across our member companies, large customer partnerships are being established to deliver real, quantifiable benefits back to existing customers.

Mutual assistance has long been part of the electric power industry’s DNA.

As electric companies, our strength is collective, and our culture of continuous improvement means we are constantly looking to improve safety, reliability, and service to customers.

While our mutual assistance work is commonly associated with storm response, our companies support one another in several other areas, including physical and cybersecurity initiatives. Amid a backdrop of geopolitical uncertainty, these collaborative resilience efforts are especially important today as our industry works to strengthen and safeguard America’s critical energy infrastructure.

Twenty years ago, we broadened our mutual assistance footprint by launching the Spare Transformer Equipment Program (STEP), ensuring we could coordinate and respond quickly following a direct attack on critical American infrastructure.

The terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, changed so much for so many. As an industry central to the safety and security of the nation, we knew we needed to be part of the solution and, as we always do, have plans in place for worst-case scenarios.

In the years that followed the attacks, I was proud to be part of an industrywide effort to safeguard our grid against bad actors through the founding of STEP. The program provides participating companies with access to a large pool of hard-to-replace assets when, for example, a terrorist attack destroys a substation with large power transformers and causes a significant transmission outage. Members—consisting of investor-owned electric companies, public power utilities, and federal power marketing administrations—maintain a supply of spare transformers and other hard-to-replace assets that fellow members can readily access—and are required to share—in the event of an attack.

Unfortunately, electric companies know too well the long lead times associated with purchasing new transformers and new grid equipment in the event that existing assets are damaged—which is magnified during an attack or crisis event when every moment without power counts. STEP mitigates these lead times and helps ensure its members can respond quickly and efficiently.

Thankfully, in its 20 years, STEP has never seen a terrorist event cause a significant transmission outage. Even so, its members collaborate regularly and have used the STEP framework to support one another in other emergency situations. The continued strength of the program, and the robust, trusted community of industry peers that it has fostered, speaks to one of our superpowers as an industry: our commitment to preparation and collaboration.

We know that our companies and our industry power our customers’ lives and the broader U.S. economy. And, we know that, time and again, bad actors are targeting the grid to inflict maximum impact on the American people.

That means we must constantly remain on the front foot. What secures the grid and keeps our customers safe today will not remain static, and it is through programs like STEP that we plan and prepare for evolving threats to our grid and our national security.

I am proud that, 20 years after its founding, STEP remains a critical tool in our industry’s emergency response toolbox—a tool that, while we hope to never need it, is sharp and ready if we do.

Mike Innocenzo is Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, Exelon and Interim President and CEO, PECO

Electric companies drive economic development, grid investments, and customer benefits across the country, thanks in large part to the win-wins they create for communities through their work with hyperscalers, large manufacturers, and data center developers.

Last week, EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney moderated a discussion between EEI Vice Chairs Drew Marsh, chair and CEO of Entergy; and Chris Womack, chairman, president, and CEO of Southern Company, during a Gulf South Business Roundtable event in Washington, D.C.

The group discussed the importance of industry-government coordination, electric companies’ commitment to protecting and serving customers, and the opportunities that are being unlocked in the Gulf South by hyperscaler investments.

“We’re seeing this region lead on affordability initiatives, on smart data center development, and on community engagement, with projects that benefit everyone,” Maloney said. “We’ve seen study after study show that grid-connected data centers can drive down prices and deliver meaningful benefits to customers. Entergy and Southern Company are case studies and role models for the rest of the country for the work they are doing in the Gulf South.”

Key Takeaways:

Hyperscalers Are Paying Their Fair Share – And Then Some

Context: Fair share agreements ensure tech companies and data center developers pay for the energy infrastructure they need – projects that benefit all customers by spreading fixed costs, creating jobs, and unlocking new streams of tax revenue to support schools, roads, bridges, and fire departments.

Entergy’s Fair Share Plus pledge ensures data centers pay their own way – and ultimately drive benefits to existing customers. In Louisiana, for example, school teachers in Richland Parish went from being among the lowest paid in the state to some of the highest paid thanks to increased tax revenues from an Entergy-powered Meta data center project.

