Edison Electric Institute Newsroom

Powering Growth While Delivering Value to Customers

Thu, 27 Aug 2026 15:39:48 +0200

In this episode of Electric Perspectives, Hanna Grene, Microsoft’s Global Go to Market and Innovation Leader for Energy and Resources, joins EEI Chief Legal Officer Rachael Marsh. They discuss Microsoft’s Community-First AI Infrastructure initiative, how digital solutions can enhance the grid. They also explore how electric companies, technology providers, and communities can work together to ensure data center growth delivers benefits for the communities where they operate.

Following is an abbreviated transcript, lightly edited for length and clarity. To listen to the full episode and catch up with other recent interviews, visit electricperspectives.com/podcast.

Rachel Marsh (RM): Earlier this year, Microsoft launched its community-first AI infrastructure initiative, and I attended the launch event here in DC. What prompted Microsoft to develop that framework and what community-first means in practice when it comes to AI infrastructure?

Hanna Grene (HG): Absolutely. I've spent my career in energy and so much about what I love in this space is that we're always balancing between the different goals of reliability, affordability, economic opportunity and, and the trust that we have with our communities and the value that we deliver to our communities. And so to me, the work that is happening right now in delivering more energy for AI and also more AI to unlock capabilities in energy is still at the crux of those continued opportunities and some of those continued concerns. What we know is that the AI era will require more energy infrastructure. But as I mentioned, it can also give the energy industry powerful new tools. And so what prompted our community-first AI infrastructure work is to step back and listen to our communities. I hope what you see in our 5 pillars of community-first AI infrastructure reflects what you're also hearing from your members and in their communities.

We started from a point of listening. What we've heard is that communities understand and value the benefits that digital infrastructure deliver in their backyards, specifically the ability to create jobs, the local investment that accrues values to local businesses, as well as tax benefits and tax resources in communities. But they're also asking reasonable and important questions, like: what will this mean for my electricity bill? What does it mean for local water resources? You know, how do we benefit as a community, not just from the tax base, but from this AI era that we're living through? And so it was that listening and those questions that really infused our approach to community-first AI infrastructure.

RM: What are those five pillars?

HG: We'll pay our way to ensure that data centers don't increase electricity prices, that we'll minimize our water use and replenish more water than we use. We actually have some really exciting advanced technology where we're doing much, much more closed-loop and entirely recycled data center systems. So there's been leaps and bounds of, I would say, evolution, and new capabilities in that space. Three, we'll create jobs for residents. We invest in local partnerships and do offer local training and path to skilled jobs, often working with local community colleges and trades programs. Four, we add to the local tax base, and we've seen in communities that, that we've worked with over time that this has been used to fund hospitals, schools, parks, libraries, and that's really a highly local conversation on their priorities.

And then five, this is an era where more and more AI skilling is becoming important across different sectors. And so we want to be a part of that local skilling, investing with schools, community colleges, and universities, but also offering skills training for businesses and local nonprofits. So those are our 5 pillars. And, you know, as I said, it came out of community listening, but also listening to EEI's members, because having been in this space a long time, I think of utilities as community organizations. And so we learned so much through our direct partnerships with utilities as well.

RM: I love that framing. Now I want to talk about some of your work and your forward-looking solutions that help enhance infrastructure. I understand Microsoft has collaborated with utilities to enhance grid infrastructure through something called digital twins. Could you unpack how digital twins work and how they can help deliver value to customers?

HG: Sure. And I'll take an even wider lens than just digital twins, but to try to put digital twins in a nutshell, when you think about the power grid, it is truly the world's most amazing and complex engineering feat. It’s not just the physical assets, but the geographic space that they embody, the workforce that's constantly working on them. It is a living, breathing machine. Interacting with the physics of the world around it.

And so when we talk about digital twins, you know, the most like layman's way to think about it is how do you take the massive amount of data that's in that big engineered system and happening in the dynamic world around that system, the weather, the temperature, the humidity, you know, where there's an outage because somebody's doing work, where you have a new subdivision coming online and take that big dynamic system and reflect it in a way that is digital using all of that real-time data, but to help you do planning, to help you make decisions about where you might build future infrastructure, to help inform things like predictive maintenance, to go out and repair or fix something like a transformer before you have an outage incident.

And so, it’s about how you take this tremendous amount of data that we throw off of our assets across every part of the value chain, and use that data to improve your decision-making with accuracy before you're in a moment of need.

RM: So a supercharged advanced form of modeling. And it sounds like it has both real-time moment-to-moment applications and then also longer-term applications. Can this deliver cost savings and efficiency for customers?

HG: Yes, and that's just scratching the surface. I get excited about grid use cases because I'm a bit of a grid nerd and because we're dealing with a level of complexity both in what we're building, I mean the absolute behemoth scale of the capital infrastructure plans that are happening across the industry right now to build infrastructure, to improve our infrastructure, to get new generation online, that's a tremendous AI opportunity.

The benefits that I see there are that we've done a lot of work in AI for permitting and helping take what can be a very manual and slow process to build environmental permitting documentation, and even to do the front-end engineering design work. So there's a lot of AI that can be applied to streamline permitting. One of our customers in that, Aloe Atomics, saved $80 million using AI for permitting instead of taking a traditional approach. So big cost savings as well as big, big time savings. And as I mentioned, the engineering and design work is not only about safety and accuracy, but repeatability and de-risking projects.

And then when I look into the grid itself, this system that we're building, we're building in more complexity as we go. AI's superpower is helping us manage that complexity without compromising on reliability. And so when we think about things like predictive maintenance, when we think about things like storm restoration and repair, it's about reliability. It's about workforce safety.

There's a ton of phenomenal work that's been done in helping our folks in the field have real-time, accurate information about the systems that they're working on that improve the safety and the productivity of our workforce. You know, do you need to do two truck rolls to have the right piece of equipment at a site, or can we provide some of the backend AI insights so that the equipment order was placed at the right time to get you the right equipment to go to the site with the right information. It's money, it's time, it's safety, it's reliability, and it's keeping the lights on for our communities.

RM: Let's shift gears just a little bit. I have an 11-year-old daughter, and like a lot of parents, I think about the future workforce and what that's gonna look like. And of course, here at EEI, we think a lot about the energy workforce. How does AI change how we should think about our workforce, and particularly our workforce in energy?

HG: We have such an incredible workforce opportunity in energy right now. There are two things happening in parallel. The first is a lot of the skilled trades that we talked about. There is a tremendous opportunity for us as an industry, and we're coming together as we already are with our partners and utilities to hire more trades and to grow the skilled workforce because we need more. The retirement rates of folks rolling out of these jobs is very, very high.

We are in a large growth and build cycle as an industry, and so we do need more of a skilled workforce to jump in. We have customers that are seeing AI as an opportunity to help with that skilling and to help with that workforce growth. So you probably have a set of engineers who know everything about substation X, Y, and Z. AI can actually be a path to help more of your workforce as they come on board, skill up, learn, dive into operating manuals, access best practices.

And I want to be super clear that that's about enabling folks to come online and do skilled work faster and more safely. Nothing here is about removing a job. We need more. I always say that an energy workforce is a yes-and equation. I'm really not worried about job loss in our industry. The answer is yes, and, and so AI is a tool, I think, to helping us grow and scale up and skill up and onboard for this tremendous growth that we are all experiencing and ensure that people enter the field and enter these high-risk jobs with the resources and the safety that they need to be successful.

RM: Last question: How can electric companies, technology companies, organized labor, and communities best work together to make sure this growth moment creates real benefits for communities, families, my parents, like all of us out here in America?

HG: I want to spend one more minute on what I'm seeing in the future. And then I really want to spend some time on that community benefit because I'm personally very passionate about it. But, you know, as I think more and more about this future we're entering into, I do think AI fluency will matter. And I do think getting your hands on these tools and challenging ourselves to rethink how we use them and how they benefit my day and your day and your productivity, I think it's important. But what I've already seen firsthand is that critical thinking, data literacy, cybersecurity, and judgment are more important than ever because the human is staying and our energy employees and our energy workforce is staying at the center of all of this work. And so the value is not, you know, AI making choices for us. The value is the people in our workforce who know the system, who ask the right questions, and who apply their judgment using this very powerful tool to augment their capabilities.

And while we're in this moment of building quickly and innovating and managing an increasingly complex system and delivering at scale. We need those tools to superpower what we do. But the human judgment, the human operator is who stays at the center. And so when I think about the nervousness people might have about AI, that's clear to me. The creativity, the human judgment, the you knowing your industry, your operations, that stays at the center of our work.

It is so important that we come together to the community organizations, to the utility, to those that are building infrastructure, in that the stakeholders have a voice. And so this is what's so central to us in the community-first AI work that we've put out there. It's central to how we work with and partner with utilities. Each stakeholder holds a piece of that vision of what it's going to take to be most meaningful and most productive in their community. And so I do think it is that coming together of those with the stakes to provide that point of view. To make this a moment that is really successful for communities.

This was part of what it took to build the grid to begin with was this engagement with communities to build infrastructure. It's what it took to build our water utilities. It's what it took to build railroads. It's what it takes to build airports. And so to me, this is not fundamentally different than those large investments that power our economy every single day. But we can learn from what worked and what didn't in those different time periods. And the more that we, again, center those stakeholders in the conversation and ensure that the communities reap the upside of this tremendous investment, I think that's the real opportunity at our fingertips.

How Electric Companies Help Customers Stay Cool and Save Energy During the Summer Months

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 19:24:33 +0200

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.

Celebrating the Essential Role of America’s Lineworkers

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 18:05:25 +0200

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.

Alliant Energy and QTS: Powering Growth for Every Customer

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 14:51:14 +0200

Alliant Energy Chief Strategy Officer Raja Sundararajan and QTS Data Centers Executive Vice President of Government Relations Todd Malan recently joined EEI Chief Legal Officer Rachael Marsh on an episode of the Electric Perspectives podcast to discuss data centers, community engagement, and collaboration between electric companies and hyperscalers.

Following is an abbreviated transcript, lightly edited for length and clarity. To listen to the full episode and catch up with other recent interviews, visit electricperspectives.com/podcast.

Rachael Marsh (RM): Raja, let’s kick off with you. What can you tell us about Alliant Energy’s work with QTS in Iowa? Why was this the right fit for your company and the communities you serve?

Raja Sundararajan (RS): Thanks, Rachael. We serve around a million electric customers and half-a-million gas customers in Iowa and Wisconsin. Our philosophy is to bring on large loads that create “win-win-wins” for our customers. When I say win-win-wins, that’s for existing customers, new customers, and the community that the large load serves.

As part of that, Alliant Energy took the proactive step of investing in land near areas of significant transmission capacity, which we call Big Cedar Industrial Park. That’s where the Cedar Rapids data center that QTS is building is located. This will be the largest economic development project in the history of Iowa.

While we have an obligation to serve, what makes this collaboration successful is the DNA and culture at QTS, where they lead with communities first and are flexible with respect to the timing and issues that require us to serve the large load that QTS has.

The QTS relationship has always been about making growth happen in a way that respects communities and is responsive. That’s the single largest differentiator that we saw with this effort. We have the largest economic development project in Iowa right now, and we have not faced any significant issues with respect to communities. That’s how they do business – effectively investing in large projects while addressing community issues. That speaks volumes of QTS culture and how they serve communities.

RM: Todd, you have many choices and options for where to locate a project. What makes a partner like Alliant Energy attractive?

Todd Malan (TM): QTS has been building data centers and data infrastructure for more than 25 years. We are in a new phase of data infrastructure, where you have these larger campuses for AI workloads.

At the same time, we have built a strong relationship with Alliant Energy. We have an energy partner and a utility partner that believes in the exact same things we do: core principles about how to build capacity and recognize communities. You have to be a good listener, and you need to be able to adjust to what a community’s priorities are. You need to be able to stand in the public square and answer questions and be transparent. That’s a hallmark of how Alliant Energy builds their energy infrastructure, so they have been a good match for how QTS wants to build data infrastructure.

At any given time, QTS has 40,000 contractors at a QTS site. We’re building six large-scale data center campuses in the United States, on top of the 75 that we own and operate now. We’re very aware that there are concerns in communities. It’s really about how you respond to that. That’s a hallmark of Alliant Energy and QTS.

In Cedar Rapids, the other ingredient is we had strong elected leadership in Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell, who sat down with us and said, “Great, you want to build a data center here? Here’s what’s important to Cedar Rapids. These are the things you have to do to be part of our community.” That’s exactly what we want.

Alliant Energy also did the work of finding the land and getting it zoned as industrial land. There was an easier pathway for us to do this in Cedar Rapids.

RM: Raja, when a developer like QTS comes to your service territory and makes such a long-term commitment, how does that affect your company’s long-term planning for the future for all customers?

RS: It obviously requires planning in terms of serving that large load. We have grid investments that need to be made. Fortunately, the land already had transmission access readily available. The biggest component was the generation needed to serve this large load. That’s where we took more of a long-term view. When you have this large load, that allows us to appropriately size the amount of generation. They're paying their fair share for both generation and transmission investments, but, on the other hand, we want to make sure they’re actually providing benefit to existing customers.

That's the key ingredient. We are trying to navigate not just paying their fair share, but also how that can protect existing customers.

We were able to navigate and achieve a five-year “stay out,” or rate freeze. That’s unique, and that’s enabled by the large load that's coming in and providing benefits. That’s the biggest change that you can see, where utilities are navigating these win-win-win scenarios. We are not only trying to make sure that the existing customers are seeing lesser rate increases, but actually, in fact, in our case, no rate increase for five years."

If the large load leaves after 15 or 30 years, that generation can be used to displace other, existing generation assets that would be getting old and would be retired. There are a multitude of benefits that these customers bring in, and that allows us to do more holistic long-term planning.

TM: I’d add that this is a complex area, with some complicated economics in terms of planning, in terms of what would otherwise have been borne by customers in terms of improving infrastructure in the region.

If a large load customer can come in and take down the lion’s share of that cost, what it does is help stabilize rates for all the other customers in that area. That's a fairly complex thing to explain. What I love about what Raja and Alliant Energy President and CEO Lisa Barton were able to do is that, when we made the announcement of this data center, they had a very simple message for customers: These data center investments are going to allow us to keep your rates flat for five years. That was an on-the-record statement right out of the box, and it was a simple reassurance to people. Your rates aren't going up because QTS is here.

There’s an old saying in politics: “If you're explaining, you're losing.” I like how Alliant Energy was able to just cut to the chase and say, "We're guaranteeing your rates won't go up for five years."

RM: I understand Energy Secretary Chris Wright visited to discuss the project and highlight the Ratepayer Protection Pledge, which sounds aligned with everything you all have described. Todd, tell us more about the Ratepayer Protection Pledge and how it connects to your work.

TM: We think that the Ratepayer Protection Pledge is really an important assurance to individual ratepayers that are worried about affordability and energy cost – and rightly so. This historic investment in data infrastructure that we all need for our everyday lives.

By the way, this isn't just for AI. It's for if you use MyChart to schedule your kids' pediatrician appointment, if you are working with your kids' teachers online – that is all running through a data center.

The Ratepayer Protection Pledge is an important way for utilities, the large load data infrastructure, and AI companies to reassure people that we are going to pay for our own additions to energy infrastructure. In fact, we will be picking up the tab that would've normally gone to the other customers.

You're seeing quite a few governors who are putting out guidelines that are saying, “If you're going to build infrastructure in our state, you're going to meet these requirements.” That means transparency about water, or you're going to do a community benefit agreement. And I think that's really healthy – to actually have these elected officials who have to represent their constituents going out there and saying, “Yes, we need this. Yes, we have to stay ahead of China in terms of energy infrastructure and the creation and use of AI, but if you're going to do this in my state, you're going to meet these minimum requirements.”

The Ratepayer Protection Pledge and these other sort of standards and guidelines are important ways for people that have legitimate concerns to feel like they're heard and somebody is doing something about it.

RM: Raja, tell us more about how Alliant Energy structured its agreements to ensure the right balance of protecting reliability and affordability for existing customers while moving with speed to serve QTS and other large loads.

RS: Back in 2023, we were already having conversations with QTS and the Googles of the world that we serve in Cedar Rapids. We told regulators, “If you approve us working with these large loads and serving in a more efficient manner, that will effectively enable us to freeze rates for five years.” That’s what started off this conversation. It was very open and transparent. We showed various forecasting scenarios – what it would mean to bring in 500 megawatts to a gigawatt.

As part of that rate review, we created the ability for agreements to be made with large load customers, in our case, where the commission approves within 90 days. That addresses the speed-to-market issue. As part of the filing, we show revenues coming from large loads more than cover the incremental cost to serve large loads.

You need to effectively make a demonstration to not only our commission, but other key stakeholders like consumer advocates and industrial groups, to show the marginal revenues coming from this customer far exceed the marginal cost to serve them.

We have promised that we will not file a rate case until the end of the decade. To the extent we’re successful with additional opportunities, we might be able to extend our rate freeze. It’s a great way to showcase a win-win-win.

RM: Let’s shift gears: We’ve talked about affordability, but we’re also hearing about the speed part of the equation from data centers. Raja, how do you align that desire to bring projects online quickly given that we’re talking about long-lead-time infrastructure projects?

RS: Speed-to-market is the name of the game, and we have to address customers’ needs. What we have done historically is that developers purchase land in a favorable location to build a data center. Then, they come to us and say, “What will it take to power this data center?”

We have a great relationship with ITC Holdings. ITC has built a lot of transmission over the last decade or so that has enabled us to tap into existing transmission capacity across our footprint. There are pockets where it requires a not-significant transmission upgrade to enable a large load. We direct hyperscalers and developers to these locations to address speed-to-market.

On the generation side, we say, “Can you live with non-firm conditions? Can you live with the ability to curtail under critical times before a gas plant or other resource comes online?” That’s another shift in conversations, where developers and hyperscalers are OK with a bridge period. They’re OK with creative solutions to address speed-to-market. Utility infrastructure can take time to build.

This is where the collaboration and real-time conversation between the utility and developers like QTS effectively enables an objective to be met in a timely manner while making sure we don’t rush the development of generation that has community impacts. There are a lot of things you need to respect and address around public concerns and building generation.

That’s the conversation that allows us to navigate both the speed-to-market issues and the natural timelines of building utility-scale generation. This has been a great collaboration, and it’s a testament to the Cedar Rapids data center and the future data centers that we intend to build with QTS.

TM: There’s tension between speed and making sure you’re doing things the right way. It helps to have partners like Alliant Energy that have done a lot of the work. They’ve worked with the community.

It’s important for us to think about the contrast in China. One of the reasons China has been able to scale up their energy infrastructure and their data center infrastructure so fast, at such scale, is because they don’t have to follow the same rules. It’s basically government fiat that this data center is going to go in here.

RM: What is QTS doing to ensure communities benefit from these projects?

TM: We made a commitment to communities that's pretty holistic across the board. It's up on our website, so we're accountable for the principles that we've laid out there – and it starts with the ratepayer protection type of commitments around energy infrastructure and paying our own way and being transparent about that.

It extends to water and making sure people understand we are committed to using new technology we pioneered in 2018 that utilizes closed loop water systems. We take water into that system, use it, and it can go back into the municipal water system and be treated like any other input from an industrial operation. It’s not a net loss of water for the system in the region.

It extends to community benefit agreements, making sure we’re supporting communities based on listening to them and what they want and need. That may be different in Ohio than it is in Arizona. We’ve tried to learn from our 25-year history. In a lot of communities, QTS is thought of highly, as a good neighbor and a responsible part of the business community. We put a lot of resources and time and effort into listening and learning, taking action against what we’re hearing from the communities that we want to operate in.

RM: We’ve seen some communities really throw open the doors and welcome this infrastructure and investment. We’ve seen others with concerns about transparency, local impacts, energy use. What do you view as best practices for doing community engagement right?

RS: The first thing is to be open and transparent. We need to talk about what we are actually building. This era of non-disclosure agreements and agreements done in secrecy builds a lot of distrust in communities.

Any infrastructure that needs to be built requires a decent amount of public input and public involvement. We need to be open and transparent – and showcase that we have multiple projects to show what this means to a community. There are a lot of misconceptions out there.

We have to be much more proactive and open and transparent in terms of what projects are and how they affect communities. Without that, you quickly lose trust within a community.

We are seeing the economic development benefits of this construction project in Cedar Rapids in real time. You’re talking about 8,000-plus construction workers. You’re talking about meaningful impact to communities, and these are not temporary jobs. A significant amount of permanent jobs are created, also. There are a lot of misconceptions out there that need to be openly promoted and debated. As long as the community makes an informed judgment knowing all the facts, we respect each community’s decisions. I think being open and transparent goes a long way.

TM: The key is starting off with a level of trust and being able and willing to stand in the public square and say, “Here’s who we are. These are our values. This is how we operate. This is what we think could be built in your area that’s going to help society benefit from the tools of the digital economy.”

In Louisa County, Va., earlier this year, they announced that they’re lowering everybody’s property taxes because of data center tax payments in their county. Meta just announced a cool program around training in skilled trades for young people. There are a lot of strong examples around best practices that a lot of different companies are engaged in.

Big Ideas, Real Impacts: EEI 2026

Thu, 28 May 2026 11:44:00 +0200

Investor-owned electric companies power the lives of nearly 250 million people—nearly 3 in 4 Americans. Every day, they connect more than 3,200 new households and more than 200 new businesses to the grid. They account for 5 percent of U.S. GDP and power the other 95 percent.

It’s no surprise, then, that hundreds of electric company CEOs and senior executives, policymakers and regulators, and technology leaders and innovators traveled to Las Vegas in June for EEI 2026, the industry’s premier conference and thought leadership forum.

At a time when affordability, grid reliability, and rapidly rising demand are dominating policy debates in Washington and across the country, EEI 2026 convened a diverse mix of attendees and leaders to discuss how electric companies are powering the energy of every day while keeping electricity reliable and as affordable as possible.

Happenings in The Hub

From fireside chats to panel discussions and tech talks, The Hub was EEI’s center for networking and technology-driven content. Among the topics on the agenda this year:

Powering the Energy of Every Day: Sessions will cover how the industry is delivering customer value and innovating to meet demand growth.
Generation Landscape: Speakers will discuss America’s generation mix, the role of nuclear technologies, and the potential of virtual power plants.
Resilience and Reliability: Topics will include grid flexibility, balancing reliability and affordability, and lessons learned from storm seasons past.
AI+: AI technologies are driving energy demand while reshaping how electric companies serve customers and power the economy.
Grid-Enhancing Technologies: Panels will focus on innovations that are driving grid intelligence and making the most of existing infrastructure.

Congratulations to Duke Energy, Winners of the 2026 Edison Award!

EEI awarded Duke Energy with the 98th Edison Award for its DeBary Hydrogen Production and Storage System. Presented annually and selected by a panel of former energy industry executives, the Edison Award is the electric power industry’s highest honor. The award was presented in Las Vegas during EEI 2026, the institute’s annual conference and thought leadership forum.

“On behalf of EEI and our member companies, I am proud to congratulate Duke Energy for winning this year’s Edison Award,” said EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney. “By transforming Florida sunshine into stored, on-demand power, this hydrogen project is advancing what’s possible for clean energy storage and helping Duke Energy meet rapidly increasing energy demand while keeping customer costs as low as possible.”

Baltimore Gas & Electric and The AES Corporation were named finalists for the award.

Learn more about this year's winner and finalists.

EEI Data: Electric Companies to Invest $1.4T to Support Customers, Power Growth

Wed, 27 May 2026 17:05:51 +0200

Investor-owned electric companies will invest $1.4 trillion through 2030 to strengthen America’s energy infrastructure, increase grid resilience, and ensure reliable and affordable service to their nearly 250 million customers, according to a new capital expenditures projection released by EEI.

The data, primarily compiled from EEI member company announcements and financial statements, also shows that the industry’s annual capital expenditures hit a record $204.1 billion last year—a 14th-consecutive year of record-high investment. In 2026, capital expenditures are projected to jump 17 percent to $238.8 billion and continue climbing for the foreseeable future.

“America’s electric companies work every day to get more steel in the ground and electrons on the grid, improving reliability for customers and ensuring the United States is home to the industries, technologies, and jobs of tomorrow,” said EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney. “The grid is the most important engine in America, and these investments show our industry’s commitment to powering the U.S. economy and the lives of our customers.”

Independent studies, including recent analyses from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Charles River Associates, have found that rising energy demand can lower prices for customers by putting more electrons on the grid and spreading fixed costs across a broader base.

EEI maintains a running snapshot of $900 billion in data center and large-customer investments supported by member companies, representing more than 55 gigawatts of connected load. These investments are being supported with customers in mind, with tariffs and fair share agreements protecting American households from higher bills as a result of data centers. At the same time, these investments support reliability, resilience, and economic development opportunities in communities across the country.

The $1.4 trillion that investor-owned electric companies will invest in the grid between 2026 and 2030 is an increase from the previous projection of $1.1 trillion to be invested between 2025 and 2029. Rising energy demand driven by electrification, industrialization, the onshoring of manufacturing activity, and data centers and AI technologies are creating a need for new energy infrastructure of all kinds.

Review more of the industry’s latest financial statistics at eei.org/data.

EEI’s Drew Maloney Talks Grid Innovation, Affordability, Mutual Assistance on 'The Deciders' Podcast

Wed, 27 May 2026 16:03:13 +0200

On a new episode of The Deciders podcast, EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney joined Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Brody Mullins and veteran D.C. strategist Lisa Camooso Miller to discuss rising electricity demand, responsible data center growth, grid innovation, and challenges facing customers in the PJM Interconnection market.

The following is edited for length and clarity:

Brody Mullins (BM): Drew, your career has spanned Capitol Hill, the Treasury, private equity, and now the Edison Electric Institute. Tell us about your journey.

Drew Maloney (DM): I grew up talking about political issues with my family. My mom worked on Capitol Hill. She was a staffer. My parents were introduced on a blind date by Senator Chris Dodd. I had an uncle that worked for Hubert Humphrey's campaign.

We always talked politics, and I knew, at some point, I wanted to get involved in politics. After college, I went down to Williamsburg, Va., and I ran a state senate campaign. It was the best experience that I had. You had to learn to make quick decisions, drive a message, and build a coalition at 22 years old.

From there, I came to Capitol Hill and got to work for some great members. Senator Roger Wicker, who was in the House at the time. Congressman Tom DeLay. What I really learned from them is how to put together coalitions.

Congressman DeLay was the Whip at the time, and he would often have Congressman John Murtha, a big Democrat at the time, and Congressman John Dingle in his office. They were trying to figure out how they could piece things together—how they could get things passed. Watching how they maneuvered and counted votes was instrumental in figuring out how to be an advocate here in Washington.

That had a natural progression toward advocacy. I was fortunate enough to go into the U.S. Treasury during the tax reform process, and then I worked in private-equity advocacy and am now here at EEI, which is the top trade association for electric utilities in the country.

It’s been a great ride. I’ve had great experience, and I love doing what I do.

BM: You worked at the Treasury Department during the first Trump Administration, and you mentioned the tax reform bill. Tell us about that journey.

DM: Looking back at 2017, you had Speaker Paul Ryan, who had probably started to think about tax reform when he was in kindergarten. You had Representative Kevin Brady, and then you had the Senate and Senator Mitch McConnell.

For 30 years, we hadn't had tax reform. You had to go back to 1986 before there was major tax reform. There was a lot of work that went into the thought process around tax reform coming into 2016-17.

You finally had in the White House a willing partner, a businessman who had been elected who understood the importance of tax reform and the economic growth that it can provide. It was a fantastic time to be part of something that was very unique. It really was a great partnership to have between House, Senate, and the White House.

Lisa Camooso Miller (LCM): Let’s talk more about your members, specifically, and what issues they’re focused on.

DM: EEI represents 63 different utilities. We have members in every state around the country, and we provide energy to 250 million Americans—75 percent of Americans get their electricity from us. There’s enormous growth, and we are there to meet that growth. That’s why we’re investing. We’re providing reliable and affordable energy.

This is an inflection point right now for the industry.

BM: Two of your biggest members recently announced a merger: NextEra Energy and Dominion Energy. Why is there consolidation in the industry right now?

DM: It's all about scale. In order to be able affordability and build out the grid to provide um a resilient system—a reliable system—you need as many resources as you can as you can capture. That’s one of the goals of the merger: You get that scale, and the beneficiary will ultimately be the customer. You can capture that and put downward pressure on rates over the long term.

LCM: What would you say is the biggest misconception about the electric utilities?

DM: The biggest misconception is that we really are innovators. If you think about the grid, it was first built about 150 years ago. It's probably the most critical economic and national security engine that we have, but it takes a lot of investment to maintain. That's why you see us investing more than a trillion dollars over the next four years in building out the grid.

What people don't see is all the innovation and technology behind the grid. We're constantly putting out new technologies that can determine whether the grid can handle more capacity so it can deliver more power to people's houses.

If you go into one of our control centers, it's like a starship inside. You can see your entire grid and know what's happening in one town versus another. If you have cold weather here and warmer weather there, you can keep moving things around to make the system as efficient as possible. You probably couldn't do that 20 years ago. It's an amazing amount of investment to make the system work better and be more resilient, more reliable for our customers

We are making the customer experience better by including information in bills that lets you figure out that it’s better to run your washer and dryer at night, or it’s better to plug in your car at night, charge your phone at night, because the electricity rate is cheaper when people are using less electricity.

One of the things that's really been critical over time is, now that we have more severe storms, whether it’s winter storms, tornadoes, hurricanes, or wildfires, we are developing these sensor technologies that can tell us when a tree is getting too close to a wire that may trigger a fire.

We can reroute systems when a line goes down so we can provide power and go around the downed line. There's so many of these technologies and so much innovation in our industry that people don't see every day.

LCM: Affordability is one thing that both parties are talking about right now. What are some of the things your members are doing to address that particular issue?

DM: I think the challenge right now is that we’re in this affordability debate where people are struggling—whether it’s groceries, food, health care, or energy prices. Every company is dealing with this and addressing it with their customers. We have programs that help customers who can’t pay their bills, that can stretch out payments. Every single company is wrestling with this issue.

But I think what we have to do is keep reminding people of the value that we provide. If you think about your home, there are about 21 connected devices right now—your smartphones, your computers, your televisions—and on top of that, there are probably another 75 things that get plugged in… your hair dryer, your water heater, your electric toothbrush. All of this requires power. What our job during this time period is to remind people of that value—that for basically the cost of a box of cereal every day, all of those devices work. And that’s really an incredible feat.

LCM: Tell us about Energy of Every Day. What’s the message? What’s the goal of the campaign?

DM: We started this campaign about six months ago. The idea is to remind people of the value of what we provide. There's so much that happens in your daily life, from when you wake up to when you go to work to when you come home, that electricity drives.

You think about how transformational this has been over time. Thomas Edison builds his first power station in lower Manhattan to power Wall Street 150 years ago. Today, we have this enormous grid, this grid that's powering economic activity throughout the world. It's an amazing story, and that's what the Energy of Every Day campaign is telling. It's reminding them that everything they do in their lives is powered by us, and we do it as reliably and affordably as possible.

BM: We’re coming up on EEI 2026. Tell us about it.

DM: This is the leading conference for electricity leadership throughout the United States. We're going to have leaders of our companies in Las Vegas, along with leaders of tech companies, our partnerships, and government officials. It's a great opportunity to highlight some of these innovative technologies that we're using that are making the grid more reliable, safer, and keeping costs down—it's really the place to be if you're in electricity.

BM: There's a feeling that AI and data centers are really going to drive up demand for electricity and therefore increase customer bills. Is that true?

DM: It's not. A group called E3 put out a study that highlights the fact that data centers are not driving up costs. It's another one of these inflection points in the U.S. that, if you do this right, data centers can actually put downward pressure on rates.

There have been 23 states that have these large load agreements right now. If you look at those states and what happens after these data centers have been announced, you've had rate freezes in Alabama and Georgia. You've had cost reductions in Louisiana, Indiana, and Michigan. All of these states announcing these future data centers are going to see some downward pressure on their rate.

BM: And is that because the companies are paying back into the system? Where does the downward pressure come from?

DM: It's like if you have a bus, and the bus costs $100. If you have 10 people on that bus, it's $10 a person. But if you add 10 more people on that bus, it's suddenly $5 a person. The grid is a fixed-cost system. When you add a large payer on that system, it helps drive cost down for everyone on the system. It also allows for more investment so the system becomes more reliable over time.

LCM: You mentioned AI data centers. That’s a hot topic. What about these discussions do you think is misleading?

DM: If you take a step back on data centers, we currently have over 4,000 data centers in the U.S. already operating. So much of our daily life involves data centers that we don’t see—online shopping, posting memes on the internet, online banking, health records.

All these activities happen in AI data centers. I think it’s overcoming that natural aversion to data centers. What we have to do is talk about the benefits to customers and dispel the myths that electricity rates are going up because of data centers — because they’re not.

LCM: Who is paying for the new infrastructure to build and maintain the data centers?

DM: The data center companies are paying for it. It’s pure and simple. They’re bringing their own power by paying for that. They’re paying for the interconnection. They’re paying for the grid upgrades. That’s why you see most of this regulated at the state level.

