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:

1. Improve the reliability and resiliency of our electric and gas networks through system hardening, smart grid technology, and automation.
2. 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).
3. 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.
4. Empower our customers through digital solutions. There is tremendous potential to improve the customer experience through connected tech and AI.
5. 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.

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

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.

The electric power industry is a key economic driver for the United States, accounting for 1 in 20 American jobs and 5 percent of U.S. GDP. Workforce development is a top priority for electric companies as they expand and strengthen the grid and power the jobs and industries of the future.

FirstEnergy Pennsylvania President John Hawkins and Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD) Executive Director Missy Henriksen recently joined an episode of the Electric Perspectives podcast to share their thoughts on attracting, retaining, and developing a skilled energy workforce. The episode was hosted by EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney.

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): Missy, can you give us a snapshot of the current energy workforce and the role that it plays in supporting our economy?

Missy Henriksen (MH): Absolutely. The U.S. Energy and Employment report that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently published found that there were 8.5 million people working directly in energy jobs in 2024.

We often talk about the electric power industry being 5 percent of the GDP—the first 5 percent, of course, because nothing works without energy. That holds true on the human capital side, as well. We account for 5 percent of the jobs in this country, keeping the lights on and keeping things moving for the nation.

DM: John, you lead one of the largest electric companies in Pennsylvania. What does a highly skilled workforce mean for ensuring reliability and serving your customers?

John Hawkins (JH): Our communities rely on a resilient and reliable electric grid, so we have to have a workforce that has advanced skills and expertise to deliver on those expectations—especially during this period of rapid industry transformation.

At FirstEnergy, we serve 6 million-plus customers in six states. We're investing $28 billion across our footprint through 2029. In Pennsylvania, that includes $15 billion in infrastructure enhancements, people, processes, and facilities—and the key word there is “people.”

We have to have a highly skilled workforce to complete this work safely and efficiently, allowing us to meet those expectations of our customers and communities.

DM: Missy, let me turn back to you. CEWD regularly publishes reports about the energy workforce. What trends are you seeing, and what do they mean for the next generation of energy professionals?

MH: We’re really seeing employers looking at their hiring practices with a great deal of innovation as they think about workforce development differently. It’s no longer, “Hey, HR, we need to hire some people,” but it’s an increasing commitment to the long game and attracting talent.

We’re seeing companies work together more closely in these efforts so that a rising tide will lift all boats. We're seeing, increasingly, a commitment to sector solutions and working together on major workforce opportunities and challenges, instead of every company looking at moving mountains on their own.

About 50 percent of the workforce is expected to retire in the next 5 to 10 years, which is evoking a need to focus on knowledge transfer and making sure we've got a strong talent pipeline to follow those exiting the workforce.

We're also seeing major conversation around the increasing reliance on digital skills and what that means for pre-employment training and upskilling the existing workforce. These are just some of the conversations driving significant industry action.

DM: You also were the former chair of the 21st Century Energy Workforce Advisory Board (EWAB), helping to shape the future energy workforce from the federal level. Can you share more about your work with EWAB and how you worked with DOE on workforce development strategies?

MH: Absolutely. EWAB was formed under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to advise the U.S. Secretary of Energy on developing a skilled energy workforce to meet current and future labor needs.

We were thrilled to be called on early in the current Administration’s transition to support Energy Secretary Chris Wright and his team with recommendations to develop and implement workforce strategy. We worked really closely with the Office of Energy Jobs within DOE, and they were tremendous thought and action partners in our work.

Our recommendations to Secretary Wright included providing significant support to scale pathways for well-paying, high-quality energy jobs. We focused on new ways to get people into energy roles, including through career and technical education, apprenticeships, and other earn-and-learn models.

The Administration is focusing a lot of emphasis on the importance of registered apprenticeship programs, so we're also making recommendations on the importance of increasing awareness and excitement around energy careers—for career-ready adults and for students.