Electric Perspectives: 

• “Our Fair Share Plus pledge lines up with the Ratepayer Protection Pledge that several hyperscalers signed in Washington a few months ago. … These projects are adding to schools and paying for new fire engines, libraries, and roads that help our communities.” - Entergy’s Drew Marsh
• “These projects are incredible economic engines for many of our communities. … Because of how we structure these projects and negotiate these contracts, we’re making sure they’re not only paying their fair share: They’re paying a premium that allows us to hold rates flat, or you’re seeing rates decline.” - Southern Company’s Chris Womack

Electric Companies Put Customers First

Context: Independent studies from EPRI, Columbia University, and The Brattle Group conclude that data centers and large customers put downward pressure on rates when connected to the grid. Previous research from Charles River Associates and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory also found that customers outside of the PJM region have largely been shielded from cost increases related to data centers and benefit from new large loads.

Entergy’s work with data center developers, for example, is driving $7 billion in savings to the company’s 2.3 million customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

Meanwhile, Georgia Power’s data center work allowed regulators to lower customer rates by approximately $50 per year – following last year’s approval of a multi-year rate freeze thanks to Georgia Power’s work with data centers and large load customers. Similar freezes have been approved in Alabama thanks to Southern Company’s work.

Electric Perspectives:

• “If you look at the history of electricity and what our industry has done for more than 100 years, a cornerstone of our work has been a commitment to reliability, to service, and to our communities. That community focus has been tied to economic development and how we grow our communities, grow our tax base, and make communities better.” - Southern Company’s Chris Womack
• “We start by putting the customer at the center of everything we do. All of our decision making cascades from there. … Our communities, collectively, are very supportive of these opportunities because of how much these projects support our existing customers.” - Entergy’s Drew Marsh

New Infrastructure Is Efficient, Resilient, and Ready to Meet Demand

Context: Electric companies ensure the new infrastructure built to support data centers is new, modern, efficient, and beneficial to all customers.

Southern Company is developing or upgrading more than 1,300 miles of transmission and distribution lines across Georgia and Alabama. In Louisiana, Entergy estimates its work with Meta alone will lead to a 10 percent reduction in storm recovery and grid resilience costs to its customer base.

Grid-connected data centers enhance the resilience of the broader system, give tech companies the reliability their facilities need to operate, and subsidize the construction of new energy infrastructure and upgrades to existing assets.

Electric Perspectives:

• “My expectation is we will continue to have large-scale customer growth. That will be the engine that remakes the transmission and distribution grid. It will make rebuilding existing infrastructure more affordable for our customers. That’s what I’m excited about. There will be benefits for new customers coming in and all of our existing customers, as well.” - Entergy’s Drew Marsh
• “We’re going to meet this new demand, but we’re going to continue to make the right investments to make sure we strengthen the grid for our existing customers. That’s the responsibility that we have. We’re going to uphold that responsibility and execute around it.” - Southern Company’s Chris Womack

Industry leaders, labor representatives, and members of Congress and their staff gathered for the National Lineworker Appreciation Day Reception on July 14 to recognize the dedication, skill, and sacrifice of the men and women who work every day to keep America's energy grid running. 

Hosted by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), and the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), the event celebrated lineworkers as essential members of the nation’s energy workforce. 

EEI Chief Advocacy Officer Kiel Weaver thanked IBEW and NECA for their partnership, as well as the members of Congress who co-sponsored resolutions to honor America's lineworkers on July 10 in the U.S. House and Senate. 

“Most important, thank you to the lineworkers themselves. You are the face of this industry and the reason the lights stay on,” Weaver said. 

“America’s lineworkers are true heroes, through the wind and the hail, through bitter heat and cold, hurricanes, floods, and every kind of natural disaster you can imagine,” said IBEW International Secretary-Treasurer Paul Noble. “They do this for one reason—to keep the power going for our schools, our hospitals, our businesses, and our homes.” 

Noble also highlighted the importance of collaboration across the industry, recognizing the strong labor-management partnership between electric companies, workers, and contractors that improves safety and strengthens the electric power industry. 

NECA District 10 Executive Director Robbie Foxen emphasized that reliable electricity depends on the expertise and dedication of lineworkers. 

“Reliability doesn’t happen by chance. It happens because of the skill, dedication, and commitment of our nation’s lineworkers,” Foxen said. “Lineworkers are the first responders of the energy industry.” 

Foxen added that as America enters a new era of electrification and energy growth, lineworkers will play an increasingly important role in building, maintaining, and enhancing the electric grid. 