You’ve seen these 23 states and another handful of states pending these large-load agreements which require these data centers to pay their fair share. There’s no free ride that they’re getting. That’s a big myth. You also can’t engage early enough. I think one of the challenges we’re seeing is you have to be transparent about what you’re doing as an AI data center in a community, and you have to engage early.

We've had a history of more than 100 years in most of these communities providing power. We know what it takes to have that customer relationship, and they need to do that as well. They can partner with us in a lot of cases.

BM: Does permitting reform have a chance of passing this year?

DM: It’s the one issue Congress can actually work on that can affect the affordability debate. It takes up to a decade or longer to build transmission lines or generation facilities because of the permitting process. You’ve got to get multiple permits from multiple agencies. The agencies don’t talk to each other. This is an opportunity to fix that.

And the cost of that delay can be up to 25 percent of a project. If Congress wants to do something about affordability with electricity prices, this is a great first step.

I’m really optimistic. I’ve been here about 30 years. I have never seen an effort so focused on trying to get permitting reform done. The number of groups, the resources being put into this, the bipartisan energy trying to get this done—I’m optimistic.

Whether it gets done between now and November or now and December, I don’t know. But I feel like now is the time to do it. There’s a lot of interest on both sides of the aisle and a recognition that we do have to do something.

It’s been too long and these regulations have become too burdensome.

LCM: When you think about regulators and how they plan for short-term and long-term, how do regulators and electric utilities balance investment in long-term infrastructure versus near-term need?

DM: The good news with the utility industry is we plan over a 30- to 50-year process.

We build power plants, transmission lines, distribution systems meant to last 30 to 50 years.

That means we can spread the cost out over that amount of time, which is really better for the customer over the long term.

BM: Charles River Associates recently did a study on your industry. What did they conclude?

DM: They highlighted the fact that data centers are not driving cost for customers.

They also highlighted that about 34 states have kept their average electricity rates below the national average. The whole debate on electricity cost is different region by region. The Southeast has maintained lower rates. California has had higher rates largely because of wildfire mitigation. They’ve had to bury lines and do more to protect wires against fires. That costs money and is ultimately borne by the customer.

In PJM and the New England area, there’s just a lack of generation. It’s a deregulated market, and in a high-growth time period when you can’t control the generation build, the customer is suffering in those marketplaces.

BM: You mentioned deregulation. It sounds like after 20 years they’ve learned some things in the Northeast. Talk about that.

DM: I think the problem is the deregulated market in PJM is broken, and customers are paying the price. The power generators—which can be 50 percent or more of your bill in these markets—are unregulated. That has to get fixed. The states have no real control over them, but they have control over us.

The people getting utility bills get them from us, but more than half of the bill in PJM is not imposed by us. Everyone—including the White House—has acknowledged that the PJM market is not working and that it has to get fixed. We need more steel in the ground. We don't really care who builds it. We'll build it. They can build it. But somebody needs to start building.

If nobody’s building, the generators are going to keep making more money and customers are going to keep paying.

BM: For my entire life Republicans have said deregulation is good and leads to lower prices. Now you’re saying, in this particular case, deregulation is bad and led to higher prices.

DM: I think this is a unique time period. We’re in a very high-growth period. You need a lot of planning, and in this deregulated marketplace it’s tough to match those up.

The generators will say they’re not getting a big enough price to build more. If you think about our obligation to serve, we have to provide power to everybody. That’s why it’s historically been a regulated business. You want everybody treated equally across the system.

If you leave it to a totally deregulated model, everybody flocks to urban areas and rural areas get left behind, because it costs more money to string a wire to fewer people. It’s a model that has worked for 150 years, and we’re very proud of it and committed to our customers.

LCM: You mentioned storm response earlier. Talk about that process and where you’re seeing the greatest impact.

DM: My first experience with a storm at EEI was Winter Storm Fern, which was a huge ice storm that started in Texas and worked its way across the Mid-Atlantic and ended up here with “snowcrete.”

It was a significant event that ended up having about a million homes out of power on Day 1. Ninety percent of those homes were back up within days.

What people don't understand about our industry is we have this huge mutual assistance program. Days before the storm, we get on calls with our government partners in Washington, in states and localities, and all of our other utilities in unaffected states. We mobilized 65,000 line workers from 44 states, working 24/7 in really tough conditions. If there's a line down in a particular county, we know and we send the crew out there. It’s an enormous collective effort where everybody shares.

Not only do they share line workers and personnel, but they share equipment. If you need a transformer in Alabama and there’s one sitting in Idaho, we’ll get it down there. It’s an amazing collective effort to keep the lights on.

LCM: It’s amazing. They’re these unsung heroes that nobody realizes. They’re traveling often from three or four states over to come in and get the line back up and running.

BM: You worked in the first Trump Administration. You worked in the transition going into his second term putting many officials in place. How would you describe your work with the Administration?

DM: We’ve worked very well with the Trump Administration on energy policy issues and find the working relationship to be good. Like a lot of things, you play the long game with any Administration.

We maintain a good working relationship. There are things we don’t always agree on, but, nonetheless, we keep pursuing what we want to do, which is provide more reliable and affordable power.

BM: What decision from the past year are you most proud of?

DM: Hiring a great team. We had a great team at EEI. We built an even stronger team and integrated that team to really deliver the results in this modern-day advocacy environment. That’s been my proudest moment.

BM: What’s one thing you’d like to do over?

DM: If you look back at the year, I was so focused on dealing with everything inside EEI.

I really want to spend next year going out in the field, visiting plant facilities, going to more operations, seeing the line workers and how they actually repair lines. That’s my next-year goal: to get out there and do more in the field and get out of the Washington bubble.

BM: What’s something people in Washington are not thinking about but should be?

DM: I think right now it’s a time period where you don’t have to swat at every fly.

You have to be very calculated in what you’re going to do and you have to play a longer game. Don’t get caught up in the emotion. There’s going to be a negative tweet by somebody. There’s going to be an op-ed you don’t like. There’s going to be a quote in a story you don’t like. But don’t overreact.

You have to have a long game. You have to stay focused and don’t get knocked off it. Most Americans are not paying attention to all the little tweets, op-eds, comments, and papers.

Stay focused on your long game.

Podcast: Driving Grid Reliability and Innovation

Wed, 13 May 2026 11:48:17 +0200

In this episode of Electric Perspectives, Gregory A. Beard, director of the Department of Energy's (DOE's) Office of Energy Dominance Financing (EDF), discusses how the federal government is deploying historic levels of capital to strengthen the energy grid and support long-term reliability. Director Beard outlines EDF’s focus on lowering costs for customers while improving reliability and energy security, including major recent loans to electric companies and a rapid pace of capital deployment.

Following is an abbreviated transcript, lightly edited for length and clarity. To listen to the full episode and catch up with other recent interviews, visit electricperspectives.com/podcast.

Electric Perspectives: How do you align EDF’s financing strategy with grid reliability, security, and customer affordability objectives?

Director Beard: In his first days in office, President Donald Trump declared that we have an energy crisis and an emergency. He chose Secretary Chris Wright to lead the Department of Energy because the policies that Secretary Wright is now deploying are making energy more affordable for the U.S., making the grid more reliable, helping us win AI, and that's giving us energy security—which is national security.

We are really the implementation arm inside EDF. We were appropriated under the Working Families Tax Cut Act—$200 billion to deploy into the market on projects that will, in every case, make energy more affordable for Americans and help bolster the grid, help us win AI, help us keep assets online that would otherwise be decommissioned.

We've already deployed about $60 billion since the Administration has started, so we're off to a fast start. I think we will invest the bulk of our capital even in the next 12 months. In every case, we are super focused on affordability. Every dollar will have that be part of the criteria for deployment.

Electric Perspectives: The recent $26.5-billion Southern Company deal was the largest loan that EDF has made to date. What are your goals as you continue this capital deployment?

Director Beard: Not only was the Southern Company loan the largest loan for EDF: It was the largest loan in U.S. history from the government to the private sector outside of a financial crisis. You can't overstate how seriously this Administration—President Trump and Secretary Wright—take this crisis.

We have hundreds of billions of dollars to deploy to help fix it. We've got about $75 billion left to lend to utilities to help with additional generation, to do reconductoring, to help keep assets online that would otherwise need to be decommissioned. And, we expect to have that capital deployed or committed over the next 12 months.

Electric Perspectives: How is DOE using its financing mechanism to support innovative grid technologies that otherwise may be too risky or cost-prohibitive to advance?

Director Beard: If you look at what's most beneficial to customers, to reconductor an asset or a transmission line might allow for more generation to be available on the grid without the expense of actually having to build new generation. We're very focused on technologies that really impact the rate payer affordability. Of course, we're a loan office. We're not a grant office. We don't want to take technology risk that would be viewed as what I would call “venture debt.”

In many cases, we're lending to in the utility space with customers that are investment grade. To the extent that they want to borrow from us to pursue new technologies while committing their investment-grade balance sheet as a supportive credit mechanism, we would be happy to support that. But, we can't—on a one-off, standalone basis—lend to technology ideas that aren't ready for deployment yet.

Electric Perspectives: So you’re looking at proven technologies, and even things like nuclear energy. How are you thinking about nuclear?

Director Beard: The President and Secretary Wright have been vocal about the need for the United States to be a leader in this space. We have the best capital markets in the world. I think we have the best entrepreneurs in the world focused on fixing this problem, which is why we've seen a lot of activity around capital raising and progress in the SMR space.

The technology that is here today that we want to support—and you'll see a lot of support for out of our office—is in the restart of the large-scale reactor program. We will do this through lending for long-lead-time items, as well as for support for the actual construction of these projects.

There are already more than 10 licensed sites in the United States where there are existing reactors licensed to add additional capacity. I think we will begin to see activity.

My suggestion for any potential interested party in this space would be to look at the support that these projects get in the form of investment tax credit (ITC). It's 30-percent to 50-percent ITC—which means, if you invest a dollar, you get 30-50 cents back. And, you don't get that back once it's complete, you can get it back even during construction.

We believe that the hyperscalers will be willing to lend their balance sheets through in the form of long-term power purchase agreements. We think that'll happen at prices that will make this program and these projects economic for equity investors, for the sponsoring utilities, and beneficial to ratepayers. This is a big push that we're embarking on now, and we think we'll have announcements in the coming months.

Electric Perspectives: It sounds like EDF is approaching this with an effort to de-risk some large-scale investments, making them more attractive for other long-term investors for these really big projects.

Director Beard: Absolutely. Obviously, the industry has said in the nuclear space that they're afraid of being alone. If you build just one copy of anything, it's going to be expensive. The reason why we're embarking on the restart of the program is to help drive those costs down, to make it more competitive with other energy generating technologies.

Electric Perspectives: What sort of timeline have you and your team been aiming for to review and get some of these funds out the door?

Director Beard: We're in a hurry. We cannot have an impact without deploying the capital, so take two potential borrowers. The projects that will have an impact, we will grade it.

The reality of the Southern Company projects is that those ratepayers are saving $7 billion over the life of that loan. Anything that will have a measurable impact, as soon as we can, we want to have involvement and get that capital out.

So, come to us with projects that are ready to go, where the capital can be invested in the next three years, where we can actually measure the impact for the ratepayer. We will be quick, and we will work at the pace of the borrower, which means we can have these loans committed in months—not years.

The last Administration averaged about 18 months from first interest to the closing of a conditional commitment. We aspire to get that down to under six months. We will work at the pace of the borrower, and we're, at this point, repeating many of the same sort of loan documents or using many of the same loan documents. This should not be months of negotiation to get to the finish line for these deals.

My advice for potential borrowers is to read the existing loan documents for the Southern Company deal, for example. And, to the extent that you can accept the terms and conditions that others have agreed to, it'll make the process much faster.

U.S. Reps. Bruce Westerman and Scott Peters on Permitting Reform and Wildfire Mitigation

Thu, 07 May 2026 10:46:55 +0200

Permitting reform, energy reliability, and wildfire mitigation are top priorities for Congress and America's electric companies.

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and Representative Scott Peters (D-CA) recently joined EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney for an episode of the Electric Perspectives podcast. The group discussed America’s energy landscape and the prospects for durable, bipartisan siting and permitting reform—including the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development Act (SPEED ACT) and changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).

Following is an abbreviated transcript, lightly edited for length and clarity. To listen to the full episode and catch up with other recent interviews, visit electricperspectives.com/podcast.

Drew Maloney (DM): Permitting reform is a big topic for everyone. It takes China one or two years to build a transmission line or new generation, and it can take us in the United States more than a decade to do the same. Chairman Westerman, what can you share about the SPEED Act, your permitting reform efforts, and how important this issue is?

Bruce Westerman (BW): It takes a long time to build things here in America. We have things that we need to build in the energy sector, but also in transportation and infrastructure.

Permitting affects so many different parts of our lives. And, to most people, it's out of sight and out of mind—but it adds cost to things. There’s a way we can do this, keep our environmental standards not only in place, but have even higher environmental standards—and build things again.

That's what the SPEED Act's all about. I'm glad to be leading the charge on it—in the House, at least.

DM: Congressman Peters, you’ve been a big advocate for NEPA reform. Tell us about how this issue fits into the larger permitting reform discussion.

Scott Peters (SP): First, Bruce brought the SPEED Act really far. The thing I give him credit for is that he will listen to folks on the other side to see where we can bridge the gap, where we can bring as many people in as possible. In this context, if you want to get 60 votes in the Senate to get something done that’s durable, it’s got to be bipartisan.

The SPEED Act is a very aggressive reform of NEPA. I think it’s one we need now, and, speaking from an environmental perspective, I see that the market wants to bring on a lot of renewables. We’re looking at an environmental law that’s actually getting in the way of us building renewables. I don’t think that’s what it was intended to do.

Back in the 1970s, the idea was to stop bad things from happening, and NEPA was passed even before the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act provided substantive protections against the emissions of pollutants into the environment. Today, it’s the most-litigated environmental law. It creates a lot of delays.

Getting NEPA out of the way is really fundamental to environmental protection. It’s hard for folks to let go of it. Modernizing NEPA means building stuff faster. I think people, gradually, on the Democratic side, are starting to understand that, as well.

DM: Mr. Chairman, how optimistic are you that permitting reform can get done this year?

BW: I'm pretty bullish about it, and it really needs to happen this year. It needed to have happened years ago. There was an effort at the end of the last Congress to do some permitting reform, and it just wasn't ready for prime time. I think it's ready for prime time now.

Getting the SPEED Act out of the House was a good milestone. I know the Senate's working on it in a bipartisan fashion. I know the Administration wants permitting reform, and it would be a real shame if we don't deliver for the American people during this Congress.

I wish I had a crystal ball. A reporter asked me the other day if I thought the SPEED Act could ride on the Surface Transportation Bill, which is one of the rumors out there. I said, "I don't know, maybe the Surface Transportation Bill could ride on the SPEED Act, because I've actually got more confidence in the SPEED Act passing than the Surface Transportation Bill right now."

The good thing is there's so much interest in it. People are coming to Washington to talk to their members of Congress like I've never seen before on this issue.

DM: In my role at EEI, I've never seen an effort so involved in trying to get permitting reform done. When it takes you longer than a decade to build a transmission line or a generation facility, that's just unacceptable. Permitting delay costs add about 25 percent onto a project. We can't tolerate that.

BW: Energy is so important—so foundational to our economy—but it affects other things, too. In the reconciliation bill we passed last summer, there was $12 billion in there to upgrade control towers. The Secretary of Transportation told me their problem was they couldn't get through the NEPA reviews to get fiber-optic cables run to control towers. It's just stuff that's nonsensical. We need to put common sense back into the equation and let America build again.

DM: Congressman Peters, we're in this AI data center race while at the same time managing increased electrification, industrialization, and the reshoring of manufacturing activity. How important is permitting reform to those different areas and their connection to reliability and affordability?

SP: I agree with Bruce. This is something that has to happen this year. And we have got all the right players in place. We've got good products in the pipeline. And I heard all these same statistics about how delays cost people money, and every election I've seen has been about affordability. I think that's what people are concerned about. We need to get this done.

We have to do some work on the transmission side, too. To get a bill out of the Senate among Democrats, I think we're going to need some real transmission reforms, and we're having fits and starts in the House. We’re watching the Senate have conversations, and we had the Energy Permitting Reform Act. That was a great start.

It’s going kind of slow over here, but it’s got to happen this year.

DM: We totally agree on that. Chairman Westerman, in Arkansas, Entergy announced a Google data center project that will bring $1.1 billion in net benefits to customers. I know you're very focused on critical mineral production. Talk to us about the significance of that.

BW: We had a recent hearing in the Natural Resources Committee on copper—a whole congressional hearing on copper. It's amazing. Some people say we need to mine more copper between now and 2050 than we've mined in the history of the world. It's a global demand for copper.

Fortunately, we have a lot of copper in the ground here in the United States, but it's not helping us build transmission lines or electrical equipment if we can't get it out of the ground. Mining can take 20 or 30 years to get a permit, and we can't compete in the speed of the global economy if we're waiting 20 or 30 years to mine copper and all the other things that go into computers and electronics.

Arkansas is being pretty aggressive on building new generating power as it's needed—and on recruiting industry and recruiting data centers to the state. What people miss is that, if you're an electric company, a data center is your ideal customer. It's a big, consistent, heavy load that makes your generating equipment operate at a higher utilization rate, which means you can produce electricity at a lower cost for commercial and residential and industrial consumers.

And the data center can actually be a huge benefit to your grid operation and to your reliability and cost structure. I hope all the other states keep saying we don't want data centers and they all come to Arkansas and we're able to take advantage of the benefits of having them there.

DM: The states doing it right on data centers are seeing downward pressure on rates for their customers because of the point you just made. It's a fixed-cost system. If you have a large customer and the state has approved a large load tariff agreement, it's a big win for the grid in the state and the customers.

BW: The other part of that is the data companies are willing to pay for the investments if you need additional generating or transmission capacity. They're even saying they can set their data centers up so, if there's a peak load, they can throttle back their data center so you can meet the demands other places, which helps you even more on the grid.

SP: Right. There's a remarkable consensus that data centers should pay for their costs and assume their risk, because you don't want stranded assets and so forth. They have a lot of money that they're willing to invest. They're talking about how they can actually enhance the grid around a community, because it's in their interest to have that kind of reliability.

The other thing, in California, we notice is that a big part of our rates are the infrastructure that's been built. If you can serve a lot of energy, now you're spreading that cost along fewer and fewer units of energy. If you have more energy on there, more people paying, it actually could have a resulting benefit for customers.

DM: We're going to look back on this period and how we built a much more robust, more resilient grid based on all this data center investment. We're very excited about it. Switching topics, Chairman Westerman, you may be the only forester in Congress. What more needs to be done with forest management as it relates to wildfires?

BW: It's just a matter of doing the right thing. The way Scott and my relationship really started working together on legislation goes out to the Giant Sequoias that only grow in California. There was a two-year period when we lost 20 percent of those trees—the most iconic trees on the planet.

Trees are living history books, because you can go back and measure fire scars, you can count rings. When we had that two-year period, it goes back to the way these groves were being managed. After the gold rush in California, Native Americans quit burning, and we created federal agencies that put all the fires out. You had these slow-growing trees grow up in the understory that would have been taken out by fires that normally occurred every two or three years. They went 120 years without fires.

You had these white fur trees that got up in the lower crowns of the Sequoias. The fire came through, ran up the white fur—which we call it ladder fuel—got in the crown of the Sequoia, and wiped the whole grove out.

Poor Scott went on a CODEL, and I had him cornered on an airplane for hours, pulling out research papers, saying, “Look, this is what the researchers say is happening to the Giant Sequoias.” To his credit, he didn't just brush me off. The next thing you know, we're on a field trip out there looking at these burned up trees. We're working together on a bill called the Save Our Sequoias Act. And when I first got here in 2015, we could barely get any kind of forestry management bill passed out of the House. The Save Our Sequoias Act passed unanimously.

Then we went from there to the Fix Our Forest Act saying, "If this can work for the Sequoias, let's do it on a broad scale." Scott and I worked hours and hours together, and we came up with something we could both agree on.

I say this all the time: There's nothing we can do that's more proactive and better for the environment than to have a healthy forest. If we can't even keep our forest healthy, we've got problems. Our environmental laws aren't about protecting the environment when we can't keep our forests healthy. They're the lungs of the earth, as Teddy Roosevelt said. They're also the kidneys of the earth, because most of the drinking water in this country comes from water that falls on forested land.

I love Roosevelt's language. If you denude the landscape, you're taking everything off the landscape that holds the soil in place. You wash it into the streams, you kill fish, and you ruin our water. There's no downside to having a healthy forest, and that's what we're promoting with the Fix Our Forests Act.

SP: I had a guy from Arkansas who went to the Yale School of Forestry sit down and tell me about the Sequoias, which are my California Sequoias, right? No one from California had the expertise that Bruce had to save these trees. It was ironic, I think, that a lot of the pushback at the beginning came from the environmental communities that seemed more concerned to me at the time about not changing NEPA than they were about saving these iconic trees.

I think they were kind of embarrassed by their response to this, a lot of them, and have been much more constructive and have worked with Bruce and me on how to get this right.

We got overwhelmingly bipartisan vote in the House and this has passed and we're hoping the Senate takes it up soon, because I think it will have support in the Senate as well.

DM: The important thing that both of you all have highlighted is the fact that wildfires are not just a California or West Coast issue anymore. We're seeing wildfires in Georgia and Florida. This is a broader problem that we all need to figure out. How do we get the Fix Our Forests Act to the president's desk?

BW: It has two Democrat co-sponsors in the Senate. It's passed the Senate Agriculture Committee. If you take the two Democrat co-sponsors and the Democrats that voted for it in the Committee, it has the votes to pass the Senate. There's just a lot of cooks in the kitchen, and everybody's wanting to put their final mark on it.

It should have been passed long ago, but we work on it every day trying to get it across the finish line.

SP: I mean, I think the California electric bill is about a third wildfire management. San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E) did a lot of innovation around meteorology. They found that there are a lot of reasons why things burn. The benefit to my constituents of the Fixed Our Forest Act, in addition to the general environmental benefits of preserving habitat in the forest, is that the federal government will be doing its part. It will be paying its share and won't be in the way of fixing the forest in California, which is costing so much on our utility bills. I don't think people understand that as well, but that's a really critical cost control thing for us on our electric bills in California.

DM: That’s why we believe it's so critical to get this passed this year and get it to the president's desk. Let me focus on one last point: We all talk about the political division in Washington, but you two are a great example of a partnership that works. You work together on permitting reform. You’re working together on wildfires. How does that partnership work? What lessons can be learned so we can have more of these types of partnerships in Washington?

SP: I like solving big problems. I thought there would be more of that here. I thought that would be the natural thing, but some people are only interested in politics, some people are interested in TV, and some people are scared of their own shadow.

What we've learned is, if you see a big problem, you can follow the facts, you can start with the right answer, and you can build the politics around that. We’ve touched a lot of what people thought were third rails on the left, and there's no third rails. People understand that to solve the problem, you come up with the right answer.

That has not hurt me electorally one bit. People like that I work with the other side. Bruce is conservative. I don't want any Arkansans to think he's some sort of left winger. The thing is, we can agree on this kind of stuff, and he's got expertise that I can use.

I think it's fun to solve big problems. I want these bills to get passed, and I will feel like I have made a contribution as part of my congressional career if we do.

BW: I would agree with what Scott said. I served in the Arkansas legislature for a couple of terms before I came to Congress, and my background is engineering and forestry. I always define an engineer as a glorified problem solver. That's what you learn in engineering schools: how to solve problems.

I'm with Scott. I didn't come here to complain about things or to go on TV and make some point. I want to actually solve problems to make the country better. The way you solve problems is you figure out what the problem is. They teach you in engineering school to find the problem or come up with a plan, do the math, and present the answer. That’s really what you do in Congress. What's the problem? Here's the plan to fix it. Do the work. That last part's the hard part: presenting it and getting people to accept it.

You have to have people that you can work in good faith with that want the same objective. Who wants to see our forest burn down? Deep down, we all want to fix that. Who wants to see it take forever to build things in America, and who wants to see us fall behind China in lots of different areas? I don't think there's many people that fall into that category.

[President Ronald] Reagan said, “If you can get 80 percent of what you want, if you can agree on 80 percent of what's in a bill, you've got a tremendous win.” We live in an instant-information society, where you can find some problem with any kind of solution that's out there, and it's a lot easier to make a lot of noise about what was in the 10 percent or 20 percent that you couldn't get from an idealistic standpoint than to talk about the 80 percent that you get.

Showcasing the 98th Edison Award Finalists: Recognizing Innovation and Excellence in Grid Operations

Tue, 05 May 2026 20:51:09 +0200

Since 1922, the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) has presented the Edison Award, which annually recognizes a member electric company for leadership in innovation and excellence in grid operations.

An independent panel of reviewers evaluated nominations for the 2026 Edison Award and selected The AES Corporation, Baltimore Gas & Electric, and Duke Energy as finalists.

“This year’s Edison Award finalists exemplify how EEI’s member companies are committed to developing and deploying innovative technologies and solutions that are enhancing grid reliability while lowering operating expenses,” said EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney. “Our members are meeting this critical moment in our industry through smart investments and a continued focus on powering the energy of every day for the customers and communities we serve.”

The winner of the 98^th Edison Award will be selected by a panel of former electric company chief executives and then announced during EEI 2026, the association’s annual conference and thought leadership forum, to be held June 2-4 in Las Vegas.

Read on to learn more about this year’s finalists.

The AES Corporation

Strengthening Workplace Safety With Haven Safety AI

Crew and customer safety is a top priority for the electric power industry, and The AES Corporation has significantly strengthened workplace safety through its partnership with Haven Safety AI.

The new AI tool, which AES co-developed, takes large amounts of safety incident data and turns it into rapid, evidence-based root cause analysis (RCA) findings within hours of an incident occurring. This has reduced the amount of time AES employees spend on RCA investigations by 80 percent.

The platform’s insights also inform proactive, corrective actions across high-risk field work, which have improved the company’s prevention and operational resilience. In addition to providing incident-specific data and analysis, the platform also evaluates the data for leading indicators, emerging risks, and pathways to system-wide corrective actions.

By utilizing Haven Safety AI, AES is spending less time on incident reports and more time in the field advancing safer, smarter, and more efficient energy operations.

Baltimore Gas & Electric

Improving Reliability Through Automatic Restoration Capabilities

Over the past six years, Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) has deployed motor-operated switchgear (MOS) into its auto-restoration system (ARS), expanding the system’s capabilities to underground feeders and addressing a gap in BGE’s distribution automation strategy.

MOS offers a cost-effective solution to automatically restore customers on underground feeders, which make up 66 percent of BGE’s primary distribution lines. Between 2020-2025, BGE installed 144 MOS devices onto its distribution system to monitor the technology’s performance and impact on customer reliability. After a successful field pilot, BGE incorporated the MOS devices into its ARS—a pivotal integration that created customized feeder configurations and automated restoration algorithms. The technology also seamlessly integrates with both new and existing infrastructure.

BGE’s MOS deployment has avoided more than 5,000 service interruptions for customers in the past year, underscoring how BGE has utilized these cost-effective, “self-healing” tools to improve customer reliability.

Duke Energy

DeBary Hydrogen Production and Storage System

Duke Energy’s DeBary Hydrogen Production and Storage System is a first-of-its-kind, end-to-end facility that produces, stores, and combusts up to 100-percent green hydrogen generated from solar energy.

Powered by Duke Energy’s DeBary solar facility, two 1-megawatt (MW) electrolyzers split water into oxygen and hydrogen. The hydrogen is captured and stored on-site—then used as on-demand fuel for a peaking combustion turbine upgraded to run on a natural gas-hydrogen blend today, with the capability for 100-percent hydrogen combustion.

In December 2025, DeBary set a world record—generating 50 MW using 100-percent green hydrogen combustion—proving the technical feasibility of this approach and setting a new benchmark for the industry. By converting excess solar energy into stored hydrogen, Duke Energy’s DeBary system transforms Florida sunshine into on-demand power that strengthens grid reliability and helps keep costs as low as possible for customers.

Electric Perspectives: What to Know About Data Centers From EEI-Axios Live

Mon, 20 Apr 2026 18:30:29 +0200

Data centers and AI were drivers of conversation during a recent EEI-Axios Live event featuring EEI Vice Chair Chris Womack, chairman, president, and CEO of Southern Company; White House National Energy Dominance Council (NEDC) Director Peter Lake; and Representatives Julie Fedorchak (R-N.D.) and Jennifer McClellan (D-Va.).

4 Takeaways:

1. Industry and Government Agree: Tech Companies Should Pay Their Fair Share.

Context: Electric companies and their government and regulatory partners are aligned on protecting residential customers by ensuring data centers and large loads pay for the infrastructure needed to meet their energy demand.

Many data center developers are also on board, particularly after the White House unveiled its Ratepayer Protection Pledge to ensure tech companies pay their fair share to access the grid.

EEI in March published a snapshot of the data center projects its members are engaged in, detailing 39 gigawatts of projects and $840 billion in investments. These projects are bringing economic development to communities across the country without raising customers’ bills.

Electric Perspectives:

2. Companies Are Protecting Customers.

Context: Twenty states have approved a large load tariff, charging higher, specialized rates to large load customers to ensure they fund the grid upgrades and infrastructure projects needed to meet their energy demand. Nine other states are actively considering them.

Two states where tariffs have been approved are Alabama and Georgia, where Southern Company has implemented multi-year rate freezes thanks to data center and large load development.

A recent report from Charles River Associates (CRA) found that—outside of the PJM region—data centers have not driven up residential rates.

Electric Perspectives:

3. Market Structure Matters.

Context: Vertically integrated companies that own their own generation are among the most closely regulated operations in the country, with rates and investments approved by public service commissions through open and transparent rate reviews.

Electric companies, state regulators, consumer advocates, local officials, customers, environmental groups, and other stakeholders have input on generation, transmission, and distribution decisions—which is beneficial when major investments like data centers are being considered.

Several speakers at the event noted the PJM region lacks vertical integration, exacerbating some of its recent challenges.

Electric Perspectives:

4. Companies Need to Communicate Customer Benefits.

Context: Although public sentiment on data centers is low, EEI members are leading projects that are bringing new jobs, tax revenues, energy infrastructure, and local investments to communities across the country without driving up customer bills.

Womack and Lake indicated there is no shortage of success stories nationally and that industry and government can do a better job communicating benefits directly with customers.

Electric Perspectives:

What’s Next:

Duke President and CEO Harry Sideris will feature in the next EEI-Axios Live event scheduled for September.
The CRA rate analysis has more information about data centers and customer impacts, detailed in a recent Electric Perspectives podcast episode.
A recent Lawrence Berkeley National Lab report indicated growing demand from data centers and businesses can help lower costs for states and communities.
Data centers and rising energy demand will be a key topic of conversation at EEI 2026, to be held June 2-4 at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas. Register today at eei.org/2026.

Axios Live: Strengthening the Grid for What's Next

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 19:31:43 +0200

The electric grid is the backbone of America’s daily life, enabling everything from economic activity and public safety to communication and innovation. Surging energy demand, extreme weather, emerging technologies, and electrification are impacting the grid and consumer power bills, making today’s decisions matter more than ever.

EEI joined Axios Live in April to host a series of conversations about the grid and the policy, planning, and investment decisions needed to improve and maintain a resilient grid for the decades ahead.

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

Purpose, Connection, and Mutual Respect

Mon, 13 Apr 2026 21:42:05 +0200

Electric Perspectives (EP): What are some of your proudest accomplishments from your 23 years at ITC Holdings and 32 years in the industry?

Linda Apsey (LA): One of my proudest accomplishments was making the decision to join ITC 23 years ago. ITC pioneered the independent transmission company model in the United States, emerging from the divestiture of transmission assets and growing into a leading owner and operator of high‑voltage electric infrastructure. At the time, making that move felt like a significant risk.

Still, I believed deeply in ITC’s vision and in what we were trying to build. I chose to take the risk, fully knowing that failure simply wasn’t an option. That decision not only shaped my career but also instilled a lasting sense of ownership and accountability.

That shared commitment became foundational to ITC’s culture, which is something I am incredibly proud of having had a part in creating.

EP: What are the biggest policy shifts that you have seen during your career?

LA: ITC was born out of one of the most significant policy shifts I’ve seen in my career from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). FERC Order No. 888 required utilities that owned transmission to provide open, non‑discriminatory access to their systems.

At the time, there was a view that vertically integrated utilities could favor their own generation by limiting transmission access. As a result, the policy encouraged functional—and, ultimately, structural—separation between generation and transmission. That shift set the stage for DTE Energy (formerly Detroit Edison) to divest its transmission assets and led to the creation of ITC.

With that singular focus on transmission, ITC had a unique perspective early on. From the beginning, we engaged in public and regulatory policy, helping shape conversations about what the future of transmission should look like. Regulators paid attention.

Many of the policies in place today around transmission planning, cost allocation, and investment incentives were informed by our early leadership and advocacy.

ITC President and CEO Linda Apsey testified before the Senate Budget Committee on July 31, 2023, highlighting the increasing need for infrastructure investment and the role policymakers can play in streamlining permitting and planning.