Also, our recommendations focused on positioning DOE as a leader for innovative, effective, non-siloed solutions to support the development of the workforce as a sector. I think DOE is really making the commitment that they're not just focusing on the technology side of the industry—but, certainly, the people side, as well.

We are thrilled to know that Secretary Wright actually concurred with the overarching recommendations that we put forward. He has committed to developing an energy workforce strategy that enables effective workforce planning and supports the development of a highly skilled workforce. We're excited to see what comes out of that and we're expecting it to be published this fall.

DM: John, coming back to you, FirstEnergy has been recognized for its workforce development and apprenticeship programs, including your Power Systems Institute. Can you tell us how these programs work and what makes them successful?

JH: At FirstEnergy, we are growing and investing in our team, which we know to be the heart of operating a modern grid. We have more than 11,500 FirstEnergy employees dedicated to safety, reliability, and operational excellence.

Through our Power Systems Institute, we've trained nearly 2,600 line and substation workers. This model was unpaid, because we were paying for workers’ education to understand the theory part of the equation. During the summer, enrollees would get paid on-the-job training.

What we found with that model is that it was challenging for some who had families. So, in 2023, we transitioned to a paid apprenticeship model, more in-step with today's competitive labor market. Now, candidates are hired at the onset of the apprenticeship program, so that makes it more accessible to a lot more individuals.

We’re also targeting our hiring to keep workers in areas where they want to be, which helps minimize turnover. We have a lot of opportunities here. Our apprentices can obtain a college degree with financial assistance that we provide. We are working to get our program certified by the Department of Labor, which will make it nationally recognized and increase the appeal to candidates. It will also allow us to access funding and incentives and build union confidence, which is really critical to a successful program.

DM: Missy, CEWD supports programs across the country that help companies replicate successful workforce models like what John’s describing at FirstEnergy. What guidance would you give to electric companies that are working on building their own workforce pipelines?

MH: The first answer would be to call John and his team. You all are doing some incredible work up there. I really appreciate hearing more about the focus you've put on apprenticeships and now DOL-registered apprenticeship programs. I think that will be a game changer as we move forward in the industry.

I also can't stress enough the importance of partnerships. There's a lot of work to be done—a lot of opportunities for the industry to attract a highly skilled energy workforce—that is best done through partnerships.

Community outreach and engagement is important, because workforce development is a long game. The more we build effective partnerships—effective relationships with community-based organizations, community colleges, technical schools, workforce boards, and workforce systems and communities—those efforts will go a long way in making sure that there's fruit on those trees as we get down the road.

The other thing that is a game changer for workforce development is the introduction of the new Energy and Natural Resources Career Cluster, which is providing the first opportunity the industry has had in 25 years to more easily get energy curriculum into classrooms.

As companies are preparing for their future workforce strategies, perhaps putting the fine print on what they'll be doing in 2026, I can't stress enough the importance of the opportunities that are being enabled by that Career Cluster.

DM: John, is there any advice you would give to your energy company colleagues out there on how to pursue programs like this?

JH: I think Missy and I are reading from the same playbook. One of the keys to making this possible is the partnerships, and one of our industry’s most important partnerships is with our partners in organized labor.

When we set out on developing our new apprenticeship program, we engaged and partnered with both our International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and Utility Workers Union of America partners. The entire way, they were part of building a curriculum, the evaluation process, the interviews to ensure that together we are aligned on the candidates who will lead us forward. These aren't just jobs. These are careers, and we felt this wouldn't have been possible without our union partners. We're extremely grateful for their partnership.

DM: John, as we look to the future, new technologies are creating new kinds of energy jobs. What are some of the emerging opportunities that you’re seeing?

JH: Technology really has the potential to reduce manual and hazardous tasks, so we can allow folks to focus on high-value activities, especially with a focus on improving safety and job satisfaction. Using drones, for example, has been impactful, helping us with aerial inspections during storms or during day-to-day work.