Congressman Donald Norcross (D-NJ), an electrician by trade and an active IBEW member, recognized the training and teamwork required to restore power during emergencies. 

“When the lights go out, when the storm comes in, we have a core group of well-trained individuals who know how to do it as part of a team,” Norcross said. 

He also acknowledged the risks lineworkers take to serve their communities. 

“The idea of putting your hands around the wire—15,000 volts—with only that glove protecting you, and going up heights of several hundred feet—this is what they do day in and day out,” Norcross said. 

The National Lineworker Reception served as a reminder that behind every light switch is a dedicated workforce committed to keeping communities powered, safe, and connected. As electric companies continue to deliver the energy of every day, lineworkers will remain essential to building and maintaining the infrastructure that powers America. 

San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) is deploying AI technology that will give it “near-instant insights” into potential wildfire and extreme weather risks, in partnership with Qualcomm Technologies and the University of California San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography.

The new Edge Alert Sentinel (EAS) will integrate environmental sensors, AI technologies, edge computing, and atmospheric science from wind, weather, and environmental data. One of its biggest draws is its “edge” capabilities, meaning it will be able to process data at the point of collection rather than relying on cloud computing that can introduce delays.

In Southern California’s complex weather environment, where Santa Ana winds, droughts, and terrain variability complicate traditional forecasting efforts, EAS will be able to deliver guidance in seconds rather than minutes – which can make a real difference to wildfire mitigation work.

“For nearly two decades, our region has avoided a catastrophic electrically caused wildfire because we chose to lead early and never stop looking ahead,” SDG&E President Scott Crider said in a statement. “EAS reflects that same mindset. By working with Qualcomm Technologies and UC San Diego, we’re bringing world-class technology and science together, so intelligence lives where the risk lives – on the front lines – and communities are safer because of it.”

A pilot is being set up on Mt. Palomar, about 70 miles north of San Diego. SDG&E and its partners are planning for a wider rollout in 2027.

The tool is SDG&E’s latest designed to keep customers safe from wildfires and extreme weather. Over the past decade, SDG&E has invested nearly $6 billion to prevent catastrophic wildfires.

The company’s Wildfire and Climate Resilience Center integrates cutting-edge fire science, weather forecasting, and supercomputer modeling into the team’s wildfire mitigation work, helping SDG&E respond to real-time threats while building a more resilient system to respond to longer-term threats.

In July, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the closure of a $3.26 billion loan that will support AEP Texas in its work to lower customer costs and enhance energy grid reliability and resilience.

More than 1 million AEP Texas customers will save $685 million in electricity costs during the next 30 years as a result of the loan, which will help fund 100 AEP Texas transmission projects, including the construction of 2,800 miles of new transmission lines.

“Texas is poised for incredible growth over the next five years. AEP Texas is committed to enabling this opportunity while leveraging resources to deliver future savings for our customers,” AEP Texas President and COO Adrian Rodriguez said in a statement. “This loan supports critical updates to our transmission infrastructure to strengthen reliability, connect new load and generation resources, and manage affordability.”

The loan will also support up to 41 gigawatts of new load growth by 2030, as AEP Texas invests in the grid to meet energy demand while maintaining reliability and affordability for current customers.

“This investment will modernize Texas’ electric grid, support the energy needed for AI, advanced manufacturing, the Permian Basin, and help keep electricity costs down for Texans,” Energy Secretary Chris Wright said in a statement.

The loan is the third significant package to be announced by DOE in recent months as the government supports electric companies’ efforts to maintain a reliable and resilient grid and deliver reliable, affordable energy to customers.

In June, DOE and DTE Energy announced a similar $1.6-billion loan package that will deliver more than $700 million in cost savings to Michigan customers. In February, DOE issued its largest-ever loan guarantee to Southern Company, supporting $26.5 billion in energy projects in Alabama and Georgia.

“These loans will help lower the cost of investments in our grid that will enhance reliability and resilience for the benefit of our customers,” Chris Womack, chairman, president and CEO of Southern Company, said in a statement at the time.

DOE’s Gregory Beard appeared on a recent episode of the Electric Perspectives podcast to discuss the department’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing and how it is supporting the work that electric companies do in their communities every day. Listen here.

In June, Avangrid announced plans to build a new 82 megawatt-hour battery storage facility in Gilliam County, Ore. – bolstering reliability in the region while supporting Avangrid’s efforts to balance electricity supply and demand in the Pacific Northwest in real time.