EP: How do we expand America’s transmission capacity to meet rising energy demand?

LA: Expanding America’s transmission capacity really starts with proactive, long‑term planning. We need to be honest about where demand is headed and make smart investments now in the infrastructure that will give us flexibility and efficiency in the future.

When we try to cut corners or delay those decisions, it doesn’t save money. It almost always pushes costs and constraints on customers down the road—and that’s not acceptable.

Policymakers, regulators, and industry leaders are increasingly recognizing that the best way to address affordability concerns is to invest in more generation and more transmission. That means modernizing the regulatory and permitting process so major transmission projects can move forward more efficiently with greater certainty and fewer delays.

Proactive planning, regulatory certainty, and sustained investment are how we build the grid of the future.

EP: How have you seen the industry’s focus on resilience evolve over the years?

LA: When ITC was first established, we acquired transmission assets that had seen little meaningful investment for 30 to 40 years. They required significant attention. Early on, we made a deliberate decision that if we were going to be a standalone, transmission‑only company, we needed to be exceptional at what we do.

Over decades of sustained investment and maintenance, we significantly improved the performance of those assets. Systems that were once third‑ or fourth‑quartile performers from a reliability standpoint have been transformed into top‑quartile— and, in many cases, top‑decile— performers today. That long‑term commitment to investment ultimately paid off when rebuilt portions of ITC’s 138‑kilovolt transmission lines in northern Michigan withstood the ice storm in spring 2025. The powerful winter system moved across much of northern and parts of south‑central Michigan, bringing severe ice accumulation and widespread outages, marking the most severe system damage in ITC Michigan’s history. Working around the clock, ITC, in coordination with distribution utilities and Michigan’s State Emergency Operations Center, repaired damage to impacted portions of the system. These restoration efforts were most recently recognized by EEI with a 2025 Emergency Response Award.

On December 16, 2023, ITC President and CEO Linda Apsey received an honorary Doctor of Business degree from Michigan State University, where she also delivered the Fall 2023 Commencement Address to graduating students across multiple colleges.

EP: Who or what has been a source of inspiration to you throughout your career?

LA: A major source of inspiration for me was ITC’s founder and first CEO, Joe Welch. Our paths first crossed at Detroit Edison, where he took me under his wing and became a mentor for much of my career. He was a visionary leader whose bold decisions and deep commitment to both the business and our people helped define ITC in its earliest days and shape the company it is today.

I was deeply saddened by his passing in the summer of 2025. Joe’s passion for the critical infrastructure we build and maintain, along with his unwavering focus on our employees, served as a constant guide when I stepped into the role of CEO in 2016. I remain grateful for the time we shared and for the belief he had in me.

EP: What can you say about the culture you've fostered at ITC Holdings Corp.?

LA: During my time at ITC, the thing I’m most proud of is the culture we’ve built, and, just as importantly, how intentional we’ve been about it. Culture doesn’t happen by accident. It takes focus, consistency, and a shared commitment to what really matters.

When I look at our values—being better together, driving value for those we serve, maintaining an unwavering commitment to safety, taking an enterprising approach, and leading with integrity and responsibility—I don’t see them as words on a wall. I see them as something that truly anchors who we are, both collectively as a company and individually. Those values guide how we show up every day, how we treat one another, and how we make decisions, especially as we look to the future.

History has also played an important role in shaping who we are. The elements that defined ITC in its early days like the grit, the sense of purpose, and the willingness to do things differently, are still very much a part of our identity today. We’ve held onto those foundational traits while continuing to evolve and I think that balance has been incredibly important.

One thing I’ve always cared deeply about is fostering a true culture of belonging. I want every employee to feel they can be successful and that they are supported along the way. We are invested in the employee experience, and, in return, our employees are invested in the company. That sense of shared success is incredibly powerful.

As I pass the baton to the next generation of leaders and employees, I hope they take all the best things we’ve created and build on them. If they can hold onto that “secret sauce”—the sense of purpose, connection, and mutual respect—I believe ITC will continue to be a place where people feel motivated, inspired, and proud of the work they do.

On October 14, 2016, ITC Holdings Corp. became a subsidiary of Fortis Inc., and Linda Apsey was named President and CEO, succeeding ITC founder and longtime leader Joe Welch.

America250: A Timeline of Powering Progress Across the United States

Thu, 09 Apr 2026 17:59:29 +0200

America's investor-owned electric companies have powered innovation and economic growth throughout America's 250 years.

Tracing their origins back to Thomas Edison's Pearl Street Station, America's first commercially operated power plant, electric companies have supplied the United States with the reliable, affordable energy needed to power revolutionary inventions like at-home refrigerators, television sets, central heating and air conditioning systems, personal computers, and smart phones.

“Electricity Has Built an Empire in America,” read a headline in The New York Times published June 22, 1930. “In 50 years since the incandescent lamp was invented, it has brought about a revolution of life and industry.”

The growth of electricity was rapid in the United States between 1900 and 1950. By 1908, roughly 10 percent of American households were connected to the grid. That number would expand to 90 percent by 1949.

“Electricity is a modern necessity of life, not a luxury. That necessity ought to be found in every village, in every home, and on every farm in every part of the United States,” President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said during an address in 1932.

EEI Briefs Wall Street, Highlights $1.1T Grid Investment

Fri, 20 Mar 2026 20:59:45 +0100

From left to right: EEI Chief Communications Officer Emily Schillinger, Con Edison Vice President of Communications Carolyn Vadino, Con Edison New York President Matthew Ketschke, EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney, New York Stock Exchange Head of U.S. Listings Tara Dziedzic, EEI Senior Manager of Investor Relations Jacob Moshel, and EEI Executive Director of Government Affairs Kristen Siegele.

EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney, along with other EEI leaders and Con Edison New York President Matthew Ketschke, delivered an energy outlook for Wall Street investors on Thursday after ringing the Opening Bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

“America’s investor-owned utilities are powering our nation. We are investing more than $1.1 trillion over the next four years in the energy grid to ensure adequate transmission and generation to meet the needs of America,” said Maloney on the floor of the NYSE ahead of EEI’s Wall Street Briefing. “We’re also seeing demand for more power. We are working closely with state and federal governments to ensure that we provide that power in an affordable and reliable way.”

Maloney and Ketschke were joined by NYSE Head of U.S. Listings Tara Dziedzic, EEI Chief Communications Officer Emily Schillinger, Con Edison Vice President of Communications Carolyn Vadino, and EEI Executive Director of Government Affairs Kristen Siegele as they rung the Opening Bell in celebration of EEI and its member companies delivering the energy of every day, and to recognize the more than 200-year legacy of Con Edison—the longest continuously listed company on the NYSE—serving New York City and the NYSE.

“If you think about the most important engine in America, it’s the electrical grid,” said Maloney. “If the electrical grid is not delivering power, America doesn’t work. We take that responsibility very seriously, and we want to ensure the affordability and reliability of the grid continue for the next 250 years.”

To learn more about how EEI and its member companies are providing the energy of every day and powering American innovation, visit EEI’s website.

Industry Celebrates Management-Organized Labor Partnership at National LAMPAC Conference

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 19:06:48 +0100

On March 16, leaders of EEI member companies and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) locals convened for the National Labor and Management Public Affairs Committee (LAMPAC) conference in Washington, D.C.

During the conference, officials explored challenges and new opportunities facing the energy industry and its workforce. They also discussed how policies and regulatory support can drive energy infrastructure buildout as electric companies work to meet rising demand and connect large load customers to the grid.

“The partnership between EEI and IBEW is essential to delivering reliable energy to the communities we serve across the nation,” said EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney during his opening remarks. “Ninety percent of EEI member companies’ organized labor are represented by the IBEW, and that partnership is foundational to our success.”

“What an amazing time to be in the industry,” said IBEW Director of the Utility Department and National LAMPAC Co-President Drew Stover. “The buildout and expansion of our infrastructure and workforce ahead of us is like nothing we have seen in decades.”

Powering Partnerships

The first panel, “Powering Leadership and Partnerships in the Industry,” highlighted the top priorities for America’s electric companies and their workforce and reinforced the value of a strong labor-management partnership. Maloney moderated a panel featured EEI Chair and Exelon President and CEO Calvin Butler; Ameren Corporation Chairman, President and CEO Marty Lyons; IBEW International President Kenny Cooper; and IBEW International Secretary-Treasurer Paul Noble.

When Butler was serving as president of Baltimore Gas and Electric, an Exelon subsidiary, he worked on union negotiations with Cooper, who was IBEW Vice President of the Fourth District at that time.

“We wanted the best for our employees, our company, and our communities. When you get through all the noise, that was at the core of what was driving us and has guided our relationship,” Butler said.

“It’s not how we agree that matters; it’s how we disagree,” Cooper said. “Most of the time, we find common ground.”

Lyons applauded IBEW workers’ efforts to help with recovery efforts after a major storm hit communities served by Ameren last year.

“The partnership we had with IBEW is fantastic. Last year, we had a tornado come through downtown St. Louis. When you saw the devastation this tornado left, it looked like a war zone,” Lyons said. “We had 3,000 folks come out to help with recovery. We deployed $100 million over the course of eight days. We got customers restored … at the end of the week, I was truly emotional seeing what our crews were able to do.”

“We’re better together,” Noble agreed, “and we can accomplish a lot more together than if we go alone.”

To learn more about National LAMPAC, visit its website.

2026 LAMPAC Awards

Each year, the John D. Dingell Award and the Edwin D. Hill Award are presented during the LAMPAC Award Ceremony. This year, EEI and the IBEW presented the first Edwin D. Hill Award to Ameren Missouri and IBEW Local 1439 for their partnership to advance economic development in the communities they serve. Learn more about Ameren Missouri and IBEW Local 949’s initiative.

The second Edwin D. Hill Award was presented to Alliant Energy, IBEW Local 949, and IBEW Local 204 for their work to educate voters about a proposed ballot initiative that jeopardized union jobs and energy reliability for customers. Learn more about Alliant Energy and IBEW Locals 949 and 204’s efforts.

The John D. Dingell Award was presented to Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Jack Reed (D-RI) in recognition of their steadfast support for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). Learn more about Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Jack Reed's (D-RI) work to champion LIHEAP.

Scroll through the photo gallery below.

‘If the Grid Doesn’t Work, America Doesn’t Work’: Resilience Key Focus at NARUC Policy Summit

Fri, 20 Feb 2026 17:25:40 +0100

Left to right: NARUC President Ann Rendahl, NCTA President and CEO Cory Gardner, EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney, NRECA CEO Jim Matheson, American Water Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Cheryl Norton, AGA President and CEO Karen Harbert, Florida Commissioner Mike La Rosa.

Industry-government coordination was front and center during the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Winter Policy Summit in Washington, D.C., in early February.

Only two weeks on from Winter Storm Fern, a historic winter weather event that impacted more than 200 million Americans and prompted the largest mutual assistance activation the United States had seen since Superstorm Sandy, mutual assistance and storm response were fresh on the minds of the of state commissioners, federal officials, electric company leaders, and other stakeholders who attended the annual gathering.

“The effort and the coordination among federal, state, local officials, our members, working across the industry, was amazing,” EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney said during a panel discussion, highlighting the significance of pre-positioning crews and resources “days before the storm hit.”

More than 65,000 workers from America’s electric companies braved frigid and hazardous conditions to restore power to impacted communities. The scale of this effort required regular and close communication with a range of stakeholders, Maloney said, highlighting industry coordination through the CEO-led Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council (ESCC) and regional mutual assistance groups, which was critical to ensuring a safe and efficient response.

“The grid is the most important engine in America. If the grid doesn’t work, America doesn’t work,” Maloney said, noting that companies are actively investing to make the grid more resilient to threats like winter storms. “Our members will be investing more than $1 trillion in the coming years to make it more reliable, more resilient, and more affordable.”

Industry response to Fern was a driver of conversation throughout the NARUC summit. During a separate keynote, Under Secretary of Energy Alex Fitzsimmons, director of the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response, highlighted the federal government’s work through the ESCC to ensure crews and resources deployed to the areas that needed them most.

“The bulk power system held up, and we should be proud of that. We all should be proud of that effort,” Under Secretary Fitzsimmons told the NARUC audience.

‘The Impact From This Storm Cannot Be Overstated’: Industry-Government Partnerships Power Historic Fern Response

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 15:20:35 +0100

Now two weeks on from a historic winter weather event that blanketed more than 200 million Americans in ice, snow, and frigid temperatures, industry and government leaders have been outspoken about the importance of close and regular communication ahead of and during Winter Storm Fern.

“Before the winter storm began, through the mutual assistance program run through the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council (ESCC), we had 65,000 utility workers ready to go, not just to make repairs in their own service territories, but across the entire affected area,” Deputy Secretary of Energy James Danly during a recent press briefing.

Deputy Secretary Danly noted that “we had crews moving from state to state offering assistance,” which is why workers were able to respond so quickly to “a peak of just about 1 million outages.”

“The bulk power system held up, and we should be proud of that. We all should be proud of that effort,” Acting Under Secretary of Energy Alex Fitzsimmons, director of the Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response, said during a keynote address at the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Winter Policy Summit.

Under Secretary Fitzsimmons stressed the “strong partnerships” the federal government maintains through the ESCC that helped facilitate response to a storm that impacted more than 200 million Americans.

““The effort and the coordination among federal, state, local officials, our members, working across the industry, was amazing,” EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney said during a NARUC panel discussion.

Tens of thousands of workers from at least 44 states were active throughout the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic in recent weeks, working through snow and ice to perform damage assessments and begin restoration work when it was safe to do so.

“The impact from this storm cannot be overstated, and the industry’s response in the wake of Fern was extraordinary,” EEI Senior Vice President for Energy Security and Industry Operations Scott Aaronson said during a recent United States Energy Association briefing. “There is a culture of mutual assistance in this industry.”

Aaronson noted that the energy industry was working “in lockstep, from the earliest stages of the storm,” with the federal government and with state and local partners to ensure an efficient restoration process. He stressed that cross-industry partnerships are vital to restoring power to customers.

Aaronson also underscored how EEI member companies’ investments in grid resilience and smart grid technologies—in part to meet growing energy demand from AI, data centers, and the onshoring of manufacturing—enabled a faster restoration process.

“This forward planning has allowed us to better meet growing demand, and also to lessen the impact of and quickly respond to extreme weather events,” he said. “Resilience investments matter.”

EEI's Drew Maloney: America Needs Permitting Reform 'As Soon as Possible'

Fri, 06 Feb 2026 22:00:20 +0100

In a new, wide-ranging, on-camera interview with the Washington Examiner, EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney called on Congress to streamline siting and permitting processes, which he said would “go right at the affordability issue” for customers.

“In order for us to maintain our global competitiveness, we have to be able to build generation and transmission faster than we do today,” Maloney said. “The cost imposed by permitting delays and litigation puts too much on the customer. We need [reform], and we need it as soon as possible.”

Maloney estimates red tape adds up to 25 percent to the cost of building new energy infrastructure. It also inhibits America’s global competitiveness, he said, noting that “China can build a power plant in one to two years, and it takes us more than a decade.”

Maloney also discussed the findings of a new study from Charles River Associates, which analyzed historical government data and found that electricity rates have tracked at or below inflation in 34 states during the past five years. It also found that data centers have not been a driver of rate increases in states outside of the PJM Interconnection in the Mid-Atlantic.

“Data centers really aren't driving the cost. There’s a lot of long-term planning that you see in some states—you've got it in Georgia and Louisiana, Mississippi—where they can save billions of dollars for customers over the time of the investment in the data center,” Maloney said.

Among other topics discussed:

On lowering costs for customers:

“Electric companies every day are working with their customers to identify more efficiencies in the system, whether it's grid-enhancing technologies that lower costs, software development that can ensure power is well balanced in the system.”

On partnerships with data centers:

“What these large load agreements are trying to do is protect customers. They're requiring the data centers to fund their interconnection, fund upgrades to the grid, and ultimately benefit the customer. If you look at a lot of the recent announcements that we've seen, the benefits to customers, the benefits to the local tax base are in the billions of dollars. Over the long term, this is a win-win for the communities, for the electric companies, for the customers, because we're going to get a more resilient grid.”

On permitting reform prospects:

“I think now is the time. There is a recognition that, in order for us to maintain our global competitiveness, we have to be able to build generation and transmission faster than we do today. It's the only way to address the real affordability problem, because the cost imposed by permitting delays and litigation puts too much on the customer.”

On the industry’s commitment to resilience:

“The grid is the most important engine in America. If the grid doesn't work, America doesn't work. And it requires investment. That's why you're going to see America's electric companies invest more than $1 trillion during the next four years—to make sure that the grid is reliable and as affordable as possible every single day.”

On response to Winter Storm Fern:

“You saw 65,000 lineworkers come from around the country to go down to the Southeast to work through two inches of ice to try to get wires back up and running, cut trees down, and work through the night to make sure that people had power back at their houses. That’s what we do in this industry. We pitch in. We ensure that the grid—which is the economic and, I would argue, national security backbone of the country—is always up and running.”

On electricity rate stability:

“What most people don't understand about electricity rates is they are really set at the state level. You have to look at the state averages, and there are some states—on the West Coast, especially California, and also New England and New York—that have disproportionately skewed the national average.”

On the importance of an all-of-the-above energy approach:

"We need all of the above. You look at a state like Iowa—a large percentage of their power comes from wind. Texas has a good mix of wind and solar. You see during a storm like Fern, where we became very reliant on fossil fuel as sort of base load—you need that, too. We need more nuclear. We need it all. We support it all, and, as we say, we need as many electrons on the grid as possible right now."

Podcast: New Analysis Finds U.S. Electricity Rates Largely Tracking Inflation

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 16:05:22 +0100

America’s electric companies are focused on providing customers with the energy of every day. They are prioritizing reliability and affordability as they position America to win the AI race and power the jobs, industries, and technologies of tomorrow.

An independent analysis conducted by Charles River Associates (CRA) recently found that average retail electricity rates have largely tracked inflation during the past several years—and that data centers are not driving up rates for customers throughout much of the United States.

EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney and CRA Energy Practice Vice President Matt DeCourcey joined a recent episode of the Electric Perspectives podcast to discuss the report’s findings, geographic variations, and the role of data centers in America’s energy landscape.

Drew Maloney (DM): I want to start by highlighting one key takeaway: For most U.S. electricity customers, retail rates have generally remained stable and have not outpaced inflation. This new research provides important context for why national average retail rates don't always reflect what customers are seeing at the state level. We're excited to hear more from you today about this, Matt.

EEI's member companies continue to work closely with regulators and policymakers to advocate for policies that keep customer bills as low as possible across the country, and the report highlights that electric companies are doing an effective job managing the cost that they can control.

Matt, can you give us an overview of how Charles River Associates analyzed data for this study?

Matt DeCourcey (MD): We started this process with the idea that we wanted to better understand what's been going on with rates—better understand how that compares to prevailing narratives.

We started with a data set of retail electric rates developed by the Energy Information Administration, giving us national average rates by month for 10 years. We also compiled a whole bunch of state-specific rates, going state-by-state for all the states excluding Alaska and Hawaii and including the District of Columbia.

We also used data from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Form 1 filing to give us very detailed financial data, including electric company spending on an account-by-account basis with great granularity. Because companies are regulated on a cost-of-service basis, we can understand how their costs are changing and how rates are changing.

We were able to look company-by-company, year-by-year, to see what’s changing, how that correlates with rates, and answers to questions around where things are happening and why.

The national average rate doesn't really reflect reality for most customers. It's sort of the perils of using averages from the conversation you had in your first-year statistics class. We found that there was a small group of companies that had big rate increases. For most companies and most states, the rates weren't increasing. That was an important finding for us.

We found that companies have been managing their costs well—and, in most places, rates have been pretty stable. That's a testament to cost control. It’s the work of the companies, the result of constructive regulation, and the efforts of policy makers in certain states.

We found that data centers—which a lot of people have pointed to as the culprits behind rate increases—haven't really been pushing up rates. With very, very limited exceptions, we found that the rates were going up for specific reasons that we could identify. Those reasons weren’t related to data centers.

DM: What's causing that national average to go up—which is so commonly cited by newspapers and things that we're reading?

MD: It’s rate increases in the small handful of states where rates have been increasing rapidly.

We looked at rate changes over 5 years and 10 years on a state-by-state basis. In California, rates have been going up dramatically in the last five years. That's because of wildfire spending.

In the Northeast, New England, and New York, rates have been going up because wholesale market prices have been going up. The companies buy electricity on behalf of their customers, and they pass that through in the rates. When the wholesale prices go up, the rates go up.

That puts a lot of upward pressure on that national average—just the nature of the arithmetic that goes into it. For most of the other companies and most of the other states, the rate increases had been very moderate.

The average doesn’t represent most of the states and most of the electric companies. In fact, something like 34 states had changes in their rates that were less than the national average. About half of the states saw rates that had gone up consistent with inflation.

We go from this story of broad-based nationwide affordability concerns to one of very local and specific trends.

DM: You mentioned data centers, which have been a very popular theme here in Washington—data centers and the cost associated with powering them. What did you find in your study?

MD: For starters, most data centers that we’re talking about haven't been built yet. When we look back at the history of rates, in most cases, it’s hard to see how they could have increased prices.

It's important to draw the distinction between the AI-training, mega-data centers that are on the horizon and dominating the news nowadays and the data centers that have always been in Northern Virginia for processing credit card payments and things like that. Those mega centers are the ones that we have concerns about causing rates to increase for retail customers across the board. It just hasn't happened yet, because most of them haven't been built yet.

When we look at rates historically, we see rates going up in California and in the Northeast, which is not where many data centers are planning to go. They're going to other places.

There is no evidence to support the idea that data centers have made rates go up. Where the rates are going up is not where the data centers are.

We found that there is this emerging set of principles in regulation and ratemaking that is designed very specifically to prevent rate increases from data centers from happening. The regulators are going about it in lots of different ways. What they're doing is making rates and setting rules that are going to require data centers to pay their own cost of service where electric companies have to make investments to serve data centers. Those costs are going to flow back to the rates to the data centers, and it's going to hold the existing customers harmless.

One interesting development of late has been some hyperscalers coming out and making very specific statements and very specific commitments that they're going to pay for all the costs to serve them. It's the emerging consensus, and a set of best practices is starting to form.

DM: We've seen more than 25 states either enact large load tariffs or consider agreements that will protect customers and enhance the grid over the long term, right?

MD: Yes. When you look at that universe of rate making, all those tariffs look different. There are a handful of mechanisms that are going to make it so that, if a data center wants to connect to the grid, they have to bring the capital and make commitments

And, you're right, there's potential benefits for existing customers. There are investments to be made on the grid. There's also the potential that data centers reduce the cost of retail service for some customers. If you have a new large load customer show up on the grid, and it is paying its own costs, it's going to absorb some of the shared costs. That's going to benefit the customers that are already there.

DM: If you were advising policy makers, regulators, and other decisionmakers on key takeaways from this report, what would they be?

MD: Everything is local.

If you're a policy maker or a regulator considering intervening in a market, understand the problem that you're intervening in and what the solutions would be to consider. If I am in California, and I wanted to intervene in the market, I'd want to think about how we pay for wildfire costs. How do we think about some of the rooftop solar ratemaking concerns that the California Public Utilities Commission has said is also making rates go up for some customers significantly?

If I was in the Northeast, I'd have a very different set of questions. I'd be asking about how we unlatch ourselves from volatile wholesale markets. Do we make investments? Do we change the rules? Do we let electric companies own generation?

Elsewhere, I might wonder whether I have to intervene. Do I have evidence that there is an affordability crisis within my jurisdiction? If so, what do I do about it? There have been rates that have gone up, but, mostly, the markets and the systems have been working as designed in most places.

My other consideration, if I was a policy maker, would be what the industry's responsibility has been. It seems like, in most places, costs are being managed well. We haven't found any evidence to support the idea that the rates are going up because of mismanagement, poor planning, or because of something that should have been foreseen and wasn't.

We don't have any evidence—and, frankly, we don't think it's the case—that companies are profiting from these increases in the rates. The nature of the increases, in most cases, is they're collecting operating expenses that pass directly through to customers at cost. No markup, no profit for the shareholders. They're highly regulated at the state level.

If I was a regulator or a policy maker, I would be very reluctant to do things like curtail returns or anything that would erode the financial integrity of companies and impose penalties. It's just not warranted, and it wouldn't be appropriate.

DM: Let me ask about affordability. You all looked at Americans’ energy wallet and how that's changed over a 20-year period. What did you see in the data?

MD: Generally, the share of the energy wallet has been declining. We looked at how much of your average household budget is consumed by electricity. It’s not a huge band that we’re looking at.

We had a couple decades of data, and it only moves from 1 percent or 2 percent or 3 percent of total household budget. Over time, it is showing a steady decline downwards, which is to say that, over time, less of the average household’s budget is going to electricity.

That’s driven by a lot of things. That’s driven by costs that are fairly stable and by efficiency programs and efficiency of appliances. Society, as a whole, became more efficient over time. The impact on affordability is that, over time, the industry is requiring fewer dollars every month from your average household. It’s less than 2 percent.

DM: How do you differentiate between bills and rates?

MD: We looked at residential rates, because we think those are going to be of greatest interest to most customers and to policymakers. For your average household, it's the residential rate that sets the total cost of energy every month.

When you multiply total usage by the rate, you get the total bill. The bill is a function of both the rate and energy usage, both of which can change over time.

DM: The White House recently announced an agreement with governors that EEI has broadly supported to make changes to the PJM marketplace. What's your view of that announcement?

MD: It's interesting, and we'll be watching it closely to see where it goes. It actually tells us a lot about how we're going to look at data centers entering the market going forward.

It's not clear what comes of the announcement, specifically, but what it does tell us is that policy makers are going to intervene to protect existing customers from the potential of cost increases due to data centers. It’s one of these emerging principles in the industry that, where large loads and data centers are entering the market, they're not going to be subsidized by existing customers.

DM: Do you see companies getting into the generation business in PJM and other regions as one of the possible solutions here?

MD: It could be. One of the things that differentiates the impact of this most recent PJM capacity auction is that they're much more sharply felt in the states where the companies have divested their generation.

Having generation is a natural hedge against variation in the market. That's axiomatic. This is a variation in the market, so if all else is equal, companies that own generation on behalf of their customers would be better insulated from price shocks like this.

Report: Data Center Development Not Driving Up Electric Bills

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 16:05:06 +0100

Americans’ electric bills have been widely protected from increases related to data center development, according to a new study from Charles River Associates (CRA) that shows average retail electricity rates have largely tracked with inflation during the past 10 years.

The report compiled data from the U.S. Energy Information Association and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and found that while electricity rates vary widely by geographic location, “for most customers, rates have been largely stable.” Where rates did increase, “the timing and location of the rate increases that were observed are not consistent with the timeline of data center development.”

“This analysis underscores the important work America’s electric companies do every day to keep electricity reliable and make bills as low as possible,” said Drew Maloney, EEI President and CEO. “While CRA’s report makes clear that our industry is making good progress for most of the country, we also understand we have more work to do as we serve American families and local businesses.”

Among the report’s key findings:

There is not a broad, national trend toward rising rates, which means some of the data driving national narratives are “misleading or misinterpreted.”
In a handful of locations, rates have risen in recent years, driven by external drivers and operating expenses such as wholesale price increases, wildfire spending, and net energy metering programs.
With the exception of some areas served by the PJM Interconnection, data centers are not driving up rates. New data center tariffs and agreements will insulate existing customers from the costs of serving data centers.

America’s investor-owned electric companies have been working with hyperscalers, regulators, and state and local officials to implement special tariffs that protect residential customers while ensuring large customers pay their fair share to access the grid. To date, 18 states have approved large load tariffs, with decisions pending in another 8 states.

Outside of the PJM Interconnection, customers have largely been protected from cost increases related to data centers. EEI and its member companies have long called for reform to PJM that would improve accountability and transparency, proactive resource planning, and procurement flexibility. EEI supported the January announcement from President Donald Trump and a bipartisan group of governors from states served by PJM calling for an emergency auction to require technology companies to fund new electricity generation needed to serve growing data center demand.

Read the full study here, and learn more about how electric companies are delivering value for customers at eei.org/affordability.

Industry's Round-the-Clock Restoration Critical During Winter Storm Fern

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 16:39:40 +0100

The electric power industry in January activated its largest mutual assistance effort since Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024.

More than 65,000 workers from at least 44 states deployed in response to Winter Storm Fern, according to EEI. The storm brought frigid arctic air, heavy snowfall, and icy conditions to more than 200 million Americans.

Through the CEO-led Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council, EEI and industry leaders coordinated with the highest levels of government, including at the U.S. Departments of Energy and Homeland Security, to ensure unity of effort in responding to the storm and restoring power to impacted communities.

EEI recently joined the American Public Power Association and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association in issuing a joint press release highlighting the breadth of industry response, explaining the mutual assistance process, and outlining how electric companies partner during extreme weather to keep customers safe.

Read the full release below, and visit eei.org for the latest updates on Winter Storm Fern.

EEI’s Drew Maloney on Fern: ‘America’s Electric Companies Are Really Well Positioned to Deal With This’

Mon, 26 Jan 2026 15:33:02 +0100

Winter Storm Fern blanketed more than 200 million Americans in snow, sleet, ice, and frigid temperatures over the weekend, prompting one of the largest mutual assistance responses in the electric power industry’s history.

More than 65,000 workers from 43 states have been mobilized and are assessing damage and restoring power where it is safe to do so. That’s comparable to the historic response and recovery efforts seen during Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024.

“America’s electric companies are really well positioned to deal with this,” EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney said Monday morning on CNBC’s “Worldwide Exchange.”

Maloney highlighted the planning that began last week with the highest levels of industry and government, including with senior Administration officials, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Departments of Energy and Homeland Security, and dozens of state and local leaders, to ensure unity of effort in impacted communities.

“It’s really a unified effort,” Maloney said. “I think it’s really important for everyone to understand the coordination with federal, state, and local officials … to get power up as quickly as possible during this historic ice storm.”

While ice poses unique challenges to restoration, tens of thousands of lineworkers are braving frigid conditions across several states and will continue working around the clock to ensure power is restored to everyone who is able to receive it.

Watch Maloney’s full interview below, and visit the EEI Storm Center for the latest storm updates.

Data Centers: Costs and Customer Benefits

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 17:40:48 +0100

America’s electric companies work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to power the American economy and ensure the United States is home to the jobs, industries, and technologies of tomorrow.

They are working with tech companies, hyperscalers, and data centers to power the next wave of American innovation—while delivering clear benefits to the grid and existing customers.

Entergy Mississippi President and CEO Haley Fisackerly and Amazon Web Services (AWS) Head of Energy and Water for the Americas Brandon Oyer joined the Electric Perspectives podcast to discuss data center and electric company partnerships and a new electric rate and tariff study from Energy and Environmental Economics, or E3.

Following is an abbreviated transcript, lightly edited for length and clarity. To listen to the full episode and catch up with other recent interviews, visit electricperspectives.com/podcast.

Electric Perspectives (EP): Brandon, tell us about your role at AWS and how you work with energy partners, including Entergy Mississippi.

Brandon Oyer (BO): As the head of power and water here for the Americas with AWS, I have the distinct privilege of working with a bunch of very bright people around the country and in Canada, Mexico, and South America. We get to work with utility partners to craft rates and contracts that power AWS on time and at a cost that delights our customers, while at the same time making investments into local communities—from the East Coast to the West Coast to the middle part of the country.

I continuously get to see opportunities to innovate and refine how we power data centers responsibly, how we power them reliably, and how we power them in a path to continue being clean.

That's fun. It's a challenging role. The times are exciting, and we're growing. It's fun to see the United States electric grid growing at a high rate in comparison to history.

We like to look around corners and make sure that we're doing the right thing for the communities that we live in. We want to make sure our customers aren't being burdened on their electric rates.

That's why we think this E3 study is important. We took time to dive in and learn here, so I look forward to talking about it a little bit more.

On the economic development impact, in Madison County, Miss., we're investing $10 billion to build two data center campuses, creating at least 1,000 full-time jobs. In Warren County, Miss., we're investing $3 billion—the largest private investment in the county's history. We’re creating another 200 jobs at that data center campus while supporting 300 additional jobs in and around the community.

Combined, these investments will support an estimated 3,000 jobs to bring these data center campuses to life and add $3.9 billion to Mississippi's GDP. These are high-paying jobs, including data center engineers, network specialists, operation managers, and security specialists.

EP: Haley, tell us about Entergy Mississippi’s customers and the communities that you serve?

Haley Fisackerly (HF): Sure. Entergy Mississippi is one of the five operating companies of Entergy Corporation. We serve 460,000 customers in the western part of Mississippi, in 45 of Mississippi's 82 counties. We've been serving the area since 1923.

About 60 percent of our customers are coalesced in what we call the metro area around the capital city of Jackson, Miss. That’s where AWS is making most of their investments.

Most of the 45 counties that we serve are in very rural areas—a lot of agriculture. In Jackson, there's a very diverse mix of businesses, education, some manufacturing. We haven’t historically had a large industrial base in Mississippi like our sister companies in other states. We have more residential and commercial customers, so having a large customer like AWS definitely changes our profile from that standpoint.