When you think about our service territory in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, we’ve got mountains. Drones help speed our bias for action when we have events, and we're using some AI-driven advanced analytics when it comes to vegetation.

We have a lot of poles, we have a lot of wires, and we also have a lot of trees. We know how impactful trees can be to our electric service quality, so we have an advanced vegetation analytics tool that we've designed to predict and reduce tree-related outages before they occur. Through machine learning and taking internal data; external data on soil, weather, outage records, and geographical topography; and aerial photos, we can identify problematic trees so to minimize outages and manage our crews more effectively.

DM: For each of you, what do you believe will make the biggest impact on strengthening America's energy workforce in the next several years?

JH: Two words: Act now. It takes four to five years to develop a certified lineworker. Based on the level of demand growth we're seeing, we can't waste another moment in ensuring that we're prepared to deliver on the needs of our customers and communities.

And, it's not just lineworkers. There are a lot of important positions to fill in this space. As we're thinking about the future, we need to consider how we can best be positioned to lead on technology and AI.

MH: Prioritizing workforce development is a Page One issue. You also need to engage not just on your own, but through sector strategies—working with others at the state and national level. And, get involved with the Energy and Natural Resources Career Cluster. Just make sure, as John said, to act now. Make workforce development a priority.

A pair of proposed Entergy Texas natural gas power plants capable of powering more than 300,000 homes recently received regulatory approval, with plans to have both facilities in service by mid-2028.

The Legend and Lone Star power stations will collectively add more than 1,200 megawatts to the Southeast Texas energy grid and are expected to generate $2.8 billion in economic activity. Construction alone is expected to create more than 9,000 jobs in the Port Arthur and Cleveland areas.

“We’ve heard directly from our customers and communities about the need for more power to support our rapidly growing region, and these facilities will deliver just that,” said Entergy Texas CEO Eliecer Viamontes. “From families and business owners to schools and essential services, these power plants strengthen our ability to serve our customers who count on us every day. It’s also a reflection of the extraordinary expansion in our service area and our continued commitment to meeting that growth head-on.”

The projects are the latest efforts from Entergy Texas to enhance and expand the grid throughout the company’s service territory. Earlier in September, Entergy Texas completed construction on a $110 million reliability project that effectively doubles the power supply in the Bolivar Peninsula region. In June, Entergy Texas proposed two major transmission projects as part of its Southeast Texas Energy Plan—a long-term strategy to power economic growth, strengthen reliability, and support local communities.

Entergy Texas will invest roughly $2.4 billion in the new natural gas facilities—part of investor-owned electric companies’ broader plans to invest more than $1.1 trillion during the next five years to power economic prosperity and build new critical energy infrastructure of all kinds.

Rapid deployment of new energy infrastructure—including generation, transmission, and pipelines—is the lynchpin to providing more energy to our customers, meeting growing energy demand, and winning the AI race.

Learn more about investor-owned electric companies’ plans to invest in the grid at eei.org.

Harry Sideris is president and CEO of Duke Energy, having served in various leadership roles at the organization for nearly three decades.

Sideris recently joined the Electric Perspectives podcast to discuss his vision for Duke Energy and reflect on the devastating 2024 hurricane season.

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): You’ve had a long career in the energy industry and at Duke Energy. Tell us about your career journey and how your background is shaping your leadership of the company?

Harry Sideris (HS): I've had the honor and privilege of working for Duke Energy and its predecessors for almost 30 years. It all started with responding to a classified ad in the newspaper. I know that's a foreign concept to people today. That's how I ended up getting my job at Carolina Power & Light (CP&L) back in 1996.

As an engineer, I thought I was applying for a job at a power plant, solving mechanical, chemical, and process issues. I quickly learned there was so much more to working at CP&L and in the power industry. Our product is so vital to life. I fell in love with the sense of purpose I got coming to work every day, knowing that I was making a difference and that our product had a real impact.