A single discharge from the Shutler Energy Storage system will be able to power approximately 3,000 homes in the sparsely-populated county. The facility will come online in 2027, and its construction will create 35 local union jobs.

“Shutler Energy Storage gives us another tool to effectively manage our regional portfolio, improving how we coordinate across our generating assets and make better use of our existing infrastructure,” Avangrid Power CEO Sy Oytan said in a statement. “This added flexibility will allow us to respond quickly to changing grid conditions and operate our fleet more efficiently every day.”

Additionally, Avangrid announced plans to donate $110,000 annually to Condon Early Learning Center and Arlington Childcare Center, two local nonprofits supporting early childhood education and childcare.

"This generous investment by Avangrid will provide vital support not only for our organization, but more importantly for the families, children, and future of Arlington,” said Arlington Childcare Center Board President Mark Moore. “This kind of community partnership provides working families with greater security, allows local businesses to thrive, and ensures that our community’s children have access to quality early learning experiences for years to come.”

In June, NextEra Energy Transmission and the New Mexico Renewable Energy Transmission Authority announced the completion of the 137-mile, 345-kilovolt Crossroads-Hobbs-Roadrunner Transmission Line near the state’s eastern border with Texas.

The line was completed ahead of schedule and is projected to reduce residential customers’ bills in the surrounding area by $13 per month.

“The Crossroads project demonstrates New Mexico's leadership in building the infrastructure that drives economic development and affordability for everyday New Mexicans,” New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “Together, we are building energy, transmission and jobs that will power our workforce and economy, reliably and affordably, for generations to come.”

The project is one of several that America’s investor-owned electric companies are spearheading to deliver reliable, affordable energy to customers. EEI members will invest $1.4 trillion through 2030 to strengthen the grid and support the communities that depend on them.

“At a time when America needs more electricity, needs it affordably, and needs it now, this project shows what's possible when transmission developers, strong collaboration, community engagement and disciplined execution come together,” said NextEra Energy Transmission President Matt Valle. “This is speed-to-power at its finest and the kind of infrastructure that will power communities well into the future.”

Fair share agreements with large load customers “place downward pressure on average prices” for all customers when implemented correctly, according to a new analysis from The Brattle Group.

The study, commissioned for Alliant Energy, looked at large load demand in Iowa and Wisconsin. It found that tariffs and contracts that ensure hyperscalers and large customers pay their fair share not only protect existing customers from cost increases - they help ease price pressures by paying for grid upgrades and spreading fixed costs across a larger base.

As of June, regulators in 24 states - including in Iowa and Wisconsin - had approved at least one large load tariff, which electric companies use to ensure residential customers don’t subsidize energy infrastructure needed to serve data centers. Decisions are pending in an additional four states.

“Our analysis shows that affordability outcomes will depend significantly on how utilities structure rates, contracts, and cost allocation mechanisms,” Brattle Principal Ryan Hledik, a coauthor of the report, said in a statement. “When incremental revenues from large customers meet or exceed the costs they impose on the system, existing customers can be protected while communities still benefit from economic development and infrastructure investment.”

The study noted that states experiencing the fastest electricity demand growth have historically seen the largest declines in inflation-adjusted electricity prices. Its findings add to a growing pool of research suggesting data centers and large load customers do not drive up electricity prices for customers when electric companies implement tariffs and other specialized contracts to protect customers.

A separate recent analysis from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and The Brattle Group found that “state-level load growth was linked to declining all-sector average retail prices in recent decades, including from 2019 to 2025, in most states.” And, earlier this year, a Charles River Associates study similarly found that electricity rates have remained broadly stable in most states and have generally tracked inflation over time. Outside the PJM Interconnection region, it found that customers have largely been shielded from cost increases related to data centers.

Alliant Energy is in the midst of a five-year rate freeze in its Iowa service territory that was made possible by data center and large load investments in the grid. Similar rate freezes have been approved in Alabama and proposed in Michigan, Wisconsin, and other states.

An Alliant Energy-supported data center project in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and the benefits it has provided to the surrounding community were the focus of a recent episode of the Electric Perspectives podcast. Learn more at electricperspectives.com/podcast.