EP: Tell us more about the E3 study and its key takeaways.

BO: The No. 1 finding from that study is that Amazon data centers are not being subsidized by their utility customers. There’s no cross-subsidization between a residential customer and a large-load customer, such as an Amazon data center.

We've seen this study after study. If you look at the Joint Legislative and Audit Review Committee, they published similar findings in 2024. If you look at the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab report that was released earlier this year, it found the same thing.

We actually find that these investments are enabling companies to make investments for the broader grid. Historically, customers would have to pay for this, but now that large load is coming along, these bigger customers are able to absorb that cost.

We find that data centers generate surplus revenues to the costs of producing and delivering electricity—on the order of about $33,000 per megawatt in 2025, growing to $60,000 per megawatt in 2030.

This surplus revenue enables the electric companies to continue making investments while not causing cross-subsidization. And, these crucial investments in grid infrastructure do everything from meeting immediate needs to supporting local residents to driving commercial growth while improving reliability. It’s a fun time to be a part of this.

EP: Haley, how is your team at Entergy Mississippi working with large customers like Amazon, and how does this work strengthen the grid and deliver value to your customers?

HF: Brandon touched on a good bit of this. If you take a moment to think about our industry, we have extensive infrastructure that we use to serve our customers: power plants, transmission lines, distribution lines, and a lot of these are fixed costs.

At the same time, we are facing aging infrastructure, the need to reinvest, weather risks that are impacting our business, and customer expectations. We are more dependent on electricity to power our lives and to support the way we work than ever before. That means there’s a lot of demand on the grid.

We’ve known that we need to make grid investments. Sadly, without demand growth in our area, the cost of our business was escalating very quickly. More than 20 percent of our customers live below the national poverty level. A large portion are living paycheck to paycheck. Affordability is a No. 1 issue for us.

What we’re able to do with Amazon is bring in this large customer with all the other benefits that Brandon discussed: new jobs and huge capital investments that are allowing us to make meaningful investments and improve the grid serving all of our customers.

We're also seeing them pay the full freight of their costs. We're having to make upgrades to the transmission system that improves import capabilities that benefit everyone, and they're paying those incremental costs. Substations that will have to be built to serve their facilities—they're paying 100 percent of those costs.

What is more exciting about this, and it makes me excited, is that we know we've got to invest to improve reliability. We had a $600 million capital plan already planned just to make the investments to improve our grid. Because of the new revenues coming in from AWS, we're going to be able to increase that by more than 50 percent—spending another $300 million on our reliability plan.

All of this will bring huge value from better service, more reliable service, and at a more affordable rate. In fact, because of AWS, we were able to pull a lot of those investments forward and improve reliability. We have a 50-percent reduction in outages with a 50-percent increase in spending, with no cost to customers. This is exciting, transformative, and it will make a difference in the lives of our customers and the communities we serve.

BO: There is a narrative out there that data centers are driving up costs. Haley, since we first started working together, back in 2023 and 2024, have you seen any shift in our thinking on this? Have you seen a shift since that narrative started to take hold?

HF: I’ve been in this business for 30 years and CEO of this company for 17 years. I’ve negotiated a lot of deals. Amazon and AWS were totally different characters. You were very cognizant of making sure this would not adversely impact customers and communities.

There has been a need for speed to market, service reliability, and recognition that these costs need to be covered.

Of late, there has seemed to be a lot of misinformation and confusion out there about what is driving rates.

In Mississippi, there was legislation passed to make this deal happen. The governor, the Mississippi legislature, and the public service commission were very supportive of the economic opportunity and made it very clear that this cannot harm existing customers. The legislation states specifically that, in my words, AWS is to pay their incremental cost to serve and provide benefits back to customers.

These new investments in the grid, from new generation down to enhanced transmission, are going to improve capabilities that benefit everyone.

EP: Brandon, how is your team working to support communities like those in Warren and Madison counties?

BO: In addition to paying our fair share, I do want to highlight that this isn't something new for us. This has been an operating tenet for Amazon for quite some time. Defining a good rate structure and providing impact to the community has been table stakes for us.

We're making significant investments, and we’re spending time and money to enable the local workforce. That's an important trait when we go and grow our business. We’ve partnered with Mississippi to build a skilled workforce for the future by partnering with Mississippi AI Innovation Hub and the AI Talent Accelerator program.

We’ve invested nearly $400,000 into the Bean Path, which is a Jackson-based AI tech educational nonprofit that's impacted 8,000 Mississippians. We're also proud to have the first cohort completed of the Infrastructure Pre-Apprenticeship Program in Holmes Community College.

These programs represent a commitment towards creating direct pathways from education to employment. We’ve also launched the Amazon Warren County Community Fund and invested an initial $150,000 to be managed by a non-profit, Change X. That grant supports local initiatives focused on science, technology, engineering, and math education; sustainability and environmental programs; digital skills; cultural and heritage programs; and health and well-being initiatives. It's open to individuals, community groups, schools, and nonprofits all across Warren County.

These are just a couple of the things that we do that impact the customers around us. We just want to have a lasting, positive impact and be a good partner in the communities where we operate.

EP: Haley, Entergy's long been a leader on workforce development and making sure that you're having positive community impacts. What have you all been seeing, and how does Amazon’s work complement the work that your team is doing?

HF: I'm a fourth-generation Mississippian, and I am so excited by what we're seeing here. We have struggled with brain drain and jobs being lost. Amazon has come in, and we have now brought in a new sector that’s creating new job opportunities for young people.

The $10 billion minimum that Amazon is investing in Madison County is expected to generate an incremental $80 million per year in ad valorem taxes. Half of that goes to the local school district. Think about the young lives that are going to be changed.

The infrastructure improvements, the water system improvements, the road improvements from this mean that local taxes won’t have to be raised for some time because of the revenue coming in here.

More than 55 local businesses have received contract work or work directly at these data centers. These are often small mom-and-pop businesses, though they can also be very large companies.

We have seen manufacturers in Mississippi announce expansions to make the components used by data centers and the electric power industry. More than 2,000 jobs have been created so far, so the ripple effect is like one we've never seen before.

We've worked with a lot of great companies that have come in and made investments, but it's usually been made after they have built out their facilities, and they're up and running.

Amazon came in earlier, started to work with local educational groups, looked at training opportunities, and looked at other partnerships as they’ve been building this out. When you think about all of those different businesses that are benefiting from this, the tax revenue coming in, that has a positive impact on local individuals and families.

EP: Electric companies are always looking to balance affordability with reliability. Haley, how do these projects align with your efforts to deliver both of those things for customers?

HF: I mentioned earlier that we were faced with this dilemma when we knew we had to make a lot of investment in this region, and we were not growing here in Mississippi. What Amazon has allowed us to do is pull those investments forward. For example, we knew we would have to build two new power plants post-2030. We knew that we had an opportunity to deploy more solar renewables and batteries.

The fact that we were able to pull those projects forward means we're saving customers more than $2 billion. These plants are also much cleaner.

They use less water. They also are much cleaner technologies. They will have carbon capture capabilities and the ability to use hydrogen if and when that becomes economic. That alone will save more than $700 million in commodity costs for our customers.

We're also dealing with more storm costs every year. Now, having a large customer like Amazon at the table means we can share in those fixed costs and create rate relief for our customers. It’s a huge value in the sense that a large customer is now helping share in the cost of large investments.

We're doing things right now that we would not have been able to do had this opportunity not come forward with Amazon.

PPL Corporation's Vince Sorgi: Wired for Intelligence

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 20:00:54 +0100

Electric Perspectives (EP): Vince, it’s been several years since you first outlined your thoughts in Electric Perspectives of PPL’s Utility of the Future strategy. How has that strategy evolved, and why is it more important than ever?

Vince Sorgi (VS): Our original Utility of the Future strategy to get stronger, smarter, cleaner, more resilient, and highly efficient remains largely intact, but two major industry shifts have required us to update and sharpen our approach.

First, we’re seeing massive data center requests to connect to our grids in Pennsylvania and Kentucky—demand at a scale we hadn’t anticipated just a few years ago. For example, in our Pennsylvania service territory, we have more than 20 gigawatts (GW) of data center projects in advanced planning—nearly triple the current peak demand that took more than a century to reach.

Second, while affordability has always been part of our strategy, business and household budgets have tightened further in recent years, making affordability a front-and-center issue in policy discussions and even gubernatorial races.

To create headroom for needed investments, becoming more efficient as a company and as an industry is more critical than ever. To address these shifts, we’ve updated our strategy to prioritize building highly reliable, gas-fired, combined-cycle generation. This is evidenced by our regulatory filings in Kentucky and our joint venture with Blackstone Infrastructure to build generation to serve new data centers in Pennsylvania.

In addition, we’ve doubled down on deploying advanced technology and AI—AI that will be key to enabling the next wave of operational efficiency. In short, our strategy continues to evolve so we can deliver safe, reliable, affordable, and sustainable energy for our customers no matter how the landscape changes

EP: What are the key components of PPL’s strategy today? And how are you defining “utility of the future”?

VS: Our Utility of the Future strategy centers on five primary objectives:

Improve the reliability and resiliency of our electric and gas networks through system hardening, smart grid technology, and automation.
Advance a cleaner energy future affordably and reliably. This includes building natural gas combined-cycle generation, renewables, and battery storage while accelerating clean energy research and development (R&D).
Deliver operational efficiencies to support affordability. Every dollar we save in operations and maintenance expenses is $8 that we can invest to improve infrastructure without impacting customer bills.
Empower our customers through digital solutions. There is tremendous potential to improve the customer experience through connected tech and AI.
Develop and empower our employees to thrive in a rapidly changing energy landscape, equipping them with the skills, tools, and mindset to lead and adapt as our industry evolves.

The future we envision is generation that’s cleaner, more diverse and less-centralized, including substantial behind-the-meter generation enabled by our networks. It’s transmission and distribution that’s intelligent, more reliable, resistant to increased storms and flooding, self-healing, and able to detect failing equipment before outages occur.

It’s decision-making driven by powerful analytics and deep insights mined from a wealth of sensor-driven data. It’s highly efficient operations using technology and AI to deliver better results at lower costs.

And, it’s technology-enabled talent, next-generation digital architecture, and a dynamic, engaging, and highly collaborative workplace shaping the future of energy.

In a nutshell, the utility of the future is one that’s ready for anything—and always ready to deliver for our customers, our communities, and our shareowners.

EP: What can you share about the progress you are making with this strategy and what you’re doing to position the company for success?

VS: We recognized early on that to implement our Utility of the Future strategy, we needed to change every aspect of our business without jeopardizing the critical services we provide. That began with how the company was organized and who we had leading it. So, over the past few years, we’ve completed a dramatic transformation of PPL—one that’s set the stage for everything we’re accomplishing now.

We built a strong, experienced, and highly collaborative leadership team aligned around a clear vision, mission, and set of new corporate values. We restructured our organization to break down silos, speed the adoption of best practices across the enterprise, and drive continuous improvement. We developed common design and operations standards across our utilities to consistently drive advanced technology and more robust engineering and construction specs. Every part of our capital plan was scrutinized and realigned to ensure it fully supports our strategy and delivers value.

Importantly, we also made bold moves on the technology front. We hired a new Executive Vice President of Technology and Innovation reporting directly to me. We launched an ambitious Business Reinvention initiative and have since begun partnering with some of the biggest and brightest technology firms in the world to help us achieve our vision, deploy digital solutions, and incorporate AI. This includes firms like Accenture, Microsoft, SAP, GE Vernova, Landis & Gyr, ServiceNow, and Quant.

These are not just technology providers—they are strategic partners who have signed up to help us achieve our strategy. The level of partnership and engagement with these firms is like nothing I’ve ever experienced before, and it will be one of the enabling factors in achieving our vision. And, just as importantly, we established a change management center of excellence to help our teams better embrace and lead through this change.

Setting the stage in this way was not easy and took a lot of time and commitment, including from me as the CEO of the company, but we’re already seeing the benefits: faster execution, greater efficiency, and a culture that’s energized and ready to tackle the challenges and opportunities ahead.

EP: The intersection of AI and energy is one of the hottest topics in our industry these days. How is PPL enabling the AI revolution, and how do you see AI fitting into your overall strategy?

VS: AI is like the industrial revolution 2.0 on steroids. It is reshaping the landscape, bringing new hurdles to overcome, but also opening doors to transform our operations and support our strategy in ways we couldn’t have imagined a few years ago.

At PPL, we’ve made it a strategic priority to serve this new data center demand, and our strategy is twofold. First, enable speed to market and rapidly connect data centers to the grid through industry-leading responsiveness and agility. Second, support the development of new generation to meet this growing demand.

To achieve the first objective, we’ve put in place an interconnection process that allows us to deliver a high-level scope and estimates to developers within 5–10 days, provide a full feasibility report within two months, and support construction in 6–12 months, pending required regulatory approvals. Thanks to investments we’ve made and continue to make in a highly reliable grid, we’re able to quickly connect these large customers, often with minimal additional transmission work.

On the generation side, PPL recently formed a joint venture with Blackstone Infrastructure to build generation to serve new data center demand in Pennsylvania in a way that directly supports economic development, helps to mitigate rising electricity prices for customers, delivers value for our shareowners, and helps—not hurts—resource adequacy in PJM.

In addition, we’re supporting legislation in Pennsylvania that would allow regulated utilities to build and own generation again, given the PJM market, alone, is failing to deliver the generation needed to meet growing demand.

We believe unprecedented demand growth requires an unprecedented response. Given the pace and scale of new data center demand, we need everyone who is willing and able to build generation to do so as soon as possible.

Sorgi joins members of the PPL Corporation team in ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

EP: How is PPL dealing with speculation around data center demand projections?

VS: We know that demand forecasting is a critical component of system planning. In Pennsylvania, for example, our PPL Electric Utilities subsidiary collaborates closely with developers and PJM to validate the demand of proposed data center projects.

This starts with evaluating the technical and financial feasibility of a project, as well as established land control. To ensure an accurate representation of emerging demand, only data center projects with advanced agreements are included in the annual load forecast that PPL Electric provides to PJM. To be clear, these are advanced agreements with hyperscalers or developers authorizing grid connection work—agreements with enforceable cost recovery that escalates as milestones are met, often reaching tens of millions of dollars.

Additionally, PJM is discounting the large demand forecast that we provide by up to 30 percent. In addition, we are working with other transmission owners in PJM and engaging in focused conversations with regulators to ensure consistency and confidence in load forecasts.

EP: There’s growing concern that competitive markets like PJM aren’t incentivizing new generation fast enough to meet surging demand. There has also been pushback from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) about reopening the door to regulated utility ownership of generation. What are PPL’s views on the matter?

VS: This is one of the most urgent issues facing our industry right now. All of the signals and all of the forecasts point to a problem—generation is just not being built, or built fast enough, to satisfy future demand.

PJM has warned of a capacity shortage as early as the 2026/2027 delivery year, citing accelerating retirements and slow replacement build-out. The North American Electric Reliability Corporation has repeatedly warned that resource adequacy risks are rising, especially in regions relying heavily on market signals. Despite record-breaking capacity prices, PJM’s market is failing to deliver the new generation needed to meet rising demand—proving that price signals, alone, just aren’t enough. And, of the more than 800 GW of total capacity that has entered PJM’s queue since 1998, only about 11 percent has actually gone into service.

Bottom line: proposals don’t power homes and businesses. Steel in the ground does. While this is often positioned in the media as an “us versus them” debate between regulated utilities and IPPs, that’s not how we view it at PPL, and it doesn’t need to be that way. Ultimately, the grid doesn’t care who wins that debate—it just needs solutions. In a world of surging demand and evolving risks, securing our energy future requires an all-of-the-above approach, with every tool, every partner, and every solution on the table. PPL is committed to being proactive, not reactive, in addressing resource adequacy and ensuring our infrastructure keeps pace with economic growth and technological change.

The legislation introduced in Pennsylvania would allow utility-owned generation to complement the market, not replace it. It would allow utilities to build generation only when the reserve margin isn’t met through market mechanisms, with robust regulatory review and opportunities for market comparison.

In other words, utility-owned generation is only a backstop if the market doesn’t deliver. If the market delivers, then the utilities will never own generation in rate base. And, if the utility does end up owning generation, and that generation produces excess revenue, 100 percent of that net revenue would be returned to customers, ensuring customers benefit from any upside while being shielded from downside risk.

The other key aspect of the legislation is permitting long-term contracts between the state’s utilities and the IPPs to help derisk IPP construction of new generation should they want to go that route versus just relying on market price signals. In short, the proposed legislation contains the kind of smart solutions and ideas we need more of, and we’re hopeful such legislation can gain lawmakers’ support.

A recent PJM proposal to incentivize large customers to “bring their own generation” and encourage demand flexibility is also something that we think has merit, and we’ll be involved in fleshing out details to advance that concept as a workable proposal.

Markets worked when demand was flat and supply was abundant—but that world has been flipped on its head. We’re entering an era of explosive growth and shifting reliability needs, and we believe it is time to stop looking in the rearview mirror and start planning for the road ahead.

EP: Powering AI is clearly one piece of the equation for PPL. On the flip side, how are you thinking about using AI to deliver better outcomes?

VS: AI isn’t just the next wave of innovation—it’s a tidal force promising to reshape our entire industry. The more we learn about the possibilities of AI, the more we see how truly transformational it will be and how it can accelerate our strategy.

Ultimately, our vision is to embed AI as a core capability in every aspect of our business. We’re not just talking about classical and generative AI, but agentic AI that adapts and acts, and maybe even one day physical AI—think, for example, of robots performing or assisting with some of our most dangerous work.

As part of our Reinvention effort, we’ve launched cross-functional teams to advance new technology and AI in four key value streams: Advanced Customer Ops and Engagement, Predictive Field Ops and Asset Management, Grid and Pipeline of the Future, and Next Generation Enterprise Services.

In each of these areas, we’re either already using or exploring the use of AI. For example, in customer service, we’re piloting a multilingual, AI-powered digital customer service agent—Alex—that we’re incredibly excited about. Alex will eventually be available 24/7 to handle routine customer inquiries in 70-plus languages, freeing up our representatives for more complex issues.

In addition, we’re deploying an AI-driven platform that will incorporate AI at every step of the customer experience. This includes handling the initial customer contact, seamlessly handing it off to the best-fit agent, delivering AI coaching and insights to our agents, providing automated summaries post-call, and triggering backend workflows so our agents can spend less time typing and more time listening and assisting.

In our grid and field operations, we’re using AI to monitor equipment health, predict failures, dispatch crews proactively, and optimize crew routing, outage response, and vegetation management. We’re working on AI agents to help us optimize protective settings in grid operations to enhance reliability and fault response. We’re also developing digital agents that will deliver job-specific safety messages, providing tailored reminders about hazards before crews begin a job.

Among other examples, we’re exploring the use of AI agents to lighten the heavy lift associated with complex regulatory filings. These agents will be able to assist with pre- and post-filing work, including responses to third-party discovery requests that can be incredibly time-consuming and require quick turnaround. This could trim thousands of labor hours to help keep energy affordable.

And finally, we’ve begun to roll out Copilot for Microsoft 365 to our employees, helping them work smarter and more efficiently. We have only just begun to scratch the surface of what’s possible here.

“AI isn’t just the next wave of innovation—it’s a tidal force promising to reshape our entire industry.”

EP: What’s your message to investors and analysts attending the EEI Financial Conference in November?

VS: My message is simple: PPL is not just keeping up with change—we’re leading it. Our industry is positioned at the intersection of some of the most important trends taking place in our country. And, at PPL, we have a clear strategy, a strong track record of execution, and a culture that embraces innovation.

We’re thinking bigger, we’re thinking bolder, and we have an opportunity, both as a company and as an industry, to build utilities of the future that are stronger, smarter, cleaner, and ready to power the next century of progress. The key is to enable all of this progress while, at the same time, keeping energy affordable for customers. That has been a core component of our strategy since we launched the new PPL in 2022, and it remains a core part of the strategy going forward.

EP: Any closing thoughts on what it will take to succeed in this new era?

VS: Innovation. Agility. The foresight to seize opportunities created by next-generation digital architecture, cloud solutions, and advanced technology. Enhanced collaboration across the industry, in R&D, with technology partners, and with a wide array of stakeholders, including the IPPs. And, above all, the courage to embrace change.

The challenges we face are complex, but in every challenge lies opportunity. At PPL, we’re building the utility of the future today, and we’re excited to help shape the energy future for our customers, our communities, and our shareowners.

Highlights From EEI's Financial Conference

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 14:15:00 +0100

This year, EEI was thrilled to welcome CNBC Senior National Correspondent Brian Sullivan, co-anchor of “Power Lunch," to EEI's Financial Conference. Sullivan interviewed industry leaders throughout the event, hosted a CEO leadership panel, and brought the event's critical conversations to a national audience.

Scroll through for highlights from EEI member company leaders' interviews with CNBC:

EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney

Pacific Gas & Electric Company CEO Patti Poppe

NextEra Energy Chairman, President, and CEO John Ketchum

Duke Energy President and CEO Harry Sideris

EEI Chair Calvin Butler, President and CEO of Exelon

Edison International President and CEO Pedro J. Pizarro

Competition and Camaraderie: Highlights From the 41st International Lineman’s Rodeo

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 16:44:29 +0200

Standing in a field surrounded by dozens of 40-foot power poles, hundreds of lineworkers, and thousands of spectators, Eversource Energy linemen Bob Michaud and Jason Henley looked and spoke as if they’d just wrapped another day at the office.

In some sense, they had.

“We did pretty well this year,” said Michaud, underselling his and Henley’s ability to scale power poles to retrieve eggs, place them in their mouths, and descend without cracking them more quickly than any of the roughly 300 teams they competed against in mid-October at the 41st International Linemans’ Rodeo.

The annual gathering in Bonner Springs, Kan., celebrates the lineworking trade and the more than 100,000 brave men and women who build and maintain America’s energy grid as electrical lineworkers. A group of 19 investor-owned electric companies sponsored this year’s event, and they and many others regularly send their best crews.

Teams of lineworkers compete in a series of skills challenges—including the pole climb, or “egg climb,” and the hurtman rescue, in which lineworkers retrieve suspended manikins to simulate assisting an injured crewmember. Contestants also compete in a series of mystery events that aren’t revealed until the night before the rodeo.

“The weather played in our favor. It was a nice warm day, maybe a little too hot,” Michaud said following his and Henley’s first-place finish in the pole climb. “Thank God it didn’t rain. We’ve had that in the past. We’ve had freezing cold weather. That all plays a part.”

Michaud and Henley have 42 years of collective experience between them maintaining energy grid infrastructure and 30 trips down to Kansas for the International Lineman’s Rodeo. They were far from the most senior lineworkers competing for bragging rights and recognition at the annual post-rodeo banquet. But, they were hardly the youngest, either, with apprentice linemen in their 20s also testing their mettle against peers from across the United States and Canada.

“This rodeo is a celebration of a craft that many would never venture into,” Virgil White, a distribution line construction supervisor at Evergy, said to rodeo participants during the opening ceremony. “Life literally is energized by the work provided by each one of you.”

‘We Do This Work Every Single Day’

Adam Beene, a restoration field operations manager with Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), competed in his 12th rodeo over the weekend. He and many other participants attended company-specific or regional rodeos earlier in the year to qualify for the International Lineman’s Rodeo. Interest in competing is high among lineworkers, competition is fierce, and team spots are limited.

Although there’s some practice associated with individual events, Beene stressed that there isn’t much competitors see at the rodeo that they don’t see out on the job.

“What we do every day is great training. We do this work every single day as linemen building and maintaining powerlines,” Beene said.

Beene joined PG&E 24 years ago, describing lineworking as a “great trade that’s been really good for me and my family.”

“My grandpa was a lineman. My dad was a lineman. My brother is a foreman. Combined, we have something like 150 years total service in the field as linemen working for PG&E,” Beene says. “It’s a lifesaving service that we do. We keep society going.”

Those familial ties are common among lineworkers, adding to the sense of pride and tradition associated with the job.

“My father-in-law worked on a line crew. I found it very interesting, because I like working outside and working in the elements,” says Sandy Barnhill, a 37-year lineworking veteran and distribution engineering manager at Duke Energy. “If you love helping people, helping your community, and being an integral part of your community, this is a great career.”

Barnhill and others note that, although the rodeo is meant to be a fun and informative display of skill, the work is not easy, and the risk of injury is ever-present.

“Anybody that gets into this trade, if you have a passion for linework, you’ll excel. But, make sure you have the passion for it. This is a deadly job,” says Eversource Energy’s Michaud.

To drive home the emphasis on safety, judges at the rodeo watch contestants closely and deduct points if they perform maneuvers deemed to be unsafe.

“What makes anyone good at this job is safety. That is the most important thing,” says Chad Guthrie, director of distribution construction operations at OG&E. “There are years of training, and it’s not just training that happens one time early in your career. It happens constantly throughout your career.”

‘Today, We Have Focused on Today’

Barnhill, whose Duke Energy team placed first in the 45-and-up senior division this year, first attended the rodeo in 2001 but hasn’t made it every year. Based out of Fuquay-Varina, N.C., near Raleigh, Barnhill and his colleagues are regularly called when storms strike the East Coast, which isn’t uncommon this time of year.

That was the case in 2024, when Hurricanes Helene and Milton devastated portions of Duke Energy’s service territory and the broader East Coast. Instead of traveling to Kansas, Barnhill and his colleagues were focused on recovery and restoration, particularly in western North Carolina, where storm damage was catastrophic.

“We worked all in the mountain zone, around Spruce Pine, Burnsville, Asheville, back towards Black Mountain. The devastation that was there was mind blowing—something like I had never seen,” says Barnhill, who grew up in the Asheville area. “I’ve worked storms my whole career, going all the way back to Hurricane Hugo in 1989. This one was more impactful than anything I had ever seen.”

An army of more than 50,000 workers from all over the United States and Canada deployed to the Southeastern United States last year to assist the response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Crews spent weeks—in some cases months—helping communities rebuild following the storms. Those efforts and the devastation those crews worked through was still top of mind for many in Kansas.

“Today, we have focused on today. We have been ecstatic over the course the hurricanes and storms have taken this year,” says Barnhill, noting that this has been a quieter storm season on the East Coast.

Mutual assistance work is a hallmark of the lineworking trade, and, although they work in dangerous and difficult conditions, many lineworkers develop friendships over the years that they’re able to spark up again at events like the rodeo.

“You get all the companies out here that you go to work with during storms and hurricanes. There might be times you meet people during storms or at other events, so there’s a lot of camaraderie here,” says Chris Bristol, an OG&E manager of distribution construction. “There’s a little bit of trash talking that goes on. But, it’s all camaraderie.”

‘It’s a Big Family’

Todd Scheitel, a MidAmerican Energy transmission and distribution construction manager from Council Bluffs, Iowa, pulled into the parking lot of the rodeo grounds at 4:15 a.m. the day of the competition.

“We started cooking breakfast to get meals ready for all the competitors, the support staff, the family members,” said Scheitel, stepping away from the grill he would later use to cook a lunch of hamburgers and bratwurst for the MidAmerican Energy group and the broader team from parent company Berkshire Hathaway Energy.

Scheitel is a former rodeo competitor who attended his first event in 2003. He’s now one of hundreds who travels to Kansas each year in a support role, helping handle food and logistics for lineworkers competing in what many of them consider to be their Super Bowl.

“My favorite part of this rodeo is the camaraderie, the family, the friends. There are some guys who I only get to see this time of year,” he said. “To see the guys I used to work with, climb poles with, do transmission and distribution work with, it’s fun. It’s a big family.”

It’s a big family event, to be sure. Many companies encourage lineworkers to bring their loved ones to join in the festivities and get a front-row seat to what they do on the job. There are hayrides, bucket truck lifts, and children's events throughout the day to keep what could be the next generation of lineworkers interested and entertained.

“A good part of the rodeo is that you get to show the skills you learn on the job. The best part of the rodeo is that your families get to see what you do every day,” says OG&E’s Bristol. “There’s such a family atmosphere here. You’re competing to show that you’re better than everyone else. But, your family gets to see it, as well. That’s the best thing for me.”

As rodeo competitors, judges, support crews, families, and spectators began packing up for the day, Eversource Energy’s Henley stood in front of the poles he and Michaud had successfully scaled earlier that day.

Henley speaks with humility—until asked about his son, a 21-year-old overhead lineman apprentice in his first year on the job.

“Every day he comes home, it’s great conversation. We get to talk about what he did, and it brings me back to when I was an apprentice,” Henley says.

Henley’s son was not at the International Lineman's Rodeo this year but has recently competed in smaller rodeos. “I think I was more nervous than him” during his first event, Henley says. “He did a great job.”

“I just want to put my stuff on and go climbing with him. He’s doing his thing and working his way up, and I hope he does just as well or better than me,” he says.

Investor-Owned Electric Companies Building Resilient Communities

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 16:44:00 +0200

The CenterPoint Energy Foundation in August donated $1 million to the Salvation Army to support emergency response in the Greater Houston area—part of investor-owned electric companies’ broader efforts to build and support crisis-response frameworks in the communities they serve.

“The CenterPoint Energy Foundation believes in the power of collaboration to build stronger, more resilient communities,” CenterPoint Energy's Executive Vice President and General Counsel Monica Karuturi said in a statement. “We know that these emergency situations can happen at any time.”

The five-year grant will help the Salvation Army serve vulnerable populations, including families, youth, seniors, and the unsheltered during crises and extreme weather events.

It’s the foundation’s latest effort to foster resilience across CenterPoint Energy’s service territory. Earlier this year, the CenterPoint Energy Foundation facilitated the donation of more than 20 backup generators to strategically significant locations throughout Houston and the surrounding counties. The foundation worked with state and local officials and Texas Offices of Emergency Management to ensure these generators would support the distribution of essential services like medical care, water, and food during emergencies.

EEI member companies invest heavily in the energy grid, building and fortifying critical energy infrastructure to withstand threats of all kinds. Additionally, lineworkers from EEI member companies are on the front lines during storms and other disasters, working to quickly restore power and hope when Mother Nature is at her worst. EEI issued its annual Emergency Response Awards in September, recognizing more than two dozen member companies that put forth outstanding efforts to safely and efficiently restore service to the public following a storm or natural disaster.

Behind the scenes, however, CenterPoint Energy is one of many electric companies investing heavily in their communities. During National Preparedness Month in September and throughout the year, EEI member companies are critical to crisis planning and community resilience projects, supporting local response networks and first responders.

The Duke Energy Foundation in June announced plans to commit $1.5 million through the 2025 Helping Emergency Response Organizations (HERO) grant program to boost community readiness and resilience, supporting local agencies and the American Red Cross throughout the company’s service territory in North Carolina, South Carolina, Indiana, Florida, Ohio, and Kentucky.

The grants will support first responder training and the purchase of lifesaving equipment and technology to help during weather-related disaster planning and response.

“These grants are an investment in the resilience of our communities,” said Duke Energy Foundation President Amy Strecker. “When the unexpected strikes, our partners on the front lines need resources they can rely on—and we’re proud to help power their efforts.”

In September, Black Hills Energy issued $135,000 in Funds for Firefighters safety grants across Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming. The grants are designed to help local fire departments purchase protective equipment, specialized tools, and other first responder essentials.

“At Black Hills Energy, we believe that when we invest in those who protect our communities, we’re building a stronger, safer future for everyone,” Kevin Jarosz, vice president of Black Hills Energy Nebraska and Iowa operations, said in a statement.

Similarly, the We Energies Foundation announced in August that it would issue grants totaling $100,000 to help local first responders purchase lifesaving equipment and strengthen public safety. Since 2020, the We Energies Foundation has donated $500,000 to help police, fire, and emergency medical services agencies improve public safety across Wisconsin and Michigan.

“We are honored to continue our support of public safety agencies and the invaluable impact they make every day,” said We Energies Foundation President Beth Straka. “The important tools we help provide our first responders—from vital medical devices to heavy-duty equipment—can be critical in keeping people and our communities safe.”

Electric company-led community resilience projects can take many forms. Some come as one-time donations or grants, while others are set up to provide ongoing financial support over a longer period of time. The Portland General Electric Foundation in 2021 established the Responsive Philanthropy Fund to swiftly address community needs following crises. During a winter ice storm last year, the Fund distributed $50,000 to nonprofits that provided warming shelters and basic needs like food, clothing, and housing assistance to impacted customers.

Additionally, 2025 marked the eighth year of an ongoing partnership involving Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and the California Fire Foundation. Through the partnership, $950,000 in grants will be issued this year to California-based fire departments and community organizations in support of wildfire safety and preparedness projects. And, PG&E and the PG&E Foundation committed $1.65 million to support the state’s Wildfire Safety and Preparedness Program, which raises public awareness about wildfire safety and delivers resources to underserved communities in high fire-risk areas.

“The projects that these grants fund, such as creating defensible space, enabling fuel-reduction programs, and conducting fire-safety outreach campaigns, are essential across our service area and especially within underserved communities,” PG&E Senior Vice President for Wildfire, Emergency, and Operations Mark Quinlan said in a statement.