At Duke Energy, our purpose is to power the lives of our customers and the vitality of our communities. Throughout my 30 years here, I have seen our employees volunteer with their communities, teach children about electricity at schools, and support vulnerable customers working to provide for their families. Seeing those efforts firsthand is something that I love about our company.

I've had 20 different roles at this company. I've done a little bit of everything, so I feel perfectly suited to running each and every aspect of our business, providing reliable and affordable service to our customers.

EP: What is your vision for Duke Energy, particularly as the energy landscape continues to rapidly evolve?

HS: My vision for Duke Energy is simple: We want to continue to operate as the premier electric company, with a reputation for reliable and affordable service for our customers. We want to be the company that people want to work for, where they can build meaningful and prosperous careers and feel empowered to make decisions that serve their communities.

We put customers first in everything that we do. We're ensuring reliability while serving our customers at the lowest possible cost. We are a company that's there for customers, both when a storm hits and when times are good.

We are mindful of the vast array of stakeholders out there, including regulators, politicians, large customers. We want to be known as an honest broker that contributes to energy policy discussions while looking for ways to make the communities and the states we serve better through economic development.

Finally, we strive to be a company that investors believe in and trust to deliver results and value—that they want to be invested in for the long term. With the demand growth that we're seeing, we're blessed to serve some of the fastest-growing states in the country. We are prepared for this moment, serving our customers and meeting this dynamic growth.

We are working directly with stakeholders and our states, and we're doing some great things. Earlier this year, we announced a contract with GE Vernova that will allow us to reserve gas turbines, which will allow us to move quickly and meet this explosive growth. In June, we announced the largest economic development project in the history of North Carolina, partnering with Amazon Web Services on a data center campus in Richmond County. It's a $10 billion investment that will create 500-plus jobs. Particularly in a rural community, that's going to have a huge impact.

EP: You’ve been outspoken about Duke Energy’s storm response work. Last year, Hurricane Helene’s destructive winds and catastrophic flooding devastated the Carolinas and several other states that you serve. What can you share about Duke Energy’s response and recovery efforts following Helene and how that informs your work today?

HS: We had quite the fall last year. We had three storms back-to-back-to-back: Debby, Helene, and Milton. All hit Florida, and all moved up the coast into the Carolinas. Helene, which was the most destructive of the three, hit all seven states that we serve. We saw 3.4 million outages during Helene and 5 million across the three storms combined.

I'm so proud of our team and how they responded to all these storms, particularly Helene. No one could have imagined the destruction that we saw in western North Carolina and upstate South Carolina. I grew up in Asheville, N.C., so it was personal for me to see the destruction, to think about 18 feet of water coming down the valley, washing out our substations, our poles, our homes, and our cars. It was just so devastating. In upstate South Carolina, there aren’t very many trees left from that storm. It seemed like every one of them was toppled last fall.

I joined our teams on the ground soon after the storms passed. It was heartbreaking to see some of the sites where, as a kid and as a teenager, I used to drive around. Seeing the destruction where my dad worked, where I set up my first bank account when I was 5 years old—it was very impactful to us.

We have a mantra here at Duke Energy that everybody has a storm role. So, when something like this happens, all 26,000 people at the company get behind it and work tirelessly, sometimes 16-plus hours a day, to make sure that we're getting the lights back on for our customers. That’s what really helps them find a sense of normalcy to start rebuilding.

The Duke Energy Foundation also did a tremendous job supporting our local communities—supporting food banks, many of which were washed out by floodwaters. We partnered with these communities that we've been a part of, in some cases, for more than 100 years, making sure they rebuilt and rebuilt well. We've been at it for the past year, because this work doesn't end when you get the lights on.

EP: Following the storms, Duke Energy replaced 16,000 poles, 13,000 transformers, and more than 9 million feet of wire. That’s a tremendous amount of work that your team undertook.

HS: It was unbelievable. We had to move poles in with helicopters, because roads were washed out. The amount of wire that we replaced would have been long enough to stretch from Charlotte to Denver.