“We know it feels like every bill is higher right now – from housing to groceries to power – and that can put a strain on families. We also understand that our customers depend on us to provide safe, reliable energy, day in and day out, at the lowest possible price," Duke Energy Florida State President Melissa Seixas said in a statement. “This is the third rate reduction for our customers this year, supporting our commitment to delivering positive outcomes that have a real, tangible impact on their wallets and in their lives.”

The reduction reflects the difference between anticipated storm cost recovery related to hurricanes Debby, Helene, and Milton, and what the company actually incurred. Rates were reduced for a similar reason in February. Duke Energy Florida also cut rates in March, as it does every year, to support customers during a period when energy use is typically higher.

Additionally, Duke Energy Florida estimates its customers will save more than $1 billion from infrastructure investments the company made last year to expand its generation portfolio, upgrade natural gas plants, make infrastructure more weather-resilient, and deploy self-healing grid technologies.

Across the country, EEI member companies will invest more than $1.4 trillion during the next five years to make the grid stronger, more resilient, and more efficient – allowing them to meet rising energy demand while continuing to deliver the reliable, affordable energy that customers count on. They will invest more than $238 billion this year alone.

Many, like Duke Energy Florida, are also freezing or reducing rates. In March, Pacific Gas and Electric Company lowered electric rates for the fifth time since 2024. In May, Georgia’s public service commission approved a plan to lower rates by roughly $50 per year for the typical residential customer after previously instituting a multi-year rate freeze, thanks in part to Georgia Power’s work with data center developers. Similar rate freezes have been approved in Alabama and Iowa and proposed in Michigan.

A recent study from Concentric Energy Advisors (CEA) identified the grid’s 22,000 generators, 55,000 substations, 642,000 miles of high-voltage transmission lines, and 6.3 million miles of distribution infrastructure as “the enabling platform for economic and national security,” delivering “reliable power to all sectors of the economy, including essential services such as defense, emergency response, water systems, and communication.”

Extreme weather events and increasing end customer and regulatory demand for higher reliability have pushed grid resilience and selfhealing networks into the spotlight.

Circuits that effectively restore themselves—automatically locating and isolating faults and reconfiguring power flow with minimal manual intervention—are critical for reducing outages and accelerating recovery.  

Evidence supports the value of self-healing schemes. What remains unresolved is how to quickly scale them, without adding complexity, to improve resilience.

The Necessity of Simplified Automation

Automated smart devices are the foundation of self-healing networks. Adding a few reclosers and switches is a logical step. For a truly resilient grid, devices must be deployed at scale, operating intelligently and in coordination.

Too often, however, deployments stall when automation is difficult to install, operate, or maintain. That reality is driving momentum toward simplified automation, an industry design direction gaining traction as utilities look to expand selfhealing networks more effectively. 

For S&C Electric Company, simplified automation means applying intelligence where it delivers the greatest impact for resilience and reliability, while also keeping technology intuitive, familiar, and practical for the people who work with it. This keeps automation easy to deploy and cost-effective.

Key Attributes Required 

Every storm triggers a cycle of react, repair, and rebuild. Rebuilding the same way perpetuates inefficiency. Strategic investment in proven technologies—automation, fault Automating lateral circuits is a leading example of simple automation creating high value. Up to 80 percent of overhead lateral faults are temporary. Electronic controlled reclosers can detect and clear these transient faults within seconds, preventing prolonged outages.

As automation moves closer to the grid edge, simplicity in device design becomes increasingly crucial. To scale lateral automation effectively, utilities need technology engineered to key principles to minimize outages, maintenance costs, and crew time:

• Ease of deployment: Reclosers should offer programmable curves for seamless coordination with existing protective devices—and commission without specialized engineering. Their objective is to enhance existing protection strategies—not force reinvention. Reclosers should fit easily into cutout mounts, preserving grid designs and familiar crew installation practices.
• Operational efficiency: Self-powered reclosers lm`o[q` autonomously, without reliance on secondary power from transformers or batteries. When manual operation is required, device designs need to support safe, efficient crew interactions—easy to pull open cutouts for fault isolation, clear operational labels and status indicators, and a highly visible, physical gap when it drops open to isolate permanent faults. Equally important are safety features that help keep crews at a distance from medium voltage during operating sequences.
• Adaptive and interoperable communications: Lateral automation does not typically require communicating devices, as devices need to function even when communications are unavailable. When there is benefit to communications, such as adjusting recloser settings based on weather conditions, automation should be interoperable and support current and future communications through modular design.
• Modularity and future readiness: Reclosers with modular designs support more efficient operations and evolving workflow needs. Swappable hardware modules allow utilities to program multiple units, retrieve device data, upgrade software, or expand communications without taking the device out of service. That flexibility streamlines how utilities upgrade and adopt new capabilities to avoid disruption and cost.