EEI member companies know that resilience is a team sport—and that effective and productive partnerships with government officials and local leaders produce better outcomes for customers when disaster strikes.

“These partnerships help ensure an efficient response, using the strengths and resources of both industry and government to restore power quickly and to support storm-affected communities and customers,” Southern Company Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Stan Connally wrote in an article for Electric Perspectives earlier this year. “By working together, we can mitigate the impact of disasters, enhance resilience, and expedite recovery efforts.”

Through their long-standing partnerships with federal, state, and local leaders and their ongoing engagement in mutual assistance, EEI member companies are actively engaged in crisis preparation and response efforts throughout the year. And, their engagement with the CEO-led Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council allows them to coordinate with government partners at the U.S. Departments of Energy and Homeland Security and the National Security Council to ensure industry and government alignment in preparing for and responding to national-level disasters and threats.

Learn more about the industry’s resilience initiatives at eei.org/mutual-assistance.

Leading a Proactive, Nimble, Impactful Association: Q&A With EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney

Mon, 22 Sep 2025 15:48:00 +0200

This summer, EEI welcomed Drew Maloney as its new president and CEO. Maloney has spent the past 30 years at the cross-section of politics and policy.

He previously served as president and CEO of the American Investment Council (AIC), where he built a reputation for effective industry advocacy and strategic leadership. Prior to that, he was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Legislative Affairs.

Maloney appeared on the Electric Perspectives podcast to discuss his priorities for EEI; the electric power industry’s commitment to providing reliable, affordable energy for customers nationwide; and how the industry is strengthening America’s energy dominance.

Electric Perspectives (EP): During your first few months in your role, what are your first impressions of the work underway at EEI and with its member companies?

Drew Maloney (DM): This is a tremendous time to be involved in the electric power industry. I have been impressed with the amount of work underway, and the commitment to energy policy, here at EEI.

Member engagement is one of the unique values that EEI has, and members are really engaged in policy discussion.

An example of the commitment our members have to the customers they serve is the annual EEI Emergency Response Awards. What some of these members have done for disaster relief in their communities is just amazing. In a matter of days, they've rebuilt millions and billions of dollars of infrastructure that was impacted by storms, wildfires, or extreme weather. This kind of response—and this type of commitment to communities—really stands out for our members.

EP: What led you to EEI, and how will you leverage your background and expertise as EEI and its members engage in policy discussions?

DM: When I started my young career as a staffer on Capitol Hill, energy was one of the first areas with which I was involved. I was working for a lawmaker from Mississippi, and I distinctly remember Southern Company and Entergy coming into our offices to educate me on energy policy.

Ever since, I've had a fondness for energy. I later ended up working for an oil and gas company and am now leading EEI. This is the culmination of my policy background—understanding how Washington works and how to navigate that to achieve outcomes that help our members serve their customers in a reliable, affordable way.

EP: What insights can you share about cutting through the noise in Washington and working with our partners on Capitol Hill?

DM: Washington has become a very noisy place. It requires you to stay focused on what your message is and to repeat your message, because so many other people are out there with their own messages.

A lot of people make the mistake of being too complicated in their messaging. You really need to focus on your one pager.

The other thing to remember is that you have to build champions to achieve the legislative outcomes that you want in Washington, and those champions aren't always built in Washington. EEI’s secret sauce is that we build those champions in every community across America. That's how you are ultimately successful in advancing policy goals.

EP: Things also change quickly in Washington. How are you making sure EEI is ready to engage and to create opportunities for changing the conversation?

DM: I've given a lot of thought to what makes a trade association successful. In today's very complex and noisy environment, you have to be very proactive, very nimble, and very impactful. That's the culture that I want to build out at EEI.

We have to be ahead of the curve. In the current construct, you could have state policies, federal policies, or engagement on Capitol Hill switching on a dime. As an organization, you have to be able to act quickly.

You also need to create a “surround sound” supporting your advocacy. It used to be that you just had a team of lobbyists that would advocate on your behalf. Today, you not only need that team of lobbyists—you need support from third-party advocates. You need partners out there who are supporting you.

You have other trade associations working with you. You have a social media plan. You have research. You have all these other items out there that complement what you’re doing. You have to make sure they’re all working in concert to deliver the message and deliver the value and the advocacy that you need.

You have to be a results-oriented organization. That’s exactly what I intend EEI to be. I can already see, as we’re responding to different needs with the Administration, how we’re being proactive and how we’re being nimble. That’s how you get the impact that you want here in Washington.

EP: Earlier this summer, you attended the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit, which was hosted by Sen. Dave McCormick (R-PA). What did you think of the event? How were attendees thinking about the role that electric companies play in these conversations?

DM: We are at a unique moment in time, with unprecedented growth in the energy sector. You have the reshoring of manufacturing that's requiring more energy. You have AI and innovation requiring more energy. You're seeing electrification—whether that involves cars or homes—raising demand for energy.

We have a critical role to play, and we are playing that critical role to meet demand. What that event allowed us to do is highlight the investments we're making and show the partnerships we're forging in the private sector to deliver power in a reliable and responsible way.

EP: Was it encouraging to see participation from President Donald Trump?

DM: Yes, and there was an incredible turnout. We also had Gov. Josh Shapiro, the Democratic governor of Pennsylvania. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) was there. It really showed a bipartisan breadth of support for innovation and for energy. We also had several of our Pennsylvania members in attendance talking about the investments and commitments they're making to drive innovation and economic activity.

EP: EEI recently published its annual Financial Review, which detailed the industry’s financial performance during the past year. What are your key takeaways from the report?

DM: What stood out to me is the scale of investment planned in the years ahead. We’re projected to invest more than $1.1 trillion into energy infrastructure across America during the next five years. And, I actually think that number could be conservative.

That demonstrates that we are a partner for local communities. We're a partner for the government. We are working with a spectrum of stakeholders to meet energy demand in our communities while prioritizing affordability for customers, for small businesses, for farmers, all while meeting our nation’s growth and innovation needs.

EP: Earlier, you mentioned the importance of strategic communication and storytelling in Washington. How did you think about these priorities at AIC, and what do you think can be applied to your work at EEI?

DM: A great example of an opportunity for EEI would be the Emergency Response Awards, highlighting what our member companies have done in their communities to respond to natural disasters—or partnerships that we have with different groups that enhance or demonstrate our customer solutions.

Every industry is challenged with getting their story out, especially in Washington, where everyone is trying to tell their own story. You just can't tell your story often enough, and that’s what we’re going to focus on.

I want to improve our storytelling. I want to tell our stories more often. I want to be louder about it. I want to make sure that the stories we're telling are being told in the communities that our members serve. Then, we need to translate those stories in Washington, because these are great stories. We're great community partners, and we need to be better about highlighting our stories.

EP: For many years, EEI’s tagline has been Power by Association^SM. What does that concept mean to you as you think about delivering value to EEI’s members?

DM: EEI’s CEO engagement is unique. Our member companies want to see their message and their policy successful here in Washington. What EEI's mantra—“Power by Association”—means is that we can accomplish a lot more by working together. When the most successful companies in Washington can come together with one single voice, they are so much more effective.

As a former government worker, having worked on Capitol Hill and in a previous Administration, I would go to trade associations when I wanted to get a view on energy or financial services. They represent the collective voice, and it's easier for a policymaker to go one-stop shopping as opposed to piecing together the views of different member companies.

When we as EEI come in, we bring member companies, and we bring one unified voice. That is a real value add that we have at EEI.

EP: Switching gears, you serve as Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees for the Meridian International Center. You and your wife established the Klein-Maloney Fellowship for Women in the Sciences at your alma mater, Randolph-Macon College. What more can you share about your philanthropic work and life outside of EEI?

DM: My wife and I met in college. She's a very accomplished scientist at Johns Hopkins University. She studies women's health, and she noticed a need for more women going into scientific fields. We decided to create a fellowship at our alma mater, encouraging women to perform research projects during the summer that we fund.

It's very exciting for her and for me, as well. We're the parents of two daughters, so we're committed to making sure that they have a path forward in life. We thought it was important to give back, because our college was instrumental in our lives.

The Meridian International Center’s global diplomacy work also is very important. While most of our activities at EEI are focused on domestic markets, what happens overseas and the trends that you see internationally are important and ultimately influence what happens in the United States.

I have always been interested in that sort of work, and it helps make me a better advocate who has a better grasp on what's happening in other regions of the world that may influence what we do here at home.

EP: During EEI 2025 in New Orleans, you mentioned that your first job was a sheep and poultry farm worker. Did you learn any lessons in that role that still guide you today?

DM: You have to get up early to finish your chores on a farm. I'm glad that, today, I don't have the same chores that I did when I was a young 4-H and FFA member. But, that sort of work does teach you responsibility early on.

I grew up in a rural part of Virginia, and I've lived in Washington, D.C., for most of my adult life. I appreciate having that perspective, understanding the challenges faced by people on a farm where I grew up. I have a better understanding of what and how to communicate with different audiences, because I feel like I've lived in different places.

I really do treasure growing up on a farm, raising sheep, going to the county fair. It was a lot of fun, and I wish my kids had that same opportunity.

Resilience and Renewal: 20 Years of Progress Since Hurricanes Katrina and Rita

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 16:36:52 +0200

Like many of you, I have strong emotions about the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and its impact on the city we call home—New Orleans. I remain in awe of nature’s raw power on that fateful day and deeply sad about the tragedy brought by the storm to so many. Considering Katrina, and its equally terrifying counterpart, Hurricane Rita—which struck the Louisiana/Texas border just a few weeks later—I’m also inspired by how our recovery showed the power and resilience of the human spirit and what determined people coming together can achieve.

Then, as now, New Orleans was the home to Entergy’s corporate headquarters. Thousands of our employees and their families lived in the places hardest hit by Katrina. I’m honored that our employees met the challenge head on, from those working at our generation plants and headquarters to those restoring power at Entergy New Orleans, our local operating company. Many of them helped the region recover even as they suffered their own personal losses.

The lessons learned after Hurricane Katrina made us a stronger, more customer-focused company, and to this day, we know that progress requires dedication and power—for homes, businesses, communities, and our lives. The spirit of that day endures in our vision statement, “We Power Life,” as we channel those lessons into the work that we do every day, even 20 years later from that impactful time.

Today, we’re a leader across our industry and in our hometown. Our utility workers are nationally recognized for storm response. In fact, during a major storm anywhere in the country, there’s a good chance Entergy will be called on for expertise and support.

We are a leader in corporate giving. For the 10th year, Entergy was named to The Civic 50, the Points of Light's prestigious annual list that recognizes top companies for employee volunteerism and community investment. In 2024 alone, we contributed $4.3 million to more than 100 New Orleans nonprofits.

And, we are a leader in economic development, collaborating to help Louisiana secure major new investments in the data center, liquefied natural gas, steel, and petrochemical industries. Earlier this year, we served as founding partner for the Super Bowl 59 Host Committee, contributing millions of dollars to host this major event that brought more than $1.25 billion in economic impact to our state, region, and city.

We continue our work in close collaboration with our regulators and communities as we build energy infrastructure that makes the grid stronger and more resilient for years to come—an energy grid designed to withstand the harshest conditions. That work balances affordability, reliability, and sustainability on behalf of all our customers.

In New Orleans, the City Council recently approved Phase 1 of our proposed resilience plan, which includes strengthening more than 3,000 structures and upgrading more than 60 miles of electric lines.

The Louisiana Public Service Commission also approved the first phase of those efforts, which includes 2,100 incremental Entergy projects across the state. By reinforcing our grid ahead of severe weather, Louisiana customers will save an estimated $1.2 billion in storm costs.

The Public Utility Commission of Texas approved an investment of $137 million in projects to strengthen the Southeast Texas power grid, reduce storm-related outages, and save customers millions in restoration costs for decades.

And, while we are making these needed investments, we are mindful that 40 percent of our residential customers live at or below the poverty level. That reality is part of each business decision we make in New Orleans and everywhere we serve. As a result, we continue to maintain some of the lowest electric rates in the country and work hard every day to keep bills as low as possible.

Twenty years on, the lessons of Katrina endure, and the resilience of this community continues to inspire. New Orleans remains our home as we work for everyone and honor our commitment to safely serve our city and the region. The people of Entergy are optimistic about the future, ready for anything, and striving to lead the way to a brighter future for all of us.

Read about how Entergy restored more than just power at entergy.com/Katrina20.

Drew Marsh is Chair and CEO of Entergy.

EEI’s Drew Maloney: Permitting Reform to ‘Unleash America’s Electric Companies’

Tue, 16 Sep 2025 20:45:45 +0200

EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney on Tuesday wrote to Congressional leaders urging them to advance siting and permitting legislation that would “help end needless litigation, ensure reliability at the lowest cost, and fuel economic growth.”

“Electric companies are focused on building new generation and transmission projects quickly and without unnecessary delays and costs,” said Maloney. “Current siting and permitting processes—and the protracted litigation they often entail—can stop projects in their tracks or add years to deployment timelines, saddling customers with needless costs and slowing economic growth.”

Speaking on behalf of America’s investor-owned electric companies, which serve more than 250 million Americans, support more than 7 million jobs across the country, and plan to invest more than $1.1 trillion during the next five years to power economic prosperity, Maloney called on Congress to:

Streamline the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to ensure speed and certainty for NEPA reviews and set reasonable bounds for legal challenges. Passing the Standardizing Permitting and Expediting Economic Development (SPEED) Act introduced by U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Bruce Westerman (R-AR) and Rep. Jared Goldman (D-ME) is a necessary first step.
Strengthen and extend nationwide permitting under Clean Water Act (CWA) Section 404/Rivers and Harbors Act Section 10. Codify and expand this already working permit program.
Speed up and focus state water quality certifications under CWA Section 401. Center these certifications on direct discharges and establish appropriate timelines for state action.
Right-size the scope of the National Historic Preservation Act Section 106 to both ensure historic preservation and the ability to grow and deploy new infrastructure.

Permitting reform is slated to be a key topic on Capitol Hill in the months ahead, with a U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Environment Subcommittee hearing on permitting reform under the Clean Air Act scheduled for Tuesday afternoon.

Reform would “unleash America’s electric companies,” Maloney wrote, voicing support for “bipartisan, common-sense reforms to achieve energy dominance, win the AI race, and allow electric companies to meet increasing energy demand reliably and affordably.”

Scroll down to read Maloney’s full letter to lawmakers.

Focus on Affordability: EEI Member Companies Connecting Customers With Financial Support

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 19:57:00 +0200

Customer affordability has long been a priority for investor-owned electric companies, particularly during summer months when air conditioning and energy use tend to spike, putting upward pressure on energy bills.

As artificial intelligence (AI) and data centers, increased industrialization and the reshoring of manufacturing activity, and the broader electrification of the economy continue to push electricity demand higher, EEI member companies are proactively developing customer support programs and raising awareness of existing federal, state, and company-specific resources to help ensure customers who need financial assistance are able to access it.

Each August, EEI and the National Energy & Utility Affordability Coalition observe Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Action Month, to help raise awareness of and advocate for federal funding for LIHEAP. The program plays a critical role in helping low-income customers manage their energy bills, providing essential heating and cooling assistance to eligible families. EEI is actively engaging with our partners on Capitol Hill to stress the importance of the program.

Additionally, many EEI member companies also are rolling out innovative financial assistance tools and relief programs to help keep customer bills as low as possible.

In June, Exelon Corporation and its local affiliate companies—Atlantic City Electric, BGE, ComEd, Delmarva Power, and Pepco—rolled out a $50-million Customer Relief Fund, partnering with local nonprofits to help limited- and middle-income customers in need of energy bill assistance this summer.

“Exelon understands that high energy bills, caused by increased supply costs, are extremely stressful for low- and middle-income customers—which includes many seniors, small business owners, and families experiencing challenges,” Exelon President and CEO Calvin Butler, who also currently serves as EEI Chair, said in a statement announcing his company’s Customer Relief Fund.

Similarly, Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) in July announced it would commit $50 million to new and existing financial assistance programs. It also announced a new dollar-for-dollar matching program up to $1,000 to help eligible customers pay past-due bills. An estimated 400,000 customers are expected to be eligible for the new program based on federal income guidelines.

Exelon and PG&E are among EEI’s largest member companies, but electricity providers of all sizes are shining a spotlight on similar initiatives to support the customers and communities they serve.

Developing Innovative Solutions

Among the new EEI member-led financial support initiatives to launch this summer is the Public Service Electric and Gas Company’s (PSE&G’s) Summer Relief Initiative, designed to protect residential customers from higher energy bills. PSE&G in June received approval from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities to issue temporary credits to customers, partially offsetting higher energy prices in the region. The company also issued a Summer Moratorium on disconnections for qualified customers and is waiving reconnection fees.

Many other companies are partnering with local nonprofits and philanthropic organizations to ensure resources flow to the most vulnerable. The Duke Energy Foundation, for example, committed $400,000 in June to its Share the Light Fund, which supports customers facing financial hardship across the six states that Duke Energy serves. Through the Share the Light Fund, Duke Energy works with local nonprofit agencies that can help connect individual customers with the resources and aid for which they qualify. The foundation’s latest contribution builds on the $11 million that Duke Energy, its foundation, its employees, and its customers have committed to such efforts during the past three years.

“We know that behind every request for assistance is a story—a family, a friend, a community member working to get through a tough time,” Duke Energy Foundation President Amy Strecker said in a statement. “Through the Share the Light Fund and our local partners, we’re able to support our neighbors in their moment of need.”

Driving Energy Efficiency

EEI member companies also are working directly with corporate and residential customers to help them improve their energy efficiency, do more with less electricity, and lower their monthly bills. Dominion Energy Senior Policy Director Tonya Byrd wrote in Electric Perspectives earlier this year about her company’s energy efficiency renovation efforts, describing a project that involved upgrading a local senior citizen’s aging HVAC system, heat pump, ducts, and light fixtures.

Similarly, Entergy Texas earlier this year hosted a series of community events in Cleveland and Huntsville to provide no-cost air conditioning tune-ups to eligible customers. Some customers also received free energy efficiency products and home weatherization upgrades.

The air conditioning work is part of the company’s broader CoolSaver program, which provides free HVAC services valued at more than $200 per home. Qualified technicians clean and calibrate the output of existing systems to improve performance and help customers reduce their energy usage.

“We know the Texas summer heat can be relentless, and so can high energy bills if systems aren’t running efficiently,” Entergy Texas Energy Efficiency Program Manager Mark Delavan said in a statement. “These tune-ups can make a big difference in the homes and wallets of our customers.”

Raising Customer Awareness

Six in seven families eligible for LIHEAP assistance are not actively enrolled in the program, largely because they are unfamiliar with the resources available to them. Many EEI member companies see similar barriers to enrollment in state- and company-specific programs and are actively working to educate customers and streamline application processes.

Xcel Energy’s Resources. Education. Delivered. (RED) Truck launched in 2023 to bring information about financial assistance directly to customers. The RED Truck travels to fairs and community events, where bilingual Xcel Energy account representatives can help customers understand the resources available to them and answer questions about their accounts.

“By connecting with our customers where they live, work, and play, the RED Truck ensures their voices are heard and their needs are met, aligning with our mission to deliver safe, reliable, and affordable service,” Xcel Energy—Colorado President Robert Kenney said in a statement. “The RED Truck initiative lets our customers know they can rely on us to be where they need us to answer questions and provide support.”

PNM raises awareness of its Good Neighbor Fund by participating in community resource events across Albuquerque and its wider service territory. The PNM Good Neighbor Fund provides electric bill assistance to low-income and income-qualified customers, including seniors and other vulnerable groups.

The fund, which is distributed through a partnership with the Rio Grande Food Project, helps qualified customers stay connected to electricity during challenging times. PNM hosts several on-site bill assistance events throughout the year to provide customers and community members with direct access to these vital resources. During the events, PNM team members are available to answer questions, review customer eligibility, and help customers with bill assistance applications.

Electricity customers looking for assistance can visit EEI’s Energy Affordability hub for more information about what local resources may be available in their community, including federal LIHEAP eligibility, and for EEI’s guide to more than 100 ways to improve your electric bill, including energy efficiency updates and actions that customers can take to help lower energy bills.

Powering America: Profiles of the Nation's Lineworkers

Thu, 14 Aug 2025 00:06:00 +0200

Lineworkers are essential to the electric power industry’s efforts to enhance and strengthen the energy grid. They play a key role in building, installing, and maintaining the critical energy infrastructure and smart grid technologies that are helping to reduce outage times and to keep customer bills as low as possible. They work around the clock and in dangerous conditions after hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes, and other extreme weather events to restore power and hope to impacted communities.

Electric Perspectives spoke with five lineworkers who are members of IBEW Local chapters and who work for EEI member companies to learn more about the day-to-day realities of the trade. These highly skilled workers power our economy and our way of life, and we are grateful for their service.

EEI Financial Review: Electric Companies to Invest More Than $1.1 Trillion to Power Economic, Energy Security

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 21:57:29 +0200

EEI on Wednesday published its 2024 Financial Review, a wide-ranging report showcasing investor-owned electric companies’ strong financial footing.

EEI member companies invested a record $178.2 billion last year to make the energy grid smarter, stronger, more dynamic, and more secure, according to the report. This was the 13th-consecutive year of record capital investment for EEI member companies, with more than $30 billion allocated to adaptation, hardening, and resilience projects to strengthen the nation’s transmission and distribution infrastructure for all customers.

“Importantly, EEI member companies are projected to make similar investments of more than $1.1 trillion between 2025 and 2029, creating millions of jobs and supporting local economies across the country,” EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney said in a statement. “As always, we remain committed to keeping customer bills as low as possible as we work to deliver the reliable, secure electricity that is enabling innovation and enhancing the energy leadership of the United States.”

EEI member companies are continuing to invest to support growing electricity demand driven by artificial intelligence and data center expansion, industrialization and the reshoring of manufacturing activity, and the electrification of the broader economy. The sector is the most capital-intensive in the U.S. economy, and these investments support local jobs, empower communities, and drive economic development.

The report also showed that the industry’s average credit rating at the parent company level remained at BBB+ for the 11th-consecutive year, having increased from BBB in 2014, among other financial metrics.

The electric power industry accounts for at least 5 percent of U.S. GDP and supports more than 7 million jobs across the country. Its financial health is critical to unlocking the capital necessary to build new critical energy infrastructure of all kinds.

Visit eei.org to read through the report.

EEI Member Companies Helping to Drive $90 Billion in AI, Energy Investments in Pennsylvania

Thu, 17 Jul 2025 19:09:35 +0200

EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney and CEOs from four EEI member companies convened with industry, government, and technology leaders at the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh, where it was announced that the Commonwealth will see an influx of more than $90 billion in artificial intelligence (AI) and energy infrastructure investments in the coming years.

Maloney joined President Donald J. Trump, U.S. Senator Dave McCormick, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, and other senior officials at the event, which emphasized the essential role electricity plays in powering the nation’s economy and advancing technologies like AI.

“We applaud Senator McCormick for convening today’s event with President Trump and for shining a bright light on the critical role electricity plays in powering innovation and driving economic growth,” said Maloney. “The more than $90 billion in new investments announced today will help fund energy infrastructure projects, connect data centers as quickly as they are built, and create thousands of jobs. These types of investments highlight the commitment of America’s electric companies to delivering the reliable, affordable electricity that makes innovation possible.”

During the summit, EEI member company PPL Corporation announced the formation of a joint venture with Blackstone Infrastructure to build, own, and operate new natural gas-based, combined-cycle generation stations to power data centers under long-term energy services agreements with regulated-like risk profiles that do not expose the companies to merchant energy and capacity price volatility.

“We are committed to developing creative solutions to some of the most pressing challenges we face in today’s changing energy landscape. And in Blackstone Infrastructure, we’ve found a tremendous partner and long-term energy infrastructure investor that not only has deep expertise in data center development and power generation but also shares our passion to deliver America’s AI dominance and to help address resource adequacy concerns within PJM,” PPL President and CEO Vincent Sorgi said in a statement.

As the hometown electric company, Duquesne Light thanked the organizers of the summit and emphasized the company’s economic impact in Pittsburgh and throughout western Pennsylvania.

Five EEI member companies—Duquesne Light, FirstEnergy Corporation, PECO, PPL Electric Utilities, and UGI Utilities—collectively serve more than 5.9 million customers in Pennsylvania. Their investments in grid infrastructure in Pennsylvania are projected to more than double during the next four years to meet customer demand, boosting economic development and job growth in local communities.

Although future projections vary, experts agree that Pennsylvania’s and America’s appetite for electricity is only moving in one direction: up. Nationally, EEI member companies are projected to make more than $202 billion in grid investments this year alone.

“Through 2029, FirstEnergy is investing more than $28 billion in capital systemwide to modernize local distribution systems and strengthen the transmission network. In Pennsylvania, that includes spending $15 billion in the infrastructure enhancements, people, processes, and facilities needed to deliver safe, reliable power,” FirstEnergy Corporation Board Chair, President, and CEO Brian X. Tierney said in a statement. “This year alone, more than 40 new journey-level hires and apprentices will join our Pennsylvania team in well-paying, meaningful careers with long-term growth opportunity.”

Additionally:

Duquesne Light plans to invest $2.7 billion during the next five years to upgrade the safety, reliability, and resilience of its service and grid infrastructure.
PECO is investing approximately $9.3 billion during the next five years across its electric and natural gas systems to complete targeted system enhancements and corrective maintenance, invest in new equipment, inspect equipment, and perform enhanced tree trimming and other vegetation management.
PPL Electric Utilities, PPL’s regulated utility subsidiary in Pennsylvania, has made more than $13 billion in grid investments since 2013 and plans to invest nearly $7 billion more through 2028.
Between the company’s 2023 and 2025 fiscal years, capital expenditures for UGI Utilities are projected to reach nearly $1.4 billion.

These investments allow electric companies to meet new and rising demand from data centers and AI technologies, industrialization and the reshoring of manufacturing activity, and the electrification of the transportation sector, among other drivers. Just last month, PECO committed to partnering with Amazon Web Services to support data center development in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Investor-owned electric companies also are increasingly embracing AI-enabled tools to power their operations, drive efficiency, and keep customer bills as low as possible. FirstEnergy is among several EEI member companies to use AI technology to inform its vegetation management strategy to help prevent wildfires and mitigate storm damage. Duquesne Light last year announced it would install an AI-powered system to help make underground grid maintenance safer and more efficient.

This trend of electric company AI adoption extends well beyond Pennsylvania’s borders. Last month at EEI 2025, Southern California Edison was awarded the 97th Edison Award for its Advanced Waveform Anomaly Recognition system, which uses advanced sensors and AI models to detect faults and reduce the number and length of outages within SCE’s service territory. Learn more about the project and catch up on highlights from EEI’s annual thought leadership forum at eei.org/2025.

Saluting Our Nation’s Lineworkers

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 22:39:00 +0200

On July 9, industry and labor leaders and representatives gathered at the Rayburn House Office Building to honor the brave men and women who help maintain America’s energy grid and power our nation. The Lineworker Appreciation Day Reception, held ahead of the annual National Lineworker Appreciation Day on July 10, celebrated workers’ commitment to service and dedication to their communities.

Representatives from the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), the National Electrical Contractors Association (NECA), and Pepco Holdings thanked the more than 150 members of Congress who cosponsored resolutions honoring lineworkers. The resolution was championed by U.S. Representatives Linda Sánchez (D-CA), Rob Bresnahan (R-PA), Donald Norcross (D-NJ), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), and by U.S. Senators Kevin Cramer (R-ND) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV).

Those at the event also saluted lineworkers across the country, including those in attendance from Pepco (members of IBEW Local #1900) and Entergy (members of IBEW Local #2286).

“These brave men and women are the face of our industry. They are essential to keeping the lights on for the customers and the communities we proudly serve,” said EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney. “They're the first responders who head towards danger when others are moving away and work around the clock to restore power.”

Maloney also commended lineworkers for their role in helping advance EEI member companies’ collective vision for a safe, reliable, and secure energy future.

IBEW Utility Director Drew Stover recounted the life of Henry Miller, a union organizer, lineworker, and the first president of the IBEW, who died on July 10, 1896, while restoring power in Washington, D.C. National Lineworker Appreciation Day is observed on July 10 to honor his legacy.

“He would be proud that there has been so much progress—not just in safety conditions, but in the IBEW’s partnership with management and with elected officials to bring about those changes,” Stover said. “You all meet every challenge and literally power America.”

NECA CEO David Long thanked EEI and the IBEW for their partnership and emphasized efforts to improve worker safety. “We’ve been able to reduce accidents and deaths on the job, and we’ll continue to have an impact, because we want to make sure that each one of you goes home every day,” he said.

Pepco Holdings President and CEO Tyler Anthony thanked IBEW Local #1900 leaders for their partnership on workforce development programs, as well as the lineworkers in attendance for working long days and in challenging conditions to ensure reliability during recent storms and a severe heatwave. “These lineworkers put their skills to work every day, and they are committed to maintaining and improving critical grid infrastructure,” he said.

Be sure to #ThankALineworker today and every day for their unwavering dedication.

EEI Welcomes Drew Maloney as New President and CEO

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 16:02:39 +0200

Drew Maloney started today as the new president and CEO of the Edison Electric Institute (EEI).

Maloney joins EEI from the American Investment Council (AIC), where he served as President and CEO since 2018, building a reputation for effective industry advocacy and strategic leadership, including efforts to promote investment in American energy production and critical infrastructure.

Prior to leading AIC, Maloney was unanimously confirmed by the Senate to serve as the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Legislative Affairs, where he worked on issues including tax policy and energy infrastructure investment policy.

“As AI transforms our industries, manufacturers return to our shores, and daily life becomes more electrified, the strength and resilience of America’s energy grid is more critical than ever,” said Maloney when he was announced as EEI's incoming leader earlier this year.

“EEI’s member companies make up an innovative and dynamic industry, and I am excited to work with them to lay out and execute policies to support critical infrastructure investment, accelerate the deployment of domestic energy sources, and keep energy affordable and reliable for customers. I am confident that, working with the Trump Administration and Congress, we will advance and strengthen American energy independence, national security, economic prosperity, and global leadership.”

Read his full bio here.

Highlights From EEI 2025

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 22:50:09 +0200

EEI 2025 Highlights—Electric Perspectives Podcast

Dive into part one of the EEI 2025 highlights series on the latest Electric Perspectives podcast episode, featuring EEI Chair Calvin Butler, president and CEO of Exelon; Entergy Chair and CEO Drew Marsh; and Entergy Louisiana President and CEO Phillip May.

Congratulations to the 2025 Edison Award Winners!

Edison International and Southern California Edison are winners of the domestic Edison Award, and Fortis, Inc. has won the international Edison Award.

During EEI 2025, EEI interim President and CEO Pat Vincent-Collawn presented the 97th Edison Award, the electric power industry's highest honor.

The award is selected each year by a panel of former energy industry executives in recognition of distinguished leadership, innovation, and contributions to the advancement of the electric power industry.

Learn more about this year's winners and finalists.

Committed to Resilience: A Q&A With Entergy's Drew Marsh

Mon, 26 May 2025 19:40:00 +0200

Electric Perspectives (EP): How has customer demand evolved during your three years as Entergy CEO and in the nearly three decades that you have been with the company?

Drew Marsh (DM): The demand growth that’s taking place across the country and in Entergy’s service area is unlike anything we have seen in recent history—and, in some ways, ever.

Not only is the need for electricity at an all-time high, there’s also an explosion of economic activity in the Gulf South that is bringing new opportunities, new industries, and new customers to the region we serve. It is an exciting time to be leading Entergy. We’re in a unique position to respond to several favorable trends—including technological advancement and the buildout of data centers, the onshoring of industrial and manufacturing activity, increased demand for clean energy, and electrification throughout the economy.

I am proud of our work to develop a customer-led plan that will drive continued growth, reliability, and resilience in the years ahead. Through 2028, we plan to invest $37 billion in critical energy infrastructure, including generation, transmission, and distribution. We’re also building new natural gas infrastructure across our service area, with regulatory approval pending on a series of combustion turbine plants in Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas that include accommodations for carbon capture technologies. We need to continue to embrace new technologies and to lead with innovation when it comes to powering the lives of our customers.

What has not changed for Entergy is our customer and community focus. For more than 100 years, we have been committed to serving our customers and to keeping their energy costs as low as possible—which is especially important in our region, with 40 percent of our residential customers living at or below the poverty line.

It’s our responsibility to balance building and strengthening the energy grid of the future with the needs and realities in our communities. We do this in a number of ways. Last year, Entergy launched the Leading Energy Affordability for All Task Force, which works with external partners to ensure our customers benefit from the $1.1 billion in grants, rebates, and funds available across our service area, including home energy rebates. While each of our Entergy operating companies has unique regulatory requirements for offering support through energy efficiency and demand response programs, we are united in our efforts to provide reliable, affordable, and increasingly clean energy to the customers and communities we serve.

EP: You mentioned your region’s industrial growth and new data center customers. What do you see as the key drivers of interest and investment in Entergy’s service territory?

DM: There are a number of natural advantages along the Gulf Coast and the Mississippi River. We are home to the largest industrial base in the United States. People all over the world are looking at the United States for investment opportunities, and our access to global markets matters for our industrial customers—as does our ease of access to ports, pipelines, rail lines, and domestic markets and supply chains.