And, in a lot of these impacted areas, the level of damage was just something we had never experienced before. Roads were completely washed out. Crew quarters didn't have running water, because Asheville did not have water for almost two months. We made it a priority to serve our lineworkers and our employees on the ground, making sure they had what they needed to be successful in their restoration.

EP: What can you share about the grid enhancements and broader resilience work that Duke Energy is leading now?

HS: I always say that the grid is the eighth wonder of the world. It is truly an engineering marvel in how it handles the puts and takes of the system—how it serves customers and handles extreme weather, particularly during hurricane season but also during ice season.

We've invested $70 billion to upgrade the grid across our service territory. We are installing smart devices, replacing wooden poles with concrete and metal poles, building flood protection around our substations.

We're also continuing to invest in technology. Our self-optimizing grid technology is something we've been focused on—I call it the GPS for the grid. When something happens, it's able to reroute power around the issue, saving many, many hours of customer outages. Last year alone, we avoided 1.5 million outages by quickly rerouting power.

We plan to invest more than $100 billion in our grid during the next decade, continuing to strengthen it, make it smarter, and help us meet demand growth. We're all in on making sure that eighth wonder of the world continues to operate reliably and affordably for our customers.

EP: How do you and your team think about balancing the investments that are needed today with maintaining affordability for customers? And, how are you discussing this with customers?

HS: : Affordability is front and center on every customer's mind. A lot of folks are struggling to make ends meet. We've always focused on reliability and affordability as we meet our customers’ needs, and it's no different now. We always look at what is the most reliable solution—but also what is the lowest-cost way we can deliver that reliability.

We continue to look for other opportunities to support our customers and lower their bills. Earlier this year, we worked with our partners in Washington to ensure that the $500 million in tax credits earned by our nuclear plants—which are safe, reliable, and cost effective—flow directly back to customers annually to help offset investment.

We're also focused on working with data centers and other customers with substantial energy demands. We are making sure that these large loads pay their portion of infrastructure investments, so that work doesn’t drive up bills for residential customers.

And, we spend a lot of time focusing on our vulnerable customers—those that have the greatest financial need. We distribute more than $130 million per year in federal and local assistance to help customers pay their bills, and the Duke Energy Foundation works directly in our communities to help vulnerable customers working to make ends meet. Electricity is a vital part of everybody's life.

EP: Duke Energy is a key driver of economic development in your service territory. How are you meeting growing energy demand while supporting and creating new opportunities for your communities?

HS: We are truly blessed to serve the communities that we do in the Southeast and Midwest. They are some of the fastest growing regions in the country. We have added more than 200,000 customers two years in a row, and we are on pace to do so again this year.

A lot of people are migrating here. We also have a lot of manufacturing facilities going in, and plants and data centers are expanding. It feels like everywhere we turn, there are opportunities to add data centers. We are focused on moving quicker, working with customers, and meeting the moment.

We are truly at the front and center of economic development. We will help create more than 160,000 jobs on an annual basis, based on our investment plan going forward. That activity will generate more than $130 billion in labor income and $370 billion in overall economic impact.

EP: “Calm is contagious” is one of your mantras. What does that phrase mean to you, and how does it influence your leadership style?

HS: I wish I had made that up myself. I stole it from the Navy Seals. That is their mantra as well. Calm is contagious because, when you're on a mission, you don't need people to be nervous. You don't need people to overreact. You want to be in lockstep. You want to have clarity of thought as you're making decisions. I think that's a core leadership principle here at Duke Energy.

We're in a high-stakes industry, and we have to have clear thinking, sound decision making, and effective action, particularly during a storm or when we’re under pressure. We need to stay calm, involve all stakeholders, talk to customers and regulators, and make sure our employees have a voice. That empowers everybody to come up with the right decision and avoid the bad decisions. “Calm is contagious” is something I've always subscribed to in my career, and I think it serves us well.