Simplified automation gives utilities an advantage. By scaling solutions designed for real-world operations, utilities can set the reliability benchmark and advance a more resilient grid.

To meet the needs of the electric power industry, solar is entering a new era of reliability, both in terms of power plant performance and the partnerships behind them.

The traditional model—building solar plants from loosely coordinated components and vendors—is increasingly being replaced by an integrated solar power plant model. Integrated systems align trackers, foundations, electrical infrastructure, and controls from a single provider during early-stage development.

This evolution reflects more than engineering progress. It also signals a change in how projects are delivered. Interfacing with a single platform partner that can handle design, manufacturing, and execution reduces complexity and increases accountability over the life of the asset.

The partnership begins at the supply chain.

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, 134 new solar and storage manufacturing facilities are now online, with 44 facilities under active construction across 43 states.

A key link in this U.S.-based supply chain is steel manufacturing. Domestic production and regional fabrication strengthen supply chain resilience, reduce logistics risk, and improve delivery certainty. With platform providers that offer manufacturing scale across multiple regions, solar investment also supports local economic development—a core mission of electric utilities.

Integrated systems streamline execution and lower LCOE.

Designing structural and electrical systems with one platform partner has both upfront and long-term advantages. For developers, it simplifies the engineering phase and results in a fully optimized site plan and system design. For EPC partners, this means a smoother build process—and a system with fewer components—that is more likely to stay on schedule and under budget.

For utilities, a fully integrated plant reduces risk and total project costs while simplifying O&M, resulting in a lower levelized cost of energy (LCOE).

Digital tools enhance project management and operations.

The integrated solar plant model also enables new ways to coordinate, visualize, and manage projects. A single software platform can support site design, predictive analytics, component tracking, real-time construction visibility, and a fleet-wide view of assets to reduce field work, increase generation, and lower project risk.

Advanced control systems are also helping mitigate risks from hail, wind, and extreme weather. High-resolution camera systems detect smoke and fire risks while enhancing site security. Automated inspection technology provides consistent quality assurance and reduces operational variability.

Together, this delivers solar as utility-scale infrastructure.

As utilities face unprecedented load growth, a more mature U.S. solar industry is rising to support the development of reliable, long-term power plants at scale. Solar has evolved into a grid asset built by American industry—designed as an integrated system and engineered to deliver lower lifecycle cost and more predictable performance from day one through the life of the asset

What often drops out of that conversation is a simple question: Once the site is online, how do you keep it that way for the full design life? In an era of strained supply chains, “run to failure” is no longer a safe strategy for critical equipment. During COVID-19, global manufacturing and logistics disruptions hit many core grid components, and six years later availability still has not fully recovered.

Transformers sit near the top of that risk list. Large power transformers that once took roughly a year and a half to procure can now require as long as seven years from order to delivery. Medium- and low-voltage units have followed the same trend, with lead times stretching from under a year to multiple years. When a key transformer fails, you may not be able to replace it within the current planning horizon. That reality changes the economics of reliability. 

Fortunately, you have practical tools to extend transformer life and reduce unexpected outages. The most important is dissolved gas analysis (DGA), which measures specific gases in transformer oil to reveal emerging problems. Think of DGA as a routine blood test for your transformer fleet. Just as a doctor watches changes in cholesterol or enzyme levels over time, operators can track gas trends to spot overheating, arcing, or insulation breakdown before they lead to failure.

Utilities have relied on DGA for decades as a cornerstone of transformer health monitoring, combining online sensors, periodic laboratory testing, and clear maintenance actions. For data center operators, adopting these established utility practices is part of becoming a good grid citizen, protecting your own uptime while supporting overall system reliability.

In a world of long lead times and rising expectations, using proven tools like DGA brings you one step closer to the reliability your customers now expect.

Funding has been allocated to support a variety of assistance programs, from direct bill subsidies like the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and arrearage management plans to weatherization rebates and time-of-use rate restructuring. But, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, only 13 percent of low-income households are on the receiving end of support.