Low energy costs and abundant energy transportation have long been drivers of economic activity in our region. They’re part of the reason why Meta is investing $10 billion to build a 1,500-megawatt (MW) data center in Richland Parish, La., why Amazon Web Services is dedicating $16 billion to a 650-MW data center project in Madison County, Miss., and why Hyundai Motor Group is planning to build a $5.8-billion steel manufacturing facility in Donaldsonville, La.

In our conversations with these customers, we discussed how Entergy offers benefits to them through our vertical integration and deep ties to our communities. We’re able to convene diverse groups of stakeholders when speaking with new customers, bringing elected officials, community leaders, and local vendors to the table. This is the power of partnership, and the aligned vision across all parties involved helps bring new jobs and dollars to the states we serve. The economic impact to our communities is significant.

Speed-to-market matters, particularly to our data center customers, and we’re able to collaborate and move quickly and comprehensively to bring new opportunities to our communities. Our customers also benefit from Entergy’s diverse energy mix. Modern natural gas accounted for 43 percent of our generating capacity last year—with carbon-free generation sources, including nuclear energy and a growing portfolio of renewables, accounting for nearly 25 percent.

Entergy has 1,600 MW of renewable capacity in service and brought more than 700 MW of solar online in 2024 alone, with the goal of advancing an additional 5,000 MW through 2028.

Many of our customers have their own emissions reduction goals, and our diversity of generation makes us a valuable partner that can provide reliable and affordable service.

In January, Marsh joined Entergy's executive leadership team to ring the New York Stock Exchange's closing bell.

EP: Building a secure and weather-resilient grid has become one of the industry’s top priorities. How are the hardening and resilience initiatives that you are leading at Entergy helping to protect your customers and communities?

DM: Much of Entergy’s footprint sits along or close to the Gulf Coast. While the geography offers unique advantages, it also makes us susceptible to hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and other severe weather events.

The energy grid we operate today was mostly built decades ago to a different standard and expectation than today’s modern life. That means it’s up to us and our government and regulatory partners to maintain and build a reliable and resilient grid for our customers with current weather patterns in mind.

Last year, Entergy Louisiana launched a five-year, $1.9-billion resilience plan that will see more than 2,100 projects aimed at hardening Louisiana’s energy transmission and distribution infrastructure. In January, Entergy Texas received approval for the first phase of a three-year, $137-million effort to reduce storm-related outages and to harden the Southeast Texas grid. Similar efforts in Arkansas, Mississippi, and throughout our region demonstrate our commitment to ensuring customers have access to power when they need it most.

Across our service area, we have invested more than $10 billion during the past five years to strengthen our transmission and distribution infrastructure, and we plan to make similar investments of $16 billion through 2028 to further support reliability and resilience.

Just last year, we received accelerated resilience approvals from our regulatory partners in Texas, Louisiana, and in New Orleans, specifically, that exceeded $2 billion. That allowed us to move forward with 73 distribution hardening projects and another 11 transmission projects. Some of these projects were in large economic hubs like New Orleans, but others were in more sparsely populated rural and coastal communities.

This work ranges from standard blocking-and-tackling efforts like hardening poles against high winds to integrating self-healing grid technologies that enhance our communication capabilities and allow us to restore power more quickly or to avoid outages altogether. We also ensure that all new substation structures and rebuilt infrastructure along the coast can withstand wind gusts of up to 150 miles per hour, as well as storm surge flooding.

I’m particularly proud of a 230-kilovolt transmission line that we completed in the Greater New Orleans area in 2022 that runs across the Mississippi River. The line and the towers that support it went from development to energization in less than one year—a significant accomplishment—and are capable of withstanding winds of up to 175 miles per hour.

EP: August will mark the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans and large swaths of Entergy’s service territory. Entergy spent years leading the rebuilding and restoration efforts. How have you seen the industry’s perspective on extreme weather change over time?

DM: Hurricane Katrina was a defining moment for our industry and our company. An estimated 1.1 million of our customers were impacted by Katrina—effectively one third of our service area. Roughly 90,000 square miles of the Gulf Coast was devastated by the storm, and much of New Orleans was submerged by floodwaters and storm surge that, in some areas, eclipsed 15 feet. More than 1,000 people lost their lives during Katrina, and it remains one of the most catastrophic storms ever recorded.

I’d been with Entergy for seven years prior to the storm, and I vividly remember our employees and crews—many of whom were personally impacted by Katrina—working day and night during and following the storm, first to lead response and recovery efforts and later to support a long and strategic rebuild. It was a true display of human resilience and heroic work in the face of horrific conditions, and it was essential to bringing back our communities by powering schools, grocery stores, gas stations, businesses, and homes.

I take pride in knowing our work helped turn the Gulf Coast into one of the nation’s greatest comeback stories in recent memory, and I know just how much work went into getting us there. Since that time, Entergy has invested billions of dollars into building weather-resilient infrastructure and hardening our grid to withstand Mother Nature’s worst.

Recovery from a storm like Hurricane Katrina does not happen overnight. However, our customers, industries, opportunity, and hope returned to the region, and the Gulf South today is the envy of much of the country and the world.

We’ve been tested plenty of times during recent years, including by Hurricanes Francine and Beryl just last year and by Ike, Harvey, Laura, Zeta, Ida, and many others in years prior. Our team captures lessons learned from every storm and every restoration effort as we work to improve customer outcomes and harden our infrastructure against future threats. We were proud to receive our 50th EEI Emergency Response Award earlier this year, recognizing the dedication and excellence of our power restoration workers during and after Francine.

“I take pride in knowing our work helped turn the Gulf Coast into one of the nation's greatest comeback stories in recent memory…”

EP: Can you discuss the culture that you’ve instilled at Entergy during your time as CEO?

DM: Our vision at Entergy is: “We power life.” That includes, but extends well beyond, the essential power that we provide for our customers and communities. It means we actively pursue economic development opportunities to improve the quality of life in the communities we serve. It also means we provide our employees with competitive compensation, opportunities for professional development, and work that makes a difference. And, it means we support our communities through a variety of philanthropic and advocacy efforts.

We are committed to upholding a system of shared values that guides our interactions with customers, employees, and other stakeholders. These values reflect the acronym STAIR: safety, teamwork, always learning, integrity, and respect. This serves as the backbone of our workplace culture and allows us to deliver long-term, sustainable value for every stakeholder on our path to becoming the premier electric company.

At Entergy, we also adhere to what we call our Code of Entegrity. This isn’t just a set of rules for employees—it’s an embodiment of our collective commitment to ethical conduct, fair business practices, and steadfast integrity. In all our interactions, we prioritize honesty and transparency, and we know that commitment starts from the top down. All our employees, myself included, are expected to demonstrate behaviors like making our customers more successful, continuously seeking improvement, collaborating and sharing knowledge, being accountable for results, and recognizing and rewarding outcomes.

It’s these sorts of commitments that have shaped Entergy into the institution that it is today. Earlier this year, we were honored to be named to Fortune Magazine’s World’s Most Admired Companies list and the JUST 100 rankings by JUST Capital and CNBC, recognizing the top 100 companies in the United States for serving customers, employees, communities, the environment, and other stakeholders. It’s validating to receive this recognition, and it’s rewarding to see the impact that a strong culture has on our employees and our communities.

EP: You mentioned service to your communities. Service is foundational to Entergy as a company and to the industry as a whole. Can you share more about your community engagement strategies and how you give back in the areas that you serve?

DM: Giving back to those we serve is in our DNA, and we’ve aligned our corporate social responsibility and philanthropic efforts with the significant needs of our region. I mentioned that 40 percent of those we serve live at or below the poverty line. About half of our 3 million customers have a combined household income below $60,000 per year.

Through strategic partnerships with our community advocates, we implemented a range of initiatives aimed at addressing poverty, promoting education and workforce development, providing financial assistance to vulnerable customers, improving our communities, and caring for the environment.

Since 2018, we’ve delivered more than $100 million annually in economic benefits to our communities through philanthropy, volunteerism, and advocacy. These efforts come through in a number of ways. When temperatures soared last summer, we donated $3 million to help low-income customers become more energy efficient and save money on their bills. Our Beat the Heat program helped our most vulnerable customers receive bill payment assistance, cooling fans, energy efficiency kits, home weatherization improvements, and support from our community partners.

Employee engagement has been critical to our impact as an organization. Entergy employees contributed more than 122,000 volunteer hours last year to a variety of local organizations working to make a meaningful difference and improve the quality of life in our communities. Our legal department alone contributed more than 4,900 hours of community service, collaborating with EEI and the Pro Bono Institute to organize EmPOWERING Pro Bono Day, offering customers pro bono legal assistance on a range of issues.

Additionally, our focus on supporting education and workforce development is critical to our communities—and to our industrial customers, who are bringing new opportunities that demand specialized skillsets. Through our Power of Prosperity program, we support Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and students through academic scholarships, facility grants and endowments, workforce development programs, internship opportunities, and access to resources and financial assistance.

Last year, we announced a 10-year, $20-million commitment to elevate and empower HBCUs and their students across Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. The Entergy Charitable Foundation also issued a $2-million grant to Jackson State University to develop a cybersecurity workforce training hub, which will help prepare students to fill the critical security positions that will be vital to our industry’s success as we move forward.

EP: You joined Entergy 27 years ago as an associate in strategic planning and special projects and subsequently advanced through the company. What advice would you give young workers today who may aspire to be among the next generation of energy leaders?

DM: It’s an inspiring time to be in the energy industry—electrification is on the rise, new industry demands are becoming a reality, and we’re facing more natural disasters than ever before. Thirty years ago, when I began my career at Entergy, the excitement was different but also there. For those considering a lifelong career at an electric company, I’d say: Never become comfortable in what you do. The environment will always evolve. The job will change, but the criticality of what we deliver requires a steadfast passion. It’s what brings me great joy in coming to work every day—deeply respecting what we do for our customers and communities, and complete admiration for my fellow teammates who show up day after day to keep the machine going.

We believe that a top-performing, highly skilled workforce that draws employees from a wide variety of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives allows Entergy to build a stronger team and enables us to better serve our customers. By creating a culture where everyone is given the tools, resources, support, and opportunity to contribute and thrive, we will reap the benefits for all our stakeholders of an engaged and empowered workforce—supported by a network of local suppliers—to deliver energy for a better future.

Powering and empowering the people in our region is one of the best ways Entergy can contribute to an improved quality of life in our communities.

“The job will change, but the criticality of what we deliver requires a steadfast passion.”

EP: Throughout your career, where have you looked for advice or inspiration?

DM: I have found advice and inspiration from many diverse places in my career. I have been privileged to have tremendous leaders and peers who taught me about our business, risk, and people. I have drawn inspiration from unconventional sources, like my children’s elementary school teachers on something as simple as how to make meetings more effective or timely.

I have had terrific partners outside of the company who have taught me how to navigate tricky projects or manage transformative initiatives. My family has taught me about the importance of community, how to think about what the community is experiencing, and how it might impact my coworkers.

And, I read a lot, so I pick things up from books, as well. I really value the notion that I can get ideas from anywhere. That gives me the ability, and sometimes the permission, to engage the world while also thinking about what I do professionally.

Reliability, Resilience, and Customer Affordability Top of Mind as Industry Gathers in New Orleans

Fri, 23 May 2025 17:30:59 +0200

Committed to Resilience and Reliability

EEI member companies know that a secure, resilient energy grid is our nation’s first line of defense against extreme weather and other threats to America’s energy security. It’s why our members have invested more than $1.3 trillion over the past decade to enhance our critical energy infrastructure—and will commit more than $200 billion this year alone to make the grid stronger, smarter, cleaner, more dynamic, and more secure.

Our industry faces rapid demand growth, a shifting policy and regulatory landscape, evolving customer needs, and a wave of technological innovation that is changing the way we do business. Yet, our commitment to resilience and reliability remains constant. As we reflect on last year’s devastating storm and wildfire seasons, we know that keeping the lights on and our customers and communities safe will be paramount as we head into the summer months.

That’s one of the reasons I find it fitting that our industry’s leaders will be joining government and privatesector partners in New Orleans for EEI 2025, our annual conference and thought leadership forum. New Orleans is a beautiful and vibrant city that exemplifies resilience and knows as well as any the catastrophic potential of Mother Nature.

This upcoming August will mark 20 years since Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans. The magnitude of the storm captured attention the world over, and it prompted electric companies, city planners, federal and state officials, volunteers, charitable organizations, and others to come together to carry out one of the most extensive rebuild and recovery efforts in U.S. history.

As an industry, we take great pride in sharing resources and information. What we learned from Katrina and the storms and events that followed is the power of partnership. It takes all of us working together to strengthen community resilience and to prepare for and respond to the impacts of events that threaten reliability.

It’s why we engage in year-round resilience, restoration, and business continuity planning and why we continue to make strategic and significant investments in new technologies and critical adaptation, hardening, and resilience initiatives. Our customers depend on reliable access to electricity and on safe and swift restorations when outages do occur.

We’ve seen the benefits of these efforts across the country, particularly last year when Hurricanes Helene and Milton tested our industry’s storm response and mutual assistance capabilities. The storms struck two weeks apart along the Gulf Coast of Florida, leaving catastrophic damage in their wake as Helene carved into Georgia, the Carolinas, and beyond and as Milton cut across the Florida peninsula.

The storms collectively caused more than $113 billion in damage, and, yet, we saw that areas that had made significant investments in weather-resilient infrastructure fared better during the storms and had shorter restoration times when outages occurred.

That’s also been true in New Orleans, where Entergy helped lead efforts to build back stronger in the aftermath of Katrina. After the storm cut power to one-third of the company’s service territory, damaging 3,000 miles of transmission lines, 30,000 miles of distribution lines, and 17,400 distribution poles, Entergy made extensive investments to keep the community safe during future extreme weather events. The company worked with regulators and community leaders to develop a plan to enhance grid resilience.

Those grid hardening efforts continue under Entergy Chair and CEO Drew Marsh and have helped New Orleans build back stronger than ever. They also are helping to increase reliability while helping to keep customer bills as low as possible over the long term, minimizing the repairs needed following storms and mitigating the lost economic activity that results from prolonged outages.

Ready for the Demand Arriving Now

Resilience will be a featured topic of conversation during mainstage keynote discussions, breakout sessions, and programming in The Hub at EEI 2025. I am eager to hear from Occidental President and CEO Vicki Hollub, Oracle CEO Safra Catz, technology thought leader and former AMD President Victor Peng, and the rest of our distinguished lineup of speakers—and for them to learn more about the work underway in our industry.

And, while attending the New Orleans conference will be among my final duties as EEI’s interim President and CEO, I am confident that the industry is well-positioned to deliver an energy grid that is reliable, weather-resilient, responsive, and ready for the demand arriving now.

I am proud to pass the reins to Drew Maloney, who will begin his work as EEI’s new president and CEO on July 1. Drew assumes this mantle at an exciting and critical time for our industry, and I am confident that his proven record of navigating some of the nation’s most complex policy landscapes will be invaluable as our industry works to meet growing demand for electricity and to deliver the reliable, resilient energy future that our customers expect and deserve.

Highlights From CERAWeek by S&P Global

Thu, 10 Apr 2025 22:20:22 +0200

Electric companies stand at a moment of “real opportunity to think about serving Americans and building out the grid in a new and different way,” EEI Chair Maria Pope, president and CEO of Portland General Electric, said in March during a keynote session at CERAWeek by S&P Global in Houston.

Pope’s remarks reinforced common themes shared throughout CERAWeek, the annual gathering of thousands of industry, technology, and government leaders from around the world. Demand growth, technological innovation, and evolving policy and regulatory landscapes are changing how electric companies operate, but their focus on serving customers and building out a secure and resilient energy future remains constant.

Each year during CERAWeek, executives from EEI member companies are represented throughout the event’s hundreds of mainstage keynotes, fireside chats, tech talks, panel discussions, and leadership roundtables, and this year was no exception. Pope’s session, and others led by EEI member company leaders, highlighted this pivotal moment for the industry and how electric companies are adapting, innovating, and investing in critical energy infrastructure to better serve customers and keep pace with accelerating demand growth.

“In all my years coming to CERAWeek, I’ve never seen as much excitement around electric power,” S&P Global Commodity Insights Executive Director Douglas Giuffre said during one of the conference’s recap sessions, noting the industry’s and the technology sector’s focus on an “all of the above” energy strategy to meet demand projections fueled by data centers, artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, the reshoring of industrial and manufacturing activity, and the continued electrification of transportation and the broader economy.

The theme of this year’s conference was, “Moving ahead: Energy strategies for a complex world,” with programming focused on how major changes in domestic and international policy and the rise of new technologies are reshaping the global energy landscape.

Following are highlights and excerpts from this year’s conference:

‘The Demand Is Here Now’

NextEra Chairman, President, and CEO John Ketchum discusses the importance of a diverse energy mix and his company's planned infrastructure investments during a panel discussion. (Photo: CERAWeek by S&P Global)

In recent years, industry and technology thought leaders often spoke at CERAWeek about demand growth in a forward-looking tone, warning that investments will be needed in the near-term to prepare for what’s to come. However, the sense of urgency was clear this year, as AI-fueled data center construction has taken off across the country.

“It’s important we get this right. The demand is here now,” NextEra Chairman, President, and CEO John Ketchum said during a mainstage discussion on the first day of CERAWeek. “We’re in unprecedented times in our industry. We’re seeing a sixfold demand increase during the next 20 years compared with the previous 20.”

Ketchum emphasized NextEra’s all-of-the-above focus, noting the company’s interest in advanced nuclear technology as the seventh-largest nuclear operator in the world—and that the company just came off a record year in which it signed contracts to build more than 12 gigawatts of renewable generation.

He also stressed the importance of meeting this demand while keeping customer bills as low as possible—and the benefits of tax credits and other supportive public policies in pursuit of affordability.

“The tax credits and transferability provisions are so important to meeting demand in a cost-effective way,” Ketchum said. “If these credits went away, not only would we see a generation crunch, but the average American would see a 12-percent price hike. We need to avoid that.”

Later in the week, Entergy Louisiana President and CEO Phillip May stressed that demand growth is being felt all over the country and in areas that haven’t historically been known for their energy demands. Meta recently announced plans to build a $10-billion data center outside of Shreveport, La., and Entergy has worked in recent years to expand and upgrade infrastructure along the Mississippi River, with a new $5.8-billion Hyundai steel plant expected to open in the coming years.

“Massive investments are going to change the economic trajectory of parts of our state forever. Our state hasn’t always seen that sort of thing,” May said. “As we think about how we serve this load, all options need to be on the table, including assets near the end of their lives. We need to figure out how to squeeze out every last bit of economic juice from them that we can.”

‘Innovation Needs to Be Part of Culture’

National Grid CEO John Pettigrew shares his thoughts on AI and the industry's embrace of grid-enhancing technologies to maximize existing critical energy infrastructure.

This demand growth has forced the industry to scrap the concept of business as usual and has emphasized the need for innovation and a willingness to embrace new energy strategies and technologies. NextEra Energy Resources President and CEO Rebecca Kujawa, who recently announced plans to retire in late May, described solidifying innovation as part of the company’s culture during mainstage keynote remarks.

“We have an annual process where we ask everyone in the company how we can be better, lower costs, and unlock revenue. And, every year, I’m amazed by the creativity and ingenuity that comes out of that process,” Kujawa said. “We’ve created $1 billion in annual revenue and cost savings through doing this every year. Innovation needs to be part of culture. You need to be willing to take risks, learn, and continually get better.”

This need for innovation has spurred a wave of industry and technology partnerships, and it has opened the door to new business models. National Grid Ventures, an investment arm of National Grid that supports grid-enhancing technologies and innovative energy solutions, hosted a series of tech talks and demonstrations throughout CERAWeek that highlighted the types of advanced vegetation management, dynamic line rating technology, and AI-powered systems that it invests in.

“The intention behind National Grid Ventures was that it would give us access to the types of technologies and innovations that are over the hill. We can invest in them, grant them access to our networks, and improve our own processes,” said National Grid CEO John Pettigrew, noting the company’s plans to commit $100 million to AI startups to help modernize the grid. “These technologies are allowing us to think about meeting demand in a different way. We need to embrace digital and AI.”

Industry leaders also highlighted innovation in their relationships with government and regulatory partners. Dominion Energy Chair, President and CEO Bob Blue joined a dinner session featuring Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin and Commonwealth Fusion Systems Co-Founder and CEO Bob Mumgaard to discuss the world’s first commercial fusion power plant, which currently is under construction in Chesterfield County, Va.

“If this is technology that is proven out, and the financials and operations work, it is something that our company and our industry could deploy at scale,” Blue said of the nuclear fusion reactor.

Blue and others throughout CERAWeek noted the risks associated with building first-of-its-kind technology—with Governor Youngkin saying he didn’t want to be remembered as “the governor that unleashed a small sun on Virginia.” To help mitigate risk, many stressed the need for new partnerships with government and private-sector partners.

“Planning for the energy future is going to require more speed and more creativity,” Southern Company Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Stan Connally said during a CERAWeek breakfast panel. “If we can find many partners in these conversations, that will be a big piece of the roadmap to success. Finding the right balance of safe, clean, reliable, and affordable is what we’re all after.”

‘Technology Is Forcing Us to Rethink Everything’

EEI Chair Maria Pope (right), president and CEO of Portland General Electric, advocates for siting and permitting reform at all levels of government during a panel discussion.

Although renewable energy generation remained a popular topic of discussion at this year’s CERAWeek, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Mark Christie warned during a keynote discussion that the industry’s ongoing need for 24/7 generating resources represented a “rendezvous with reality,” of sorts.

This theme of grounding future-looking projections in the technology, policy, and regulatory realities of today was highlighted throughout the week. Pope noted that, despite the industry’s need for critical energy infrastructure of all kinds, siting and permitting backlogs can add years to project development cycles. She stressed the need for reform at all levels of government.

“Siting is very local, so we need to tackle that at the local level,” Pope said. “And, we have environmental agencies in each one of our states, not just at the federal level. We need to look at where the need is rather than just tweak federal legacy processes.”

Edison International President and CEO Pedro J. Pizarro, meanwhile, highlighted during a panel discussion that the industry is attempting to expand and optimize the grid while responding to a growing and intensifying list of physical, cyber, and weather-related threats.

“The economy will be relying more and more on the grid, so it is so important that we increase the resilience of the grid today and in the future,” Pizarro said, noting that AI can be an essential tool to defend the grid despite the risks that technology poses in the hands of bad actors. “One of our big messages is that grid security is national security. Across the industry, we’re thinking about defense in depth. We’re not pretending we can defend against everything, but we are building multiple layers of defense and making AI front and center in terms of grid design.”

And, AES Corporation President and CEO Andrés Gluski highlighted the unique needs of energy-intensive customers like data centers—and the fact that these facilities can be built, in some cases, in fewer than two years, when timelines to build new transmission and generation facilities can be significantly longer given labor, supply chain, and siting and permitting challenges.

“You’re not going to build a $50-billion data center and have it backed up by something you are 99 percent sure will be available. Energy has to be 100 percent available,” Gluski said. “Most of the interconnection queue is renewable right now, and that’s mostly time to power. If you want a new natural gas plant, it may be four or five years until it’s operational. With renewables, it may be two to three years. Time to power is very different for these customers if you’re talking about the difference of several years.”

Still, industry leaders were overwhelmingly optimistic throughout CERAWeek that they are on track to meet customer needs and that new AI and grid-enhancing technologies will continue to revolutionize how they do business.

“Technology is forcing us to rethink everything. How we operate, how we legislate, how we regulate,” Pope said. “It’s so exciting, because we used to talk about some of these technologies being part of the bulk power system. But, we’re at the point where they’re being integrated into distribution and impacting customers directly.”

Industry leaders and their technology, government, and regulatory partners will discuss these and other trends at EEI 2025, EEI’s annual conference and thought leadership forum, which begins on June 2 in New Orleans. To learn more about the event and to register, visit eei.org/2025.

Edison International President and CEO Pedro J. Pizarro (right) and AES Corporation President and CEO Andrés Gluski (second from right) discuss energy security, innovation, and data center-fueled demand growth.

Extraordinary Times, Extraordinary Potential: A Q&A With Portland General Electric's Maria Pope

Mon, 17 Mar 2025 16:56:38 +0100

Electric Perspectives (EP): Demand growth is creating a need for new critical energy infrastructure of all kinds, setting the stage for what could be one of the most transformational moments for American infrastructure since the years immediately following World War II. How is our industry responding?

Maria Pope (MP): Everything that we do and the way that we work is changing at a dramatic pace.

First, demand for electricity is growing at a rate we haven’t seen in decades. Data centers are rapidly expanding to meet the needs of emerging artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and are expected to consume an extraordinary amount of energy.

When you consider that a search on ChatGPT or another large language model requires 10 times the energy of a traditional search engine, it is easy to understand why. At the same time, more sectors of the economy and more homes and businesses are continuing to electrify.

Second, tremendous federal, state, and private sector resources have been brought to bear to onshore manufacturing and to enhance America’s global competitiveness and security, especially in the high-tech sectors. Since the signing of federal legislation such as the Inflation Reduction Act and the CHIPS and Science Act in 2022, investment in American manufacturing has nearly doubled, according to a report from the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Third, extreme weather is underscoring the urgent need to enhance the resilience of the nation’s energy grid. Hurricanes, ice storms, wildfires, and other events are occurring with increasing frequency and intensity. In response, electric companies are deploying significant capital and are becoming tech-forward businesses with a renewed focus on innovation.

EEI member companies are bringing new infrastructure, generation facilities, batteries, and countless innovative projects online at an incredible pace. We will continue to strengthen our infrastructure and build a more resilient, cleaner generation fleet. And, we will work to accomplish all of this in a way that is cost-effective for customers.

“EEI member companies are bringing new infrastructure, generation facilities, batteries, and countless innovative projects online at an incredible pace.”

EP: What are you prioritizing during your tenure as chair of EEI?

MP: I am honored to serve on the EEI Board alongside impressive leaders from across the industry. We are working together to advance our enduring value proposition: providing safe, reliable, secure, and increasingly clean energy to the customers we serve, while working to keep costs as low as possible. As I began my term, the Board developed multi-year strategic priorities.

The first priority is enhancing and strengthening grid reliability, resilience, and security. We are facing ever-increasing physical and cybersecurity threats while also managing incredible growth. To respond effectively, we need to increase the speed at which we bring on new generation, accelerate investments in our distribution and transmission networks, and adopt new technologies to enhance the resilience of our systems.

At the same time, we are driving a customer-focused vision and are strong advocates for policy solutions that benefit customers. The Inflation Reduction Act and its technology-neutral investment and production tax credits, as well as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, are powerful accelerators. These policies will help support customer affordability and create millions of jobs during the next decade, and they should be protected.

Our industry must redouble stakeholder education and engagement efforts to preserve these tax credits and other provisions of these laws that are directly benefiting customers. We also must work to secure a repairs fix in the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax, prioritize siting and permitting reform, and advance other initiatives aimed at fostering a supportive policy and regulatory environment. Underpinning much of our work is our belief that the investor-owned business model is the most efficient and economical way for our industry to serve customers.

We are continuing to educate policymakers and other stakeholders on our regulatory compact and on the value our model delivers through efficient f inancing of important investments in our national infrastructure. EEI member companies are driving economic growth and are pivotal to national security during this transformational time.

Maria Pope speaks at EEI 2024 with Antonio Neri, president and CEO of Hewlett Packard Enterprise, on energy demand and the changing technology industry.

EP: Addressing energy security concerns also is a top priority for EEI and our member companies. How is the industry approaching this challenge?

MP: We have a clear responsibility to our customers to ensure reliable electricity, even as we respond to significant demand growth and changing customer needs.

EEI strongly advocates for the continued development of diverse energy resources—including natural gas, renewables, and new and existing nuclear energy—as well as grid-enhancing technologies that support flexible demand and increasing capacity. EEI member companies also are coming together to address resource adequacy concerns.

PGE and our peers in the West have had success balancing the demand and supply of electricity at lower costs to customers by participating in collaborative efforts like the Western Energy Imbalance Market, which delivered more than $6.25 billion in cumulative economic benefits between 2014 and 2024.

For PGE, regional connectivity and cooperation among electric companies enables us to draw on wind resources from Montana, batteries in California, hydropower in the Pacific Northwest, and solar arrays in the desert Southwest. It all comes together to improve reliability and stabilize energy markets.

Addressing energy security and resource adequacy concerns will require significant capital investment. EEI member companies have invested more than $1.3 trillion during the past decade in critical energy infrastructure projects of all kinds, spending more than $170 billion each year to make the energy grid stronger, smarter, cleaner, and more secure.

PGE’s Coffee Creek battery storage facility is one of several new projects that is helping the company improve grid operations by matching available supply to current demand.

EP: How are electric companies using AI and other advanced technologies in their own operations?

MP: Technology is revolutionizing our industry, making us smarter, more efficient, and more effective. We are using technological innovations, particularly AI, to shorten design timelines, accelerate project completions, and optimize complex grid operations.

At PGE, to name one example, we created an “AI Design Review Bot” that has reduced our engineering cycle times twelve-fold. AI is critical as distributed energy resources (DERs) become even more common. AI already is helping to balance the surging demand for power and to enhance grid management.

PGE estimates as much as 25 percent of the power needed on the hottest and coldest days of the year could be supplied by customer-sited DERs—such as solar panels, batteries, and EVs—as soon as 2030.

PGE’s wind resources are bringing geographic and resource diversity to the company’s generation portfolio.

EP: Last year, we saw the devastating impacts of Hurricanes Helene and Milton across the Southeast, in addition to catastrophic wildfires and myriad other extreme weather events across the country. What strategies are electric companies pursuing to mitigate risks posed by these events?

MP: The impacts of extreme weather on lives and livelihoods, local economies, and critical infrastructure are increasing. That’s why all EEI member companies are devoting significant time and resources year-round to prepare for and respond to extreme weather events, which are becoming more frequent and less predictable.

EEI member companies dedicate more than $30 billion annually to adaptation, hardening, and resilience initiatives to strengthen the nation’s transmission and distribution infrastructure. This includes using innovative technologies like AI-enabled cameras, weather stations, and advanced modeling programs that help companies prepare for and respond to weather-related events, particularly in high-risk areas.

It is worth noting that many of these investments supplement the work of public safety agencies, strengthening communities against a variety of threats. Wildfires also are a growing challenge, affecting more communities across the U.S. each year.

From the southwest to the northeast, there’s a need to do more to prevent wildfires before they happen and to protect affected communities from long-term costs. We need a comprehensive national strategy that emphasizes community protection, wildfire prevention, responsible investment, and rapid recovery.

There is also an urgent need for long-term policy solutions that will require cooperation with regulators, legislators, insurers, public agencies, and many other stakeholders. Wildfires truly are a societal problem that requires societal solutions.

While the challenges of extreme weather are formidable, our industry is in this together. When a major event hits—whether it is a tornado, hurricane, ice storm, or wildfire—we actively support one another through mutual assistance efforts. After Hurricane Helene, an army of more than 50,000 workers from nearly every state in the country deployed to the Southeast to help with recovery and restoration efforts. Just two weeks later, when Hurricane Milton made landfall, mutual assistance crews and resources were redirected to Florida.

These events collectively represent one of the nation's largest-ever mutual-assistance mobilizations, and our industry’s coordination with federal officials and other stakeholders through the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council was critical to delivering a safe and efficient storm response for impacted customers and communities. Our ability to support each other and work together is one of our industry’s superpowers.

“Our ability to support each other and work together is one of our industry’s superpowers.”

EP: Customer affordability is a central concern for EEI member companies and their customers. What are electric companies doing to help keep costs as low as possible?

MP: Like many industries, electric companies are facing mounting pressure over price increases. When costs go up, people may need to make difficult choices, as they work to pay rent, keep the lights on, and put food on the table.

We have a responsibility to manage our business in a way that prioritizes customers, and we are committed to keeping costs to customers as low as possible. Fortunately, new demand means that, as more businesses and people are connected to the grid, operating costs can be spread out.

Ensuring these savings materialize requires thoughtful work on the part of electric companies and regulators to shape and adjust rate structures. Growth also requires investments in generation, transmission and distribution, and advanced grid technologies, all of which will help minimize costs in the long run.

As these investments are made, we have an important opportunity to drive customer energy efficiency and efficiency in our operations. Customers—understandably—want to know what goes into their bill, and every part of our operations must deliver customer value.

EP: With a new administration and new Congress in Washington, do you see an impact on this industry?

MP: Electric companies create millions of good jobs, power the U.S. economy, and play a critical role in a variety of national and international policy and security priorities.

We’ve always worked with regulators and policymakers at the federal, state, and local levels to ensure our industry’s significance is understood and that our economic impact is enhanced by supportive public policy. That doesn’t change when a new administration arrives or political power shifts.

We are committed to engaging with the new administration and Congress to advance public policies that benefit our customers and to address common issues of global economic competitiveness and national security.

We share common interests and will work collaboratively, as we always have, when there are opportunities to better serve the American people with the reliable and affordable energy they need to thrive.