Closing the gap between aid eligibility and actual enrollment means prioritizing technology that enables electric companies to identify and engage all income-qualified customers. By leveraging AI-driven analytics, electric companies can move beyond broad census data, transforming consumption patterns and appliance usage into clear indicators of energy vulnerability across an entire customer base.

Specifically, AI decodes the unique “fingerprint” of every home, allowing electric companies to not only detect customers with high energy burdens at the individual household level but also accurately match customers with relevant programs and messaging.

Identify Inefficient Applications

Aging heating and cooling systems and failing water heaters are the two biggest drivers of energy burden, making these homes ideal for targeted equipment replacement and electrification subsidies.

Distinguish Between Structural Inefficiencies and Behavioral Spikes

Homes with poor insulation are best served by weatherization upgrades, whereas homes with dramatic spikes are prime candidates for demand response programs.

Streamline Enrollment Via Behavioral Proxies

Because specific consumption signatures correlate with socioeconomic need, electric companies can auto-enroll customers in assistance programs and remove the administrative paperwork that often prevents households from receiving aid.

Identifying an income-qualified household is only half the battle; the other half is earning the trust required to help them. AI enables a shift from mass marketing to personalized coaching, so that rather than sending generic energy-saving tips that feel out of touch with a struggling family’s reality, electric companies can provide specific, timely insights.

For example, a notification shouldn’t just say “save energy,” it should alert a customer that their HVAC unit is underperforming and provide a direct path to a pre-qualified repair grant.

Layering generative AI (GenAI) onto these data insights, electric companies can even tailor the timing, language, channel, and tone of individual customer outreach to ensure assistance offers arrive exactly when they are most relevant—such as immediately following a high-usage weather event. Because when communication is rooted in a customer’s actual consumption reality, the likelihood of both participation and program
success increases.

The whitepaper, “Exceeding Affordability Goals With UtilityAI: Leveraging AI and Behind-the-Meter Data to Better Serve Income-Qualified Customers,” details how these data-driven strategies enable precise, high-impact support for those who need it most.

A street crew excavates a newly paved road, unaware that a subsurface repair was already scheduled. Two departments, two systems, one avoidable public failure.

This scenario is a predictable, and preventable, result of fragmented operations. The average utility or municipality runs 15-20 disconnected platforms, predating cloud computing, mobile-native tools, and AI-assisted planning entirely.

For every dollar spent on labor, utilities recover just 70-78 cents—lost to switching between systems, reconciling data, and re-entering information. Most enterprise platforms were retrofitted for mobile, not built for it—and when backoffice and field systems run separately, something always gets left behind: asset histories, digital forms, work order updates. Crews revert to paper, which doesn't feed back into the asset management system. Maintenance patterns stay invisible, repeat failures go unnoticed, and predictive intelligence never materializes.

The operational impact is organization-wide: Dispatchers schedule from outdated information, customer service teams can't provide accurate restoration times, and follow-up work orders are lost between systems. One utility customer described what good looks like simply: "a single face of work, any work, regardless of type." That means every role, work type, and asset operating from one live shared source of truth. For most organizations today, that remains out of reach.

These inefficiencies are no longer viable. Infrastructure demand is surging, a third of the workforce is retirement-eligible this year, and over 1,350 gigawatts of energy resources await grid interconnection. This complexity cannot be managed in silos.

The path forward isn't a rip-and-replace. Most platforms synchronize separate databases—deciding what to transfer, when, and what to leave out. That friction compounds. A true single shared database means when a technician updates a work order, every stakeholder sees it instantly. No lag, data transfer decisions, or delay between the field and back office. Organizations making this shift are seeing measurable results:

• 20-30 percent of workforce capacity lost to system switching, manual reconciliation, and rework.
• Critical delays in emergencies when accessing maps, asset history, and customer impact data.
• Inconsistent customer communication and limited visibility into neighborhood work.
• Budget drain from legacy systems that constrain innovation and demand-scarce IT resources.

But the most significant change isn't technical—it's organizational. The question shifts from ӓWhich system should we buy?Ӕ to ӓWhy is work breaking down today?Ӕ Utilities that start there eliminate technical debt, redesign workflows, and build the data foundation AI and predictive intelligence require. That's the Single Face of Work®. KloudGin is the only vendor IDC named a Leader in both Utilities EAM and FSM.