PGE’s AI-driven cameras provide 24-7 visual observation of high-risk fire zones. The company’s ability to detect wildfire smoke and alert a network of 50 public safety partners in real time helps reduce risk and keep communities safe.

EP: Looking out at the rest of 2025 and beyond, what message do you have for EEI member companies?

MP: We know that our customers expect the world’s most reliable electricity, and we know it’s our job to deliver it safely, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The pace of change that we are witnessing is accelerating. I am proud that EEI’s member companies are leading the way and are moving at new and exciting speeds as AI advances; more data centers come online; manufacturing and industrial activity accelerates; and homes, businesses and transportation continue to electrify.

Our customers are counting on us to meet today’s rapidly growing energy needs and to help make America home to the industries that will drive our future. At the same time, we are managing the increasing risks of wildfires and extreme weather; tackling energy security and resource adequacy as demand rises; and investing in a smarter, more flexible, more connected, and more resilient grid. We are balancing these efforts while working to keep costs as low as possible for customers.

As an industry, we have a clear set of priorities. Electricity is vital to our national security and economic competitiveness. Electricity powers our lives. We need a reliable, modern energy system for a modern age. Working together, we can deliver an energy grid—and an energy future—that is reliable, weather-resilient, responsive, and ready for the demand arriving now.

In these extraordinary times, our challenge is to capitalize on the extraordinary potential in front of us. I am confident that we are up to the task. EP

Delivering Power By Association During a Pivotal Year

Fri, 21 Feb 2025 01:12:03 +0100

America’s investor-owned electric companies are in the midst of incredible demand growth and on the cusp of tremendous change. I am excited to be serving as EEI’s interim president and CEO at such a pivotal time, working with the talented leaders at our member companies to build a brighter energy future for all.

Today, electricity demand is growing at its fastest pace in decades, as new technologies and evolving customer expectations are driving rapid transformation. This once-in-a-generation demand growth is creating new challenges for our nation, as well as unique opportunities for our industry to better serve customers and communities and to ensure America is home to the industries, technologies, and jobs of tomorrow. EEI and our member companies are leading the way and are working hard to meet these challenges head-on.

At the same time, we are engaging with a new administration and new Congress on a busy policy agenda. We know that our job of educating policymakers, regulators, and industry stakeholders is more important than ever, and we have developed strategic advocacy plans to advance our priority issues and to achieve favorable results that benefit our customers.

Our efforts are fueled by knowledge that we need a modern energy system for our modern age, particularly as data centers and artificial intelligence technologies, the onshoring of manufacturing, and increased electrification continue to drive energy demand and global economic activity. With a supportive policy and regulatory framework in place, we can build an energy grid that is reliable, responsive, weather-resilient, and ready to meet customer demand today and in the years ahead.

Promoting Supportive Public Policy

We all know that electricity is the energy that powers our increasingly digital economy, and our industry is integrally linked to the success of our nation. As a whole, our industry supports more than 7 million jobs across the country and accounts for at least 5 percent of U.S. GDP.

More than ever, it is vital that public policies support energy security by prioritizing the buildout of more critical energy infrastructure and by allowing electric companies to maintain a diverse, domestic, and dispatchable energy
mix. Natural gas, renewables, storage, and new and existing nuclear are all important parts of this equation.

EEI’s member companies have the expertise needed to build the necessary infrastructure. What we don’t have is time—specifically, time for inefficient government review processes to drag on and on.

We must streamline permitting requirements, align policy requirements, and encourage capital investment to rapidly build out the grid and the other critical infrastructure needed to power data centers, bolster domestic manufacturing, and support the electrification of other sectors of the economy. We also must continue to lead efforts to develop, demonstrate, and deploy grid-enhancing technologies that are helping to bolster grid resilience and get more out of the infrastructure that we already have.

Favorable tax policy is particularly important, and we are engaging with members of Congress and their staff on where and how policies like the energy tax credits are driving innovation, creating new American jobs and economic opportunities, and helping electric companies meet the rapidly growing demand for electricity reliably and affordably. During the year ahead, we will work to protect the energy tax credits, secure a repairs fix in the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax, and continue to advocate for provisions within the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that benefit electricity customers.

Environmental regulations also remain front and center, and EEI is committed to working with policymakers and regulators to support policies that better accommodate member company fleet transition plans and reflect the challenges of building new generation. We are committed to getting the energy we provide as clean as we can as fast as we can, and we are working to find solutions that drive innovation and the deployment of new energy technologies, allowing our member companies to meet demand growth reliably while helping to keep customer bills as low as possible.

Addressing Wildfire Risk

Among EEI’s priorities this year is advancing a comprehensive national strategy that addresses wildfire risk, with a focus on community protection, prevention, responsible investment, and rapid recovery. The recent fires in Southern California, exacerbated by hurricane-force winds and severe drought conditions, offer a grim reminder of the devastation that these events can inflict. We are grateful for the brave firefighters and first responders who worked around-the-clock to contain the blazes.

EEI and our member companies were actively engaged at the highest levels of industry and government through the CEO-led Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council (ESCC) to ensure that impacted electric companies had the resources and equipment needed for the response, restoration, and rebuild efforts that are essential to the recovery.

The threat of wildfires is a societal problem that requires societal solutions. We are committed to working with Congress to advance legislation that will help mitigate risks and support our efforts to protect the customers and communities that we serve. And, we will continue to work with our partners in Washington to ensure that the ESCC remains the center of gravity, where industry and government come together to strengthen our shared responsibility of protecting the grid against all threats.

The growing frequency and intensity of wildfires and extreme weather events of all kinds reinforces just how important it is to invest in resilient infrastructure and a more weather-resilient grid, as few regions were spared Mother Nature’s wrath over the past year. EEI’s member companies invested more than $171 billion in 2023 alone to make the grid stronger, smarter, cleaner, more weather-resilient, and more secure, and these efforts will continue in 2025 and beyond. Securing our grid against threats both natural and manmade is critically important to the success of our industry, as well as to our nation’s role as a global energy leader.

Leading the Way

This will be a busy year for us all. As the leader of an EEI member company myself, I recognize and appreciate the important work that is underway across our industry on behalf of the hundreds of millions of Americans who depend on us to power their lives. I am also grateful for the high levels of engagement from my CEO colleagues on these and so many other critical issues.

We will face no shortage of opportunities, challenges, and change in 2025 and beyond. What will remain the same is our commitment to delivering a secure, reliable energy future that benefits everyone. Through the Power by Association^SM that EEI represents, we will meet the evolving needs and expectations of our customers, and we will engage with partners in industry and government to ensure we have the infrastructure, technologies, and policies in place to power our economy and our lives for decades to come.

Highlights From the 40th Annual International Lineman’s Rodeo

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 15:00:02 +0100

Hundreds of lineworkers gathered around journeyman Paul White in a field outside of Kansas City, Mo., on a crisp, clear morning in late October, eagerly awaiting the beginning of the 40th annual International Lineman’s Rodeo. With the moon still high in the sky, spotlights and head lamps illuminated the rows of tents and dozens of 40-foot power poles flanking White as he addressed the crowd.

“Everyone here this morning is connected to the electric power industry. And, the demand for electric energy never rests,” said White, a longtime journeyman lineworker and rodeo competitor who delivered introductory remarks and helped emcee this year’s event. “The lineman trade has a proud history that demands a specialized skill set.”

That skill set was on display over the course of the four-day event, which drew competitors from across the continental United States, Puerto Rico, Canada, Brazil, and beyond. Rodeo organizers estimated more than 5,000 spectators and nearly 1,100 lineworkers traveled to Kansas City for the competition.

The event is a friendly competition among some of the most skilled lineworkers in the world, and it celebrates the brave men and women who regularly work in dangerous conditions to maintain and repair the critical energy infrastructure that powers our nation.

“Whether linemen are working under sunlight, moonlight, or spotlight, they get the job done, and electricity continues to flow,” said White. “The satisfaction of the job goes well beyond a paycheck.”

‘It’s Not About How Fast You Get Up and Down’

EEI was a sponsor of this year’s event, which was hosted by Evergy, an EEI member company. EEI and its members historically have maintained a strong presence at the rodeo, with nearly half of the three-person teams competing at the 2024 rodeo hailing from investor-owned electric companies. Other competitors were contractors or represented public power utilities and electric cooperatives.

“I love it. I’ve been blessed over the years to have some great teammates, and I have friends I’ve met from all over the country out here,” said Jason Novak, an Ameren Illinois lineman and 23-time rodeo competitor whose team ended up placing first overall at this year’s competition.

Despite having “rodeo” in its name, the International Lineman’s Rodeo does not feature lassos, bulls, or barrel racing. In place of horses and 10-gallon hats are harnesses and 50-foot bucket trucks, as lineworkers compete in a series of skills challenges. In one event, they rescue dummies dangling from power lines. In another, they race up power poles while attempting not to crack an egg held in their mouth.

Lineworkers are divided into three-person teams and compete across four events, each of which tests skills they pick up on the job. Two events in the competition aren’t revealed until the weekend of the rodeo, making it more difficult to practice in advance. A separate scoring track for apprentice lineworkers also allows those who are just beginning their careers to test their mettle among their peers.

Participants are scored on how quickly they complete the challenges but also on how well they adhere to safety protocols and best practices.

“Everything we do here is about safety. It’s not about how fast you get up and down that pole,” said Dale Warman, co-chairman of the International Lineman’s Rodeo Board of Directors and a retired director of field operations at Kansas City Power & Light, which is now Evergy. “You have to be safe, and, if you’re not, you’ll have points deducted. It’s a big part of your scoring.”

It’s an event that participants train for all year—on the job and through separate, smaller competitions, since most companies only have a certain number of rodeo slots available.

“We have our own rodeo every year in August, and all of the Oklahoma Gas & Electric (OG&E) guys will compete against each other. We take the best of the best from our rodeo up here to compete,” said Tyler Scott, a supervisor at OG&E who was attending his fourth international rodeo.

Reflecting on Mutual Assistance

Warman recalls the inaugural lineworker rodeo that he helped set up 40 years ago. Twelve teams initially were slated to compete, but a dispute between teams before the rodeo began meant that only eight actually participated. That’s compared to the nearly 230 three-person teams and nearly 400 apprentices who traveled to this year’s event—numbers that would have been higher had Hurricanes Helene and Milton not struck the southeastern United States only a few weeks prior, prompting one of the largest mutual assistance efforts in the electric power industry’s history.

“That’s why some of the guys aren’t here today. They’ve been down there answering the call,” said Scott. “It’s something that all of us take pride in. I was just in Georgia for 17 days.”

Scott and his colleagues at OG&E joined an army of more than 50,000 workers from nearly every state in the country to assist with storm recovery and restoration efforts following Helene. When Milton struck the Gulf Coast of Florida two weeks later, crews were diverted to Florida. That led to dozens of would-be rodeo competitors dropping out at the last minute because their work in Florida, Georgia, and the Carolinas was not yet finished.

“Another supervisor who was supposed to be here is down in Florida helping with the hurricanes, so I stepped in to help run things this year,” said Jesse Trumble, a senior operations supervisor at National Grid, who helped to coordinate and organize National Grid’s competitors from Massachusetts and New York. “That’s part of the job, and it’s a great service to the people impacted.”

Those unable to attend the rodeo because of the mutual assistance response were acknowledged throughout the weekend. Reflecting on their colleagues’ absence, many attendees recalled previous mutual assistance deployments to Louisiana, Puerto Rico, Texas, and up and down the East Coast in response to hurricanes and strong storms. Although many acknowledged such assignments can pull lineworkers away from friends and family for days or weeks on end, there was a shared sense of pride in helping restore power to those in need.

“We get calls all the time and at all hours of the night. We can be gone from our families a lot. But, it’s part of the trade, and I’d want the power to be on in my home for my family. So, I’m happy to make sure that happens for someone else,” said Novak of Ameren Illinois.

‘Line Families Help Other Families’

Novak’s Ameren Illinois team scored a perfect 400 points throughout the course of the rodeo, completing skills challenges with the fastest time to win first overall. A second Ameren Illinois team, two teams from Pacific Gas & Electric, and a team from Southern California Edison also placed in the top 10 overall, and 20 of the top 50 journeyman lineworker teams hailed from investor-owned electric companies.

“This event is the best of the best. We get some practice time, but a lot of training for this we do on our own,” said Novak. “This is high competition. You need to be fast, and you need to be clean.”

For Novak, though, winning first overall was only one of the weekend’s highlights. While many competitors were practicing and preparing for the challenges ahead, Novak spent the day before the rodeo raising money for Climbin4kids, a fundraising organization that he helped found in 2021 to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Thanks to generous support from Ameren Illinois, the International Lineman’s Rodeo Association, Novak’s fellow rodeo competitors, spectators, and vendors at the event, Climbin4kids raised nearly $84,000 during the rodeo.

“Line families help other families,” Novak said. “That’s what we do.”

Although the rodeo is planned by and for lineworkers, Warman said it has always been structured with service and community in mind, since both are so intrinsically tied to the lineworker profession.

Warman is also proud that the atmosphere of these events is “always all about family.” Play areas and activities are set up for kids throughout the weekend, as many lineworkers bring their families to watch them compete. In some cases, it’s their loved ones’ only real opportunity to see the intricate and, at times, dangerous work that they perform every day.

“I appreciate the family atmosphere of the company and this rodeo and the camaraderie of the linemen,” said Jason Grier, an operations manager at CenterPoint Energy. Grier is a 17-time rodeo competitor who now heads CenterPoint Energy’s rodeo committee.

“It’s a real brotherhood, and I love that aspect of it,” he said.

Rodeo organizers also noted that the event is a great opportunity to showcase a rewarding and in-demand career path to children and young adults in attendance. Although some rodeo competitors had family connections that sparked their interest in the industry, many said they stumbled into the job through a recommendation from a friend or after seeing a job posting.

Scott of OG&E recalled a line foreman living a few houses down from his family growing up. He said he was inspired to become a lineworker after seeing his neighbor and others hard at work during an ice storm while he was in high school. He hopes to offer that same inspiration to others.

“I watched those guys work outside all day to get the lights back on in our house. It’s just something I always knew that I wanted to do,” he said. “I have a son and two daughters, and I would suggest anyone get into this line of work. I take a lot of pride in doing this work in my own community when my own friends and family don’t have power. People will always need electricity. It’s very fulfilling.”

Investing in Reliability and Customer Experience

Thu, 30 Jan 2025 15:19:48 +0100

Electric Perspectives (EP): You assumed your role as president and CEO of FirstEnergy a little more than a year ago. What are your main priorities, and what can you say about your experience leading the company?

Brian X. Tierney (BXT): The past year has been fantastic, and I’m more excited than ever to be here. I was drawn to FirstEnergy because the company was at a point in its business and cultural evolution when it could begin tapping into its strengths and realizing its tremendous potential.

FirstEnergy is a fully regulated, mostly wires-based electric company, with a service area that spans parts of five states in the Midwest and mid-Atlantic regions. We just completed the last in a series of transactions that raised $7 billion in equity proceeds to strengthen our balance sheet. That means we now have the financial strength to capitalize on the immense investment opportunities in our regulated businesses for the benefit of our customers. This is a key differentiator for the new FirstEnergy: singular customer focus and a strong balance sheet.

My goal is to help FirstEnergy fulfill that potential and become a premier electric company, characterized by a high-performing culture, an excellent customer experience, strong and consistent financials, and being a trusted community partner.

To get there, we built a simple business model grounded in four components: investing in our people and our system, operating safely and efficiently, recovering prudent investments, and financing our regulated utility operations. When we execute this model effectively, it creates a virtuous cycle that drives great results for everyone who depends on us.

Coming into this job, my priorities were to make sure we have the goals, operating structure, culture, and tools to execute on this model and move the company forward. We’re making progress on every component of our business model, and we’re well on our way.

Exelon’s primary focus is leading the clean energy transformation. While doing that, we are focused on helping our communities become cleaner, healthier, and more equitable places to live and to work. We believe it’s our responsibility to ensure a better future for all. This guides me every day in my work as CEO.

“We believe it's our responsibility to ensure a better future for all.”

EP: Under your leadership, FirstEnergy implemented a new operating structure and established four major verticals: distribution in Pennsylvania and Ohio, integrated operations in New Jersey and West Virginia/Maryland, a standalone transmission business, and FirstEnergy’s central corporate arm. Why did FirstEnergy make these changes, and what benefits does this strategy offer?

BXT: FirstEnergy is trusted to deliver a service that is the lifeblood of our communities. We need to perform this job safely and efficiently in a way that understands, respects, and responds to the individual needs of the customers and communities we serve across our diverse five-state footprint. Energy policies across our service area vary widely, so we need to listen, engage, and work with stakeholders on solutions.

Our entire team needs to understand our collective goals and their role in achieving them. They also need to have a continuous improvement mindset, always looking for opportunities to be more efficient and provide better service.

This requires a lot of two-way communication, and focused, local leadership that is accountable for results. To support this, we’ve shifted more decision-making and operational accountability away from headquarters and closer to our customers, regulators, and employees.

Our restructured leadership allows greater execution at the business-unit level, where we have the best insight into what our customers want and what our employees need to perform at the highest level. We’re already seeing success in everything from storm response to regulatory outcomes.

After changing how we manage the company, we needed to adopt new reporting that reflects that change. With four business units—pure-play distribution, integrated, stand-alone transmission, and corporate/other—individual operating companies are no longer split among the segments. This creates greater simplicity and transparency in reporting, as well as accountability in our management.

The right organizational and operating structure is critical to executing our strategy, so getting this in place was a priority.

Brian X. Tierney assumed his current position as president and CEO of FirstEnergy in June 2023, helping the company serve as a leader in building America's energy future.

EP: There are several new faces on FirstEnergy's leadership team, filling out the new organizational structure and helping drive the company's transformation. What traits do you look for in your leaders and employees?

BXT: When I joined the company, FirstEnergy was at a pivotal point in its transformation. The scale of change that has been undertaken by ouremployees during recent years has been nothing short of extraordinary. As a result of their work, we're in an incredible position to achieve our goal of becoming a premier electric company.

To accelerate our transformation, we've added 12 new leaders at the executive level since June 2023. It's leadership's job to engage and energize the organization so that all employees are empowered to bring their best. To ensure strong execution in these critical roles, I look for dynamic individuals with deep experience and a continuous improvement mindset. They must demonstrate strong values, the desire to work collaboratively across the organization, and a proven ability to lead organizations through change while driving results.

Like me, our leaders see a unique opportunity to make a positive impact. They're bringing fresh ideas and building a more inclusive culture—focused on performance excellence—that inspires employees and drives results for our customers, communities, and investors.

This is truly a new FirstEnergy. I'm proud of our progress and excited about our future.

EP: You also have overseen FirstEnergy's Energize365 capital investment program, which will see the company invest $26 billion from 2024-2028 to support grid-modernization efforts. What can you share about this initiative and the importance of investing in critical energy infrastructure?

BXT: We hear a consistent and positive message from state commissioners, governors, and other local leaders: They support prudent and impactful infrastructure investments that help meet reliability standards, enhance the customer experience, and advance state energy policies. This aligns perfectly with FirstEnergy’s strategy to invest and operate the system to benefit our customers.

To accomplish this, we leveraged our long-term transmission investment program and strong balance sheet to build our new capital investment program, Energize365. The program expands our customer-focused investments across both the transmission and distribution system to address our customers’ needs, now and in the future. This includes enhancing system reliability and resilience, preparing for demand growth and electrification, improving the customer experience, and supporting connections to clean energy sources—while maintaining a strong affordability position.

The $26 billion in regulated investments between 2024 and 2028 represents a 44-percent increase over our previous five-year plan. Most of these investments are in formula rate programs that provide real-time returns. It includes increasing annual investments in our transmission and distribution system each year, resulting in 9-percent average annual rate base growth and driving returns for investors.

Through Energize365, we’re enabling the transition toward a more sustainable energy landscape. We’re embracing innovation and investing in the new technologies and tools that support the connection of renewables and distributed energy resources. This is being done at the micro level through individual customer connections and at the macro level through projects like building solar facilities in West Virginia and connecting off-shore wind generation to the grid in New Jersey.

Importantly, we have the flexibility to adjust the plan as projects emerge. This includes competitive transmission proposals we’re submitting through the PJM Open Window planning process.

“We’re embracing innovation and investing in the new technologies and tools that support the connection of renewables and distributed energy resources,” says Tierney.

EP: Late last year, FirstEnergy subsidiaries were awarded more than $800 million by PJM Interconnection for transmission projects that will enhance reliability and accommodate demand growth. With data centers and artificial intelligence (AI) applications driving demand growth projections across the country, what are your expectations for demand growth throughout FirstEnergy’s service territory in the years and decades ahead?

BXT: There are forecasts, including from the Boston Consulting Group, predicting that the data center share of U.S. electricity consumption will triple by 2030. That’s a significant percentage of total consumption—equal to the energy use of approximately one-third of U.S. homes.

We can see the impact of AI and data centers coming, and we’re working on many fronts to prepare. This is a complex and challenging issue.

In the Midwest and mid-Atlantic United States, the concentration of data centers and AI applications is steadily growing. We’re seeing interest in our states where we have retired industrial facilities and former power plants. These sites often have existing transmission infrastructure and are very attractive to data centers.

We’re seeing a dramatic increase in the number of inquiries from data center developers. In 2023, we received 18 load study requests for facilities of 500 megawatts or greater. So far this year, we already have received 66 requests for studies of that size. Keep in mind: These developers are assessing many locations, so it’s not as simple as converting inquiries into future demand.

We were awarded about $800 million through PJM Interconnection to support transmission investment opportunities related to data centers in the Northern Virginia panhandle and Maryland. We continue to participate in competitive planning processes, and we certainly see more transmission opportunity for FirstEnergy as grid operators build capacity to enable demand growth.

We plan to update our demand forecast early in 2025 to reflect the activity we’re seeing in our region. While data centers are increasingly contributing to demand growth, our forecast also will reflect more traditional growth trends. Economic drivers like GDP and employment growth have been positive in our footprint, and we’re seeing the impacts of electrification of transportation and the energy transition as we look ahead.

“We're seeing a dramatic increase in the number of inquiries from data center developers.”

EP: You have built a long and impressive career in the electric power industry, at FirstEnergy and previously in leadership roles at Blackstone and at American Electric Power. In your view, how can the industry attract, retain, and develop the workers and leaders it needs to deliver the future of energy?

BXT: Working in the electric power industry isn’t merely a job. It’s a vocation. It powers lives, and it sustains modern living, economic development, and innovation. For those of us in this field, we take this responsibility seriously.

I think this collective mission of providing the lifeblood of electricity to our customers and communities will continue to appeal to great people who are looking to make a difference.

This is extremely meaningful work that can attract the brightest talent. You need to offer a positive culture grounded in safety and integrity. You need to provide competitive compensation. You need to value growth and development. You need to provide both the challenge and the psychological safety that encourages people to stretch themselves with a continuous improvement and reinvention mindset. You need to create and nurture an inclusive workplace.

To help attract new talent, we recently moved away from an unpaid training program for line and substation workers that limited our pool of candidates. Instead, we’ve introduced a new paid apprenticeship program. Through these apprenticeships, new hires learn foundational skills from veteran instructors. They learn in a classroom, in hands-on settings, and they have opportunities to develop relationships with and learn from seasoned employees. They are paid employees who are actively building their human capital.

This will help us attract the workers we need in a competitive labor market and opens up a great career path for a lot of people. It’s great for expanding the diversity of our workforce and hiring from within our communities.

We also have a strong talent pipeline with colleges, universities, and professional and community organizations to help build awareness of careers in the sector. We have a strong co-op and internship program that offers meaningful and challenging work, professional development, mentorship, and networking opportunities to college students in critical fields. In 2023, we converted more than 80 percent of graduating program participants to FirstEnergy employees, which is well above the benchmark of 57 percent reported by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

To retain talent, we strive to make sure everyone understands and feels the positive impact we have on our customers. Today’s career seekers—particularly young people entering the job market—crave a sense of purpose. And, we’re fortunate in this industry that our work is inherently important.

FirstEnergy's paid apprenticeship programs are helping to develop a skilled energy workforce.

EP: Extreme weather events are having a significant impact on the electric power industry across the country. How is FirstEnergy working to prioritize resilience and prepare for and respond to extreme conditions?

BXT: Protecting the energy grid and providing our customers with reliable power is a paramount issue for FirstEnergy and the industry. Constant vigilance for threats to the grid is essential, and we’re focused on advanced technologies and tools to improve reliability, resiliency, and grid security.

For example, thermal imaging cameras and helicopter patrols allow us to proactively identify and repair damaged equipment. Leveraging machine learning, we’re one of the first companies in the industry to build a new Advanced Vegetation Analytics Tool to help predict and reduce tree-related outages.

We’ve also developed and deployed a state-of-the-art modeling tool that helps us predict the scope of impact and prepare for response days ahead of an extreme weather event. It uses machine learning to develop detailed impact forecasts that help us plan our response. Post-event, its capabilities allow it to automatically evaluate its performance, then train itself to improve future outputs.

Hardening the grid is a significant component of our Energize365 investments. Across our system, we’re installing technologies that enhance resilience through automation, take advantage of our data, and increase operational flexibility. These investments provide grid management solutions and security that can reduce the number of outages and minimize the duration and impact of service interruptions—when they do occur.

We’re also thinking proactively about potential long-term threats. The electric system is at an inflection point. With projected load increases outpacing dispatchable generaiton in much of the country, the affordability and reliability of electricity are at risk.

The industry needs to work collaboratively to address this urgent challenge. We’re working with our peers to engage state and federal stakeholders on resource adequacy concerns, and I urge the industry to make it a priority to safeguard reliability and help manage energy costs.

EP: Throughout your career, who have you looked to for advice and inspiration?

BXT: I've been fortunate to learn from many excellent leaders along the way, both in the electric power industry and on Wall Street. One of the values my mentors helped instill is to relentlessly pursue improvement. They encouraged me to listen and seek feedback, to correct course when needed and to adopt new technologies. I’ve found that there are always opportunities to learn and grow.

The service we provide—and the employees who are the heroes of our industry—inspire me to do my best every day. These men and women are called to serve at all hours, in all weather, in an inherently dangerous field, to provide our customers and communities with the service that enables modern living. I like to say that our strategy is simple, but the work is hard. Their passion inspires me to help make their jobs a little easier, serve our customers with the same dedication, and fulfill our commitments to our communities.

The Power of Impact: Leading the Clean Energy Transformation

Mon, 29 Jul 2024 01:50:42 +0200

Electric Perspectives (EP): You have said that a company's success can be measured by the positive impact it has on customers and communities. How does that perspective guide you, not only as you lead Exelon, but also in your role leading the industry as EEI vice chair?

Calvin Butler (CB): The opportunity to positively impact individuals and communities is one of the reasons I’m so grateful to serve as president and CEO of Exelon.

Exelon proudly serves some of our country’s largest and most diverse metropolitan areas—places such as Atlantic City, N.J.; Baltimore; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; Wilmington, Del.; and Chicago. These are cities rich with talent and full of hardworking, creative people who contribute so much to our society.

However, the fact remains that many of these communities experience higher rates of poverty and significantly higher rates of unemployment than the national average, due largely to racial and economic inequities.

I’ll give you some examples of how we’re making a difference:

We launched a $36-million Community Impact Capital Fund to support businesses that have challenges accessing capital—all of them located in under-resourced areas of our companies’ jurisdictions. The fund has invested about $10 million to date, providing estimated loans between $100,000 and $600,000 and equity investments of up to $2 million.
Each summer, we hold free, weeklong science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) academies in the Baltimore, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C., metro areas. To date, the academies have served roughly 1,000 high school girls from underserved communities, providing exposure to STEM careers. This year, we’re expanding the program to include a STEM academy for boys to ensure we reach all of our young people.
We support historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) through our Corporate Scholars program, which provides students $25,000 in need-based financial aid each year for four years. I’m proud to say we’ve contributed $15 million to HBCUs in our service areas to date.
We spent more than $3 billion with diversity-certified businesses in 2023, representing 39 percent of our total enterprise-wide spend. This has long been a priority for Exelon, and I am proud that EEI’s Business Diversity Program has been connecting America’s electric companies with diverse suppliers for more than four decades.

Even in philanthropic giving, we are committed to uplifting underserved groups and communities. More than $40.2 million—90 percent—of the grants Exelon, our operating companies, and the Exelon Foundation issued in 2022 supported nonprofits, programs, and events specifically targeted to diverse populations.

In 2023, we invested more than $18 million in support of 90 different workforce development programs across the company to bring economic equity, empowerment, and employment opportunity to the communities that we serve.

We do this because it’s an inextricable part of who we are as a company. And, it makes good business sense. Our customers are key to our business growth and success. When they thrive, we thrive. Through our involvement with EEI, I know that all of our member companies are working hard on the energy transformation. The promise of a clean energy future must be fulfilled for all of our communities. No one can be left in the dark.

“Our customers are key to our business growth and success. When they thrive, we thrive.”

EP: Having assumed the role of Exelon president and CEO a little more than a year ago, what can you say about your experience leading one of the largest electric companies in the United States?

CB: It has certainly been quite a year, and I mean that in the best way. If there is one word to describe my first year as CEO—taking over from a longtime leader, the late Chris Crane, just after we separated from our retail and generation business—it would be “commitment.”

I made a commitment to Exelon's 20,000 employees that I would keep them engaged in important and fulfilling work—and keep them safe while doing so. We have a commitment to our customers to keep the lights on and the natural gas flowing reliably and affordably.

I have a commitment to our Board and our shareholders to protect our balance sheet and to meet or exceed our company targets and goals. I am proud that ComEd and Pepco operated at record lows for outage frequency and duration last year. And, all three of our natural gas companies—Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE), Delmarva Power, and PECO—remained in the top 10 percent for gas odor response.

I also made a commitment to myself that I would always remember that this position is not about me. It’s about what I can do for others. That’s a huge responsibility, but it’s also an honor. Since assuming this role, I’ve had the opportunity to share Exelon’s customer and community commitments with civic leaders in Philadelphia and nonprofit advocates in Chicago.

I met with governors from across the country as they gathered in Atlantic City for the National Governors Association’s annual conference, and I shared ideas on building economic equity with business leaders in Baltimore. I have had the privilege of talking with national media outlets about Exelon’s financial strength as a standalone transmission and delivery company; our unwavering commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI); and how we plan to lead the clean energy transformation.

However, my best days have been spent meeting with my team across the company, hearing about employees’ priorities and sharing with them just how committed I am to their success.

As we entered 2024, going into my second year as CEO, we introduced a new theme to drive our work: The Power of Impact. I’m committed to realizing that power.

Butler speaks with Maryland Governor Wes Moore at EEI’s 2024 Spring Board of Directors and Chief Executives meeting.

EP: In announcing your role as EEI vice chair, you emphasized your commitment to an equitable clean energy transition. What does that mean to you, and what can the industry do to ensure equity?

CB: What drives me as Exelon’s CEO is putting more energy in equity and more equity in energy. I want the entire industry to join me in these efforts. As we build a clean energy future, we must do so in a way that benefits underserved and diverse communities—women, people of color, and other groups that traditionally have been left out.

What’s important to keep in mind is that equity isn’t the same thing as equality. Equity means providing each person the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome—even if those resources or opportunities look different from person-to-person, or from group-to-group.

Let me give you an example: The American Lung Association has released air quality reports for different communities. Over the years, they’ve found that the burden of air pollution is not evenly shared. Poor people, people who live in lower-income and racially diverse communities, and certain ethnic groups often face higher exposure to pollutants, suffer more from asthma, and even have a higher risk of premature death from polluted air.

The studies point to decades of residential segregation, noting that African Americans tend to live where there is greater exposure to air pollution. These same communities also are often disproportionately impacted by climate change. When we as an industry are focused on the clean energy transformation—even though we all want to get to the same outcome—we can’t treat those communities and groups the same as we would other communities that have been less impacted by historical burdens.

Exelon and its affiliates have been working on a range of equity-minded initiatives to accelerate the clean energy transition and improve air quality, including helping our regions secure federal grants. One area that we are focused on is the electrification of transportation and, specifically, school buses. If we replaced all of the diesel-powered school buses in the United States with electric school buses, we would reduce our annual emissions by 9 million metric tons. That’s the equivalent of taking 2 million cars off the road.

So far, nine school districts across Exelon’s service areas have received more than $40 million in grant funding to electrify more than 100 buses. Equity means serving those school districts and communities strategically to attain equal outcomes.

As we move toward greater electrification, we should ask ourselves: Are we ensuring that all of our communities are benefiting? Are we installing charging infrastructure in limited-income communities, or only in wealthy ones? Are job applicants from underserved and under-resourced communities being trained to be the electric vehicle mechanics we’ll need in the future? The environmental and resilience benefits of electrification are important. Issues of access and equity should be equally important to all of us.

When we tolerate disparities—when we overlook imbalances of resources and opportunities in the name of equality—we limit progress for individuals, communities, cities, and our industry. That impedes progress for all of us. Unfortunately, I have found that some people see equity as a zero-sum game. Prioritizing one underserved group may be seen as coming at the expense of another. That kind of thinking is detrimental to our collective progress.