Learn more.

When utilities evaluate strategies to improve system reliability, the conversation is often framed as a binary choice: upgrade existing overhead infrastructure or convert to underground. Undergrounding can reduce exposure to external fault sources, but it often comes with substantial costs, extended construction timelines, and permitting challenges—particularly in developed or environmentally sensitive areas.

Traditional overhead systems, while cost-effective and accessible, remain inherently unreliable. Bare wire relies on air as the primary insulation medium, making it susceptible to vegetation, wildlife, and wind-driven contact. These exposures are among the leading causes of both momentary and sustained outages.

As utilities balance reliability, cost, and constructability, a third option continues to gain traction: aerial spacer cable (ACS). Hendrix by Marmon Utility invented Aerial Spacer Cable Systems 75 years ago and continues to be the go-to reliability leader for this solution.

Bridging the Gap

Spacer cable replaces much of the air insulation used in conventional overhead construction with a durable dielectric covering on each phase conductor. Conductors are arranged in a compact, triangular configuration, supported by a highstrength messenger and separated by HDPE spacers.

The result is a system that retains the accessibility and cost advantages of overhead construction while significantly reducing exposure to common outage drivers.

Utilities deploying spacer cable report meaningful reliability improvements. Unlike bare wire systems, spacer cable can tolerate incidental vegetation contact without initiating a fault. Brief interactions—such as wind-blown branches—typically do not result in outages, fundamentally changing circuit behavior in challenging environments.

Rethinking Vegetation Management

Vegetation management remains one of the largest ongoing expenses for overhead systems. Traditional approaches rely on aggressive clearance cycles every three to five years.

These programs are increasingly challenged by budgets, limited rights-of-way, permitting restrictions, and landowner push-back. Spacer cable enables a shift from clearance-based maintenance to contact-tolerant design. While sustained contact should still be avoided, incidental interaction and overhang can be tolerated without compromising reliability.

This shift can lead to:

• Reduced trimming frequency
• Lower long-term costs
• Improved performance in constrained corridors
• Improved environmental preservation

Spacer cable changes the equation—from avoiding contact at all costs to designing a system that can tolerate it.

Engineered System Performance

The messenger wire is at the core of the system, serving as both structural and electrical backbone. It supports conductors and spacers, acts as the system neutral, and can provide shielding when properly grounded.

Covered conductors are designed for high impulse strength, UV resistance, and low partial discharge. These characteristics support strong system reliability under environmental stress. The compact configuration also reduces phase spacing and overall footprint, making it well-suited for urban, suburban, and environmentally sensitive areas.

• 75–90 percent reduction in sustained tree-related outages.
• Near elimination of momentary faults.
• Up to 70–75 percent of project cost tied to labor & equipment—not materials.
• 30–50 year lifecycle where O&M savings materially impact total cost.

Looking Beyond Material Cost

While material cost is often the focus, labor and equipment frequently account for the majority of total installed cost. Installation efficiency and accessibility have greater financial impact than conductor price alone.

Spacer cable systems can improve overall project costs through faster installation, reduced clearing, lower vegetation management, and fewer outage-related expenses. When evaluated over a multi-decade lifecycle, these factors can materially shift total cost of ownership.

Utilities working with established system providers—such as Hendrix—benefit from standardized design and proven installation practices that improve consistency, reduce rework, and optimize field productivity.

Installation Considerations

Long-term performance depends on proper design and installation. Spacer cable requires a different construction approach than traditional bare wire, with attention to system configuration, grounding, and mechanical loading.

Utilities can reduce implementation risk by working with experienced partners who provide engineering guidance, installation support, and crew training. Providers such as Hendrix support projects from design through construction and ongoing operations—helping ensure consistent, reliable field performance.

A Practical Path Forward

As utilities face increasing pressure to improve reliability while managing cost and complexity, the limits of a strict “overhead vs. underground” approach are becoming clear. Aerial Spacer Cable Systems is a viable third category option—combining the resilience benefits of underground with the accessibility and cost advantages of overhead.

With over seven decades of proven performance and continӣ ued refinement, Hendrix’s aerial spacer cable is the strategic solution for utilities looking to harden their systems without the barriers associated with full underground conversion. For many applications, it is not simply an alternative—it is a more balanced approach to building a resilient, cost-effective distribution grid.