EP: What is your view on the industry's role in balancing customer affordability with the critical investments that are needed to build next-generation infrastructure, to enhance energy grid security and resilience, and to integrate a growing fleet of renewable energy sources?

CB: Exelon’s priority always is reliable and resilient service. Exelon serves customers in rural, urban, and coastal communities and across the economic spectrum, and each jurisdiction is different and has its own objectives set by policymakers.

Our focus on equity and affordability shows up in several ways:

We work with our local regulatory bodies to develop rate-making processes that balance customer affordability with our need to make critical upgrades to the energy grid.
We identify smart investments, where a single project can address multiple priorities. We also need to remember that some investments, like transmission, can facilitate lower costs or enable renewable energy for a larger geographic area.
We prioritize programs that enable customer savings through home energy audits, lighting discounts, appliance recycling, home improvement rebates, equipment upgrade incentives, and innovative programs like smart thermostats and combined heat-and-power programs.
We connect customers with assistance. In 2023 alone, Exelon helped connect approximately 470,500 customers to $476.5 million in energy assistance—$186.4 million of which came from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

Historically, each of Exelon’s companies has maintained customer bill averages that are lower than the national average. That is the result of prudent, customer-driven investment and disciplined cost management. We take an integrated approach to making the best use of quality existing assets, including gas pipes and electric wires, to minimize transition costs to our customers and total system costs over time. This helps to ensure that efforts to reduce carbon emissions do not limit energy access or affordability.

We also try to design initiatives, programs, and services to meet the needs of limited- and moderate-income households. Dedicated programs for limited-income energy efficiency and community solar—and electric transportation options, including school buses and public transportation—help ensure equitable access to clean energy resources.

Butler visits a Baltimore-area middle school to advance science, technology, engineering, and math education opportunities.

EP: Exelon and its subsidiaries span several different states and jurisdictions. Can you speak to the challenges and opportunities that electric companies may face when serving such a large and diverse service territory?

CB: We serve 10.5 million customers in five states and Washington, D.C., through six local energy delivery companies. We serve some of the largest and most diverse metropolitan regions in the United States, but we also serve large swaths of rural America, customers in landlocked farming communities, and coastal areas in Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey. We must have a multi-faceted and inclusive approach to everything we do and every decision that we make.

However, each jurisdiction has different priorities and timelines. Our governmental and regulatory affairs teams work very closely with stakeholders across local governments, commissions, and community groups to understand their needs and to align them with our business plans.

This can be challenging. What is tremendously helpful is the way we share learnings across our company. For example, Pepco, which serves customers in and around Washington, D.C., was our first local energy company to file a multi-year plan for gradual rate increases. This offers long-term certainty and benefits for our customers as we continue making infrastructure investments that support their needs.

BGE was able to learn from those efforts to adapt a plan for customers in central Maryland. We later went on to propose a multi-year plan in Illinois, and, although the initial regulatory response was not what we had hoped, the learnings from our other jurisdictions were key in helping our team at ComEd regroup and file a new plan, which we hope will meet the needs of our customers and the state’s clean energy and equity goals while preserving ComEd’s nation-leading reliability.

Across the country, our customers must be our focus. At Exelon, we are prioritizing our investments to deliver on customer needs and the goals of the communities and states that we serve. As an industry, we all must do our part, both individually and collaboratively.

With rising geopolitical concerns from the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East to rising tensions with China it is more important than ever that we continue to refine our existing security strategies while adding new tools to the toolbox.

“We must have a multi-faceted and inclusive approach to everything we do and every decision that we make.”

EP: Service is a hallmark of leaders in this industry. And, it has been a hallmark of your career. How has service made a difference in shaping you as a person and a leader?

CB: I want to make sure that my influence in this role helps others, whether that’s through serving on boards that are working to change the industry for the better—such as the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Argonne National Laboratories—or in community-focused organizations—such as the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation (Ripken Foundation), which is creating opportunities for young people in need to develop valuable life skills.

We recently announced the launch of a three-year educational initiative between the Exelon Foundation and the Ripken Foundation, aimed at developing the next generation of STEM experts and future energy leaders. Through a $3-million partnership, we will open 81 STEM centers—with 3D printers, robotics, and other advanced technologies—in schools across Maryland and Washington, D.C.

I hope that my passion for service is evident in the way I give members of my team the guidance and tools that they need to succeed—and then let them grow, develop, and ultimately thrive. I want them to be empowered to serve others, as well.

As a young professional, one of the people I looked to as a role model was Reginald F. Lewis, the first African American man to build a billion-dollar company. He was a giant in the business world. But, he also was incredibly generous and had a heart for service. He donated millions of dollars to nonprofits and educational institutions. His hard work continues to leave a legacy.

What’s gratifying for me is the thought that, when I retire—which will be a long time from now—I will be able to look back on the work we did at Exelon and the organizations I’ve contributed to and feel good about how we’ve changed communities and changed lives.

There are many other great examples of DEI programs and initiatives throughout the industry. What is clear is our shared commitment to developing the workforce that we need to deliver a resilient clean energy future.

"I want to make sure that my influence in this role helps others," Butler says.

EP: Last year, you attended a cross-sector White House CEO meeting to discuss U.S. economic growth. How do you view our industry’s role in the U.S. economy, and what is your perspective on industry-government partnership?

CB: It was a tremendous honor to represent Exelon at a meeting hosted by President Joe Biden last year. He invited a handful of company executives to discuss how we can help everyday Americans thrive in today’s economic environment. Going into the meeting, I didn’t know that the president was going to meet with us in the Oval Office rather than the Roosevelt Room. I was honored and humbled to sit alongside so many titans in the business world, such as Ken Chenault, the former CEO of American Express, who was one of the few African Americans in such a role at the time.

Having a seat at the table not only offered Exelon a platform for sharing our viewpoints—it also was a coveted opportunity to partner with government leaders at the highest level. The president devoted almost two hours to discussing the economic factors that impact all Americans and how the government and private sector can partner to develop solutions for building a stronger economy.

I appreciated the opportunity—and I recognized in the moment that I wasn’t in that room as just Calvin Butler. I was representing Exelon’s 20,000 employees and our more than 10 million customers. I was representing all of EEI’s member companies. That’s quite a privilege and a tremendous responsibility.

That meeting came after the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, both of which created tremendous opportunities to accelerate infrastructure investments and hasten the clean energy transition. Those two bills incentivize jurisdictions to aggressively pursue climate goals. Last year, Exelon submitted funding and grant applications totaling nearly $700 million to DOE, which would support 10 critical grid infrastructure projects across the country and potentially create more than 7,800 jobs.

The electric power industry supports more than 7 million jobs in communities across the United States. Our role in the economy is a major one, and we directly and indirectly support so many good-paying positions that require skills and technical expertise but may not require a four-year degree.

EP: What does our industry need to do to foster the diverse and talented workforce that will be necessary as we pursue a resilient clean energy future?

CB: We have a responsibility to help attract and retain a skilled, diverse workforce—not just here at Exelon, but across the industry. Our commitment to inclusion is shaped by who we are and who we serve. We use a comprehensive approach to drive a diverse, equitable, and inclusive culture within our communities by choosing to work with partners who share our core values—extending to our vendors, our consultants, and even our charitable grant recipients. It is through these efforts that we provide superior service to our customers.

When inclusion is woven into the mission, vision, and business practices of a company, it will be sustained over time. When it is treated as a nice-to-have initiative or program, it will not yield the results intended. As with many things in the world of business, culture change begins at the top. We prioritized inclusion as a core value at Exelon over the years. And, I can tell you, it has made a difference.

We require diverse slates of candidates in our recruiting process and diverse interview panels. We support well-funded employee resource groups, each led by a sponsor at the executive level. And, we pride ourselves in creating a work environment where all employees are encouraged and feel safe to bring their best professional selves to work. We measure these sorts of cultural impacts, like we would anything else that matters to us.

We also prioritize external workforce development. We invest in local communities to help build the skills necessary for the jobs today and for the energy workforce of the future. Since 2019, when we realigned our companywide workforce development strategy, our efforts have helped support the hiring of more than 1,800 people who live in communities served by Exelon into positions at our local energy companies or with our contractors. These are well-paying, family-sustaining positions.

Exelon is going all-in to bring about change, and the entire energy industry must join us. In an industry that offers so many opportunities to make a difference—through electric power generation, transmission and distribution, energy storage, energy efficiency, cybersecurity, data analytics, customer experience, fleet electrification, and so much more—our industry should, can, and must be a strategic disruptor to economic inequities in our communities.

As we enter a critical new era—where the type of energy that we generate and deliver, and the way we deliver it, is evolving at a rapid pace—we will see more change in the next 10 years than we have seen in the last 100 years. That makes this a truly exciting and transformational time to be in this industry. EP

The Clean Energy Future: Urgency Is Key

Tue, 07 May 2024 04:08:02 +0200

Electric Perspectives (EP): The pace of change in the electric power sector seems to be faster than ever before. What have you observed during your first six months as EEI chair?

Pedro J. Pizarro (PJP): First, it’s been a privilege to serve on the EEI Board of Directors’ Executive Committee for the past six years and an honor to be selected as chair of EEI. Our industry’s collaborative spirit is a model for other sectors—and is a major benefit to electric customers around the country. Reducing carbon emissions 36 percent below 2005 levels is no small feat, and EEI members did that safely, affordably, and reliably while navigating increasing climate impacts and unprecedented growth in the use of electricity.

That cooperation and collaboration extends to how our members respond in times of need. They support each other through mutual assistance, with a collective commitment to physical safety and cybersecurity all while stepping up to advance our industry’s goals. I was proud to lead the EEI delegation at COP28 in Dubai and share these same messages. At every opportunity, I reminded people that the electric power industry is at the center of the clean energy transformation. We provide an essential service and have done more than any other industry to reduce carbon emissions in the United States. However, now is the time for action. We simply cannot wait to make the investments necessary to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change. We must continue to work together to educate policymakers and other key stakeholders about the roles that we all must play in evaluating and approving prudent investments in grid resilience. With what we know today about energy needs and potential threats to critical energy infrastructure, proactive investments can be made that will greatly drive down risk and could even help to save lives.

EEI Chair Pedro J. Pizarro, president and CEO of Edison International, attends EEI's annual Wall Street Briefing.

EP: EEI and our member companies were strong supporters of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Inflation Reduction Act, which are driving meaningful investments in our sector. What do you see as the next key policy priorities for our industry?

PJP: The clean energy future is a marathon, not a sprint, and runners know when it’s time to pick up the pace. Legislation that will accelerate our clean energy future is a priority. It has been rewarding to see EEI’s work result in favorable policies within the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act. Now, we must continue to focus on implementation. These wins need to translate into getting steel into the ground and real benefits for our customers.

Reforming the transmission siting and permitting process is high on the priority list. Even with the provisions included in the Fiscal Responsibility Act, it’s one of the major headwinds we face in building out the massive amount of new infrastructure our country needs.

Edison International’s recent analysis of the state of California, Countdown to 2045, anticipates that electricity demand will skyrocket by more than 80 percent by 2045. To accommodate that growth, the state will need to add transmission at four times and distribution at 10 times historical rates. Colleagues from other states and countries tell me they have similar expectations in their areas. Our energy grid must expand like never before.

We also need legislation to address the financial risk that comes with climate change impacts like extreme storms and catastrophic wild res. is uncertainty around liability creates unknown and unpredictable risks for the electric companies that play a vital role in growing the economy and delivering affordable and resilient clean energy across our economy. Left unaddressed, this liability will constrain critical investments in new clean energy resources and the resilient infrastructure needed to deliver it to customers.

The escalating threats to our grid security represent another area where we need close collaboration with the federal government. Notable policy priorities include congressional authorization of the new Energy Threat Analysis Center, an important venue where industry operators and government partners will help identify threats and share mitigation strategies across the industry. Additionally, we need liability protections to eliminate barriers to information collection and sharing between industry and government. We must address any tension we see between our fiduciary obligations and our role as critical infrastructure providers supporting national security.

“The clean energy future is a marathon, not a sprint, and runners know when it's time to pick up the pace.”

EP: Can you speak to the central role our industry plays in serving customers, particularly as the economy continues to electrify?

PJP: Our ultimate responsibility is to safely provide reliable and clean electricity to our customers at an affordable cost. That is what we must do—period.

Investor‐owned electric companies can build and maintain the energy grid quickly and at a lower cost to customers than any other model. We have an obligation to serve all customers in all communities and to provide programs that support affordability. That includes solar energy and energy storage installation, energy efficiency, demand response, and time-of-use programs. Customers also need clear communication from their electricity providers, which is why electric companies are working to provide timely information in a variety of ways that can be tailored to the preferences of each customer. This helps to ensure that customers are getting the information they need, when they need it, in the ways they prefer.

We’re seeing more customers electrifying their cars and homes. There also is a large number who can’t yet afford electric technologies. Getting all pieces of that right is more important than ever. Electric companies recognize our responsibility to be trusted advisors—educating customers on new products and technologies and helping them understand new opportunities to save energy and lower their bills.

EP: In addition to your role as EEI Chair, you serve as a co-chair of the Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council (ESCC), which facilitates coordination between the highest levels of industry and the federal government to prepare for and respond to national-level disasters and threats to critical infrastructure. Can you speak to the value of this partnership, and the progress that has been made together?

PJP: Forums like the ESCC are a great way for us to pool our experience and reach better decisions and outcomes. We’ve made progress in a few key areas.

Mutual assistance is one. The electric power industry has been effective at coming together in times of crisis. Over the past decade, we’ve applied that commitment to expanding mutual assistance programs to manage cyber incidents and to secure our supply chain.

The ESCC enables the electric power industry to work effectively with government partners in responding to threats to critical energy infrastructure. That’s vital when real-time coordination makes a difference. In recent years, we have effectively coordinated support with the White House, the U.S. Department of Energy and various government agencies, and federal law enforcement in responding to challenges like COVID-19, extreme weather events, and high-impact physical attacks on the grid.

Another key area is shared forecasting. ESCC members bring their company’s unique vantage points to industrywide discussions about threats and hazards. This can include perspectives from varied geographic regions, different business models, and individual grid architectures. We exchange information and assessments to create a better shared understanding of the threats and risks we face.

Our federal partners bring powerful intelligence gathering capabilities to the table, and, together, we can evaluate today’s risks and deliver actionable intelligence and guidance to the experts who operate the energy grid.

Pizarro discusses transportation electrification with U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

EP: You have often spoken about the need for our industry to remain focused on scaling up physical and cybersecurity defenses. How have you seen our industry’s focus on protecting critical energy infrastructure evolve during your career?

PJP: The electric power industry is committed to security and resilience, while also understanding our responsibility to maintain affordability. Those longtime priorities, which are sometimes competing, have led us to a thoughtful, risk-based approach to defense. We track threats, apply the best-suited mitigations, and avoid chasing one-size- fits-all solutions.

Our risk-based approach to protecting infrastructure has allowed our industry to evolve as the grid and the threats change around us. Every day, industry security teams work to identify and adapt to the changes we are seeing anything from more dangerous malware to more powerful rearms. The teams also are looking at changes to the grid itself, especially as more renewables and distributed energy sources on the grid expand the attack surface. There’s some good news with new technologies and tools in the market that can help us protect our infrastructure.

“The electric power industry is committed to security and resilience, while also understanding our responsibility to maintain affordability.”

EP: Can you discuss the significance of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives to moving our industry forward?

PJP: I’m proud that DEI has become a universal part of our business. EEI launched an industrywide DEI initiative in 2020 that focused on diversifying our workforce at all levels, and 100 percent of member companies participated. EEI also has supported the Biden administration’s Justice40 Initiative, which is another way we are making sure that the investments being made in clean energy, electric transportation, and resilience are benefitting underserved communities.

At Edison International, I see every day how diversity makes us stronger. In 2022, we achieved gender parity among our independent board directors, and, in 2021, we reached gender parity among my direct team of senior leaders.

Our diversity initiatives include suppliers. It’s important to support our local businesses and communities, and having a diverse supplier base also helps increase collaboration with community-based organizations. They are a valuable source of feedback from underserved communities and provide better education and awareness on important topics.

We also have workforce development e orts to add more diverse talent, including our Edison Scholars and Lineworker Scholarship programs. e Edison Scholars Program awards $50,000 in shareholerfunded academic scholarships to 30 high school seniors each year to study science, technology, engineering, or math in college. Our Edison International Lineworker Scholarship program welcomed a third cohort of 12 scholars in 2023, including our second female scholar. The program awards scholarships up to $25,000 and is funded by Edison International shareholders and IBEW Local 47.

We can’t do this in a vacuum. Being transparent and providing data are essential to building trust. We hold ourselves accountable by setting goals and reporting outcomes annually in our Sustainability, DEI, Community and Economic Impact and Supplier Diversity reports.

Through the Edison Scholars Program, Edison International awards $50,000 scholarships to 30 high school students each year who plan to study science, technology, engineering, or math in college.

EP: How can the industry attract and retain workers with diverse skillsets and backgrounds to power the clean energy future?

PJP: This is an exciting time to be part of the electric power industry, and I encourage young people to be a part of the clean energy future. The electric power industry is rooted in a strong sense of mission: We account for around 5 percent of the U.S. economy, and we reliably and affordably power every other industry. Over time, our mission has expanded to leading efforts to drive down carbon emissions across the U.S. economy. We will need new technologies, new processes, and new laws and regulations. Most important, new bright minds must join our ranks. There is tremendous opportunity ahead.

I recommend that young people learn as much about the industry as they can. Talk to everyone: people in transmission and distribution, planners, engineers, lineworkers, customer service representatives, public affairs experts, and information technology specialists. Read articles to see how the media is covering the industry. Follow industry leaders and companies on social media. No matter the role, having a well-rounded understanding will help you go far.

Invest in yourself, guided by feedback from those around you. Our companies operate strong electric networks by nurturing strong human networks. Connect with the network around you, contribute to it, and seek input from it. Set personal goals by identifying senior roles that you aspire to reach in 5-10 years. Get feedback on what two or three skills you would need to build to be a good candidate for those roles, and work hard to develop them. Your career journey may or may not end up in those specific senior roles, but the act of investing in your development will prepare you for the opportunities that do come your way.

Finally, aim to serve. Our industry is committed to serving serving our customers, supporting our communities, partnering with government leaders, and helping one another through our strong tradition of mutual assistance. As you progress as an energy professional and leader, you will find that more of your role is about helping your team succeed than about helping yourself. Your success will be defined by your team’s success, just as our industry’s success is defined by our collective ability to provide reliable, resilient, and affordable clean energy to our customers and communities that depend on us more than ever before.

Net Zero: One Goal, Many Paths

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 19:24:45 +0200

Ambitious targets to address climate change and reduce carbon emissions have been set around the globe. The United Nations (UN) is challenging governments, businesses, and individuals to take urgent action to reduce emissions now, with UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently convening a Climate Ambition Summit in New York ahead of the UN Climate Change Summit, or COP28, to be held later this year in Dubai.

At Fortis, we have seen emissions reduction initiatives take shape throughout the North American electricity and natural gas sectors. We have 10 electric and gas utilities across five Canadian provinces, 10 U.S. states, and three Caribbean countries. Canada is addressing climate policies with carbon pricing, an oil and gas emissions cap, and clean electricity regulations. The country is targeting a net-zero electricity sector by 2035.

Meanwhile, the United States plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 50 percent below 2005 levels by 2030 and reach carbon pollution-free electricity by 2035. Both the United States and Canada seek to achieve a net-zero economy by 2050.

The efficacy of policy implementation is being debated vigorously throughout North America. However, transitioning to a low-carbon economy is imperative to protect our natural environment, economic prosperity, and social cohesion. And, the electricity sector is and has been leading the way. Canada’s electricity industry has reduced carbon emissions by 60 percent since 2000, while the U.S. electricity industry’s emissions are 36 percent below 2005 levels as of year-end 2022. As an industry, we are uniquely positioned to educate and advise policymakers, regulators, and customers on the complexities of navigating the massive clean energy transformation. Safe, reliable, and affordable energy is the backbone of national security and our economy. Compromising on these core priorities is not an option. How do we reach net zero without compromising these core priorities? Ambition, expressed in international agreements and government targets, is important but insufficient.

Governments, regulators, and industry must collaborate on policy to align climate and economic goals. Meaningful action requires approaches that reflect our political, economic, and regulatory diversity and the distinct energy needs and available resources of different jurisdictions. A one-size-fits-all policy approach risks entrenching division and opposition. We need a pragmatic approach that broadens support for the clean energy transition and adequately addresses the opportunities and challenges it presents.

Fortis conducts climate scenario analyses and is upgrading its existing infrastructure to better prepare for the effects of climate change and extreme weather events.

Balanced Public Policy

The geographic and regulatory diversity of our companies provides a good vantage point for comparing the electricity and natural gas sectors across different regions of North America. To address the challenge of climate change, we must look beyond our states and provinces. Strengthening and optimizing the broader energy grid with interconnections across regions, borders, and markets is crucial. A truly North American grid will deliver improved reliability, support the integration of variable renewables, and provide customers with significant savings.

The shift to clean energy will entail a transitionary period when fossil generation capacity, particularly natural gas, will be necessary to support the increasing level of renewables affordably and reliably as technologies and supply chains continue to develop. Low-carbon fuels, such as renewable natural gas (RNG) and hydrogen, will be an important component in capturing the value of these assets, which may eventually displace natural gas with a low-carbon substitute, as economies allow.

Recognizing the natural gas delivery system's role in the overall energy transition is important. FortisBC serves 1.1 million gas customers and delivers two-thirds of British Columbia’s peak winter energy demand. The company recently conducted a preliminary analysis of its systems in the City of Kelowna, in which 40,000 gas and 66,000 electricity customers are served. The energy study combined consumption data into a single model to explore the inter-connectedness of the systems. It concluded that full electrification would result in significant infrastructure costs.

Even assuming the broad adoption of highly efficient electric heat pumps, energy conservation through building envelope improvements, and off-peak electric vehicle charging, affordably delivering enough electricity to meet peak demand would be a significant challenge. The analysis underlined the need for integrated planning and additional investments in RNG and other low-carbon fuels and hybrid systems that support coordination between new clean fuels and traditional electric systems.

Consequently, our sector needs a balanced public policy approach that accounts for the capabilities and value of both the electricity and natural gas systems. With EEI’s leadership, and in partnership with other industry associations and direct member advocacy, we must help regulators understand the most responsible path to net-zero emissions.

Fortis has 10 electric and gas companies across five Canadian provinces, 10 U.S. states, and three Caribbean countries.

Addressing Climate Adaptation

Focusing on reducing emissions is only one piece of the broader clean energy puzzle. We must simultaneously prepare for the increased frequency of extreme weather events and their impacts on our infrastructure.

Hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and extreme weather events have the potential to devastate our customers and communities and the reliability of our infrastructure. Fortis is mitigating the impacts of these events by installing higher-grade distribution poles and transmission infrastructure, upgrading poor-performing feeders, integrating redundant transmission and distribution, and building critical structures and buildings to better withstand extreme weather. These measures are taken based on vulnerability assessments and new building standards that reduce the risk of outages, address ice-loading, and de-escalate wildfire risk.

Like others in our industry, we have shifted from planning our systems based on historical weather patterns to modeling for future climate scenarios, focusing on industry climate partnerships, excellence in design standards, and operating with best practices in mind. Fortis is part of the Electric Power Research Institute’s (EPRI’s) Climate Resilience and Adaptation initiative, which leverages decades of research by EPRI, U.S. National Research Laboratories, the U.S. Department of Energy, and other key stakeholders to create a comprehensive framework to guide electricity system adaptation and resiliency decisions and investments. Fortis also conducts climate scenario analyses to identify the most material impacts of climate change on our operations.

As we experience extreme weather events, our ability to recover and restore becomes increasingly important, especially as our communities rely more on electricity. We are increasing our attention on extreme weather preparedness and restoration to be well-equipped to respond in the future. Mutual assistance programs will remain an essential part of our restoration process, and we should plan ahead for their increased usage with additional flexibility and resources.

Fortis reduced its Scope 1 emissions by 28 percent through 2022 compared to 2019 levels and is targeting a 50-percent reduction by 2030.

Setting Expectations for the Journey

There are tensions among speed, reliability, and affordability on the road to a net-zero economy. We must set ambitious goals while remaining flexible and acknowledging that the path may differ across jurisdictions— and may change based on data, markets, and technology. Success will require building and maintaining broad public support and instilling confidence that the clean energy transition is an opportunity for everyone. Reassuring customers of our commitment to delivering safe, reliable, affordable energy is key.

While we must all commit to our mantra of getting as clean as we can as fast as we can, we also must recognize that our roles in this clean energy transition can vary significantly by the businesses we are in and the specific options our jurisdictions have to offer. There is no one-size-fits-all solution, and many paths can lead to the same end goal.

Learn more about Fortis Inc.'s commitment to emission reduction and reaching net zero.

Focused on the Future: Powering Progress With Resilient Clean Energy

Thu, 28 Mar 2024 18:59:00 +0100

Electric Perspectives (EP): You were named PSEG president and CEO last year, and you became chair of the PSEG board earlier this year. What can you tell us about the past several months and the team you have in place around you?

Ralph LaRossa (RL): Even though I just passed my one-year mark as CEO, I am proud to say that I have been with PSEG for 38 years. I am thankful to be part of this company, and I am thrilled to be a part of an industry that touches so many people's lives every day. We supply natural gas to 1.9 million people in New Jersey; electricity to 2.3 million people; and we manage the Long Island Power Authority's electric system on their behalf, reaching another 1.1 million customers in New York.

I do not take my role as CEO lightly. I view the past 12 months as a tremendous opportunity, and I hope that our employees have seen that our senior leadership team is laser-focused on supporting the strength of this company and building toward the future. Our team members are incredible partners in this journey, and I value their expertise and diverse opinions.

We all are focused on doing what is right for our employees and our cus tomers in New Jersey and on Long Island. We couldn't do what we do without the hard work and support from the 12,500 PSEG employees who roll up their sleeves every day to keep the lights, heat, and power on for the customers and communities we serve.

LaRossa has helped lead significant investments to modernize infrastructure and enhance reliability and resilience.

EP: What is your proudest accomplishment in your more than 30 years in leadership roles at PSEG?

RL: I'm not sure there is one single thing I can point to over the years that defines my time at PSEG, because there are so many accomplishments that this team has achieved and can take pride in.

I remember small things, like when I was starting out as an engineer and received a call on Christmas Eve to make a decision about a major gas leak in a retail establishment. That really impacted me personally, as I quickly realized that the decisions that we make can meaningfully impact the lives of those we serve.

I still vividly remember how the entire company came together during Superstorm Sandy in 2012, working around the clock to restore power safely and quickly. Looking back, I am still proud of our team's commitment to doing right by our customers during such a chaotic, dangerous, and uncertain time.

Providing that comfort to our customers is something I learned after the terror attacks on September 11, 2001, when we sent our PSE&G crews into the field to work a "normal day," so that our customers would see us and understand our commitment to serving them.

EP: PSEG this year celebrated its 120th anniversary. How is the work that you are doing today setting the stage for success as PSEG serves its customers and communities in the next 120 years and beyond?

RL: Predictability and reliability have always been priorities of ours, and we plan on being around for the next 120 years. For us, that means taking smart steps with the financial strength of our company in mind. It also means working with policy makers to help them understand the goals and priorities of our company and our industry while prioritizing what our customers care about most: safety, affordability, and reliability.

One of the most important com munities that our company serves is our workforce. We are focused on transforming our safety culture to ensure that our employees feel safe and secure when they come to work every day. We are engaged at every level, particularly with our frontline workers, who may put their personal safety at risk to serve their communities. I credit much of our company's success to our strong commitment to our workers, including strong labor relations that are grounded in mutual respect.

EP: PSEG is planning to make significant investments as it continues to modernize its critical energy infrastructure. Can you speak to the significance of these investments and the areas where the company is focusing?

RL: Even though our company is 120 years old, we come to work every day focused on the future. Last year, we unveiled our Powering Progress vision for a future where people more efficiently use energy that is cleaner, safer, and delivered more reliably than ever. We consider that vision to be our North Star, and we are doing what we can to make it a reality. That includes making investments in things like energy efficiency initiatives and electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure that will help meet current EV needs and prepare us for the wave of EV demand that will come in the years ahead.

It also means modernizing our gas system to enhance safety, mitigate methane leaks, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We also are building out and strengthening our last-mile service connections to individual neighborhoods, streets, and houses. We have seen, especially since the onset of the pandemic, how critical electricity is to our modern lifestyle.

We also are supportive of New Jersey's goal to reach 100-percent clean energy by 2035. We know that, as New Jersey's largest electric and natural gas company, we will play a significant role in getting the state over the finish line. As we work to support these goals, we also plan to advocate for cleaner power generation. We hope to see PJM Interconnection, the regional trans mission operator that oversees New Jersey and 12 other states, take steps to ensure that, as states electrify, the energy necessary to meet customer demand does not come from carbon intensive generation.

“Even though our company is 120 years old, we come to work every day focused on the future.”

EP: You mentioned Superstorm Sandy. You were President and COO of PSE&G in 2012, and you helped lead the storm response and recovery efforts. What did you learn from that experience, and how has it shaped your views on extreme weather events and storm response in the years since?

RL: Superstorm Sandy taught all of us just how vulnerable we are to the impacts of climate change. After facing unprecedented, widespread outages in our region, we knew that we needed to take mitigation steps so that our service territory would never again be so heavily impacted. In the decade-plus that has followed, we have undertaken significant improvement initiatives to strengthen our critical infrastructure and reduce or eliminate some of the vulnerabilities that the storm laid bare. Among other efforts, we have raised or hardened 64 of our substations. We saw the benefits of those investments firsthand when Hurricane Ida hit in 2021. Our customers were minimally impacted by outages, and we have even more substation upgrades planned in the years ahead so that our system can be more resilient than ever.

Unfortunately, we know that climate change isn't going away and that storms will continue to grow infrequency and severity. As people simultaneously become more dependent on electricity to power their everyday lives, we need to make investments to ensure the grid is ready and resilient to the impacts of extreme weather. Our last-mile work also will come into play here, since those improvements will bolster reli ability at the neighborhood and street level, making the energy that we pro vide more reliable and increasing grid capacity for our customers.

EP: What is your perspective on the importance of maintaining a balanced energy mix that utilizes all of the tools that we have in our clean energy toolbox, including natural gas?

RL: So much of the current energy discussion focuses on electrification, and that is an important part of our future. But, it is not the whole picture. Natural gas is an important piece of the puzzle as we work toward a resilient clean energy future. This is especially true if you consider the amount of electricity on our grid that comes from car bon-intensive fossil generation. We must advocate for cleaner power generation so that we don't end up electrifying more homes and work places with energy that isn't getting cleaner.

We also know that investing in our natural gas delivery system can reduce emissions. In fact, upgrades to our gas distribution system from 2011 to 2022 reduced approximately 300,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, which is the equivalent of removing 65,000 cars from the road. These kinds of improvements are significant when you consider that fossil fuels still make up approximately 60 percent of the generation on the PJM grid.

Replacing old pipes is an effective way to lower emissions now and pre pare to deliver low-carbon fuels like hydrogen and renewable natural gas, which we have proposed introducing into our system.

EP: Throughout your career, who have you looked to for advice and inspiration? Who have been your role models?

RL: On a personal level, my role models have always been my parents. My dad is an immigrant, and my mom was a woman trying to enter the workforce in the 1950s, when she faced significantly more barriers than she would today. What I learned from watching them each and every day has paid dividends throughout my career.

I also have learned so much from those with whom I have worked. Bosses like Ralph Izzo have certainly influenced me, but several union leaders and workers have as well. I have been blessed to work for a company full of effective and committed leaders.

EP: What is your philosophy for developing the next generation of leaders in our industry?

RL: As one of our core company commitments, we work to incorporate diversity and inclusion efforts into our operations so that our employees have the tools, resources, and support that they need to deliver safe and reliable energy to our customers. This work starts with recruitment. For example, we are working to break down barriers to employment by carefully reviewing job descriptions and eliminating any unnecessary job requirements. We also are building innovative programs to increase representation of employees from diverse backgrounds, including our Pre-Apprentice Readiness Program, which we anticipate will broadly expand our applicant pool by creating new, entry-level, skilled-trades positions.

I also am proud of our Clean Energy Jobs Program. It is a training and employment collaboration involving PSE&G, the New Jersey Department of Labor and Work force Development, and more than 40 public, private, and community organizations. The program was designed to help generate economic opportunities for more than 2,000 unemployed or under-employed New Jersey residents from low- and middle-income households. I am delighted that we not only have met but exceeded our initial goals for the program. We remain focused on developing the next generation of clean energy workers while advancing sustainability, equity, and economic growth. The success of this program is a testament to its triple-win impact: It benefits the workforce, the great state of New Jersey, and PSEG.

Superstorm Sandy impacted my workforce development philosophy, and I carry the lessons I learned from that event with me today. It rein forced that we need to empower our employees to delegate decision making and problem solving across our organization. That kind of employee empowerment lets workers know we trust them, and it allows them to act quickly and decisively-which is especially important during extreme weather events.