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.

In a new interview on The Energy Gang podcast, EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney discussed rising electricity demand and the need for new generation, permitting reform, and responsible data center growth. 

Listen to full episode here. 

Managing Data Center Growth Responsibly: 

“The goal is clear: we don’t want existing ratepayers to bear the burden of new data centers,” Maloney said. “When it’s done right, these investments can actually put downward pressure on rates.” 

He pointed to the increasing number of large-load agreements and the White House’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge, designed to ensure data centers and other large customers pay their fair share and help reduce costs for local families and businesses.  

Historic Electricity Demand and Grid Investment: 

“When you look back at America’s history, the transformational infrastructure investments were railroads, the interstate highway system, and the electric grid,” Maloney said. “Today, we are once again investing in the most critical engine of our economy—the electric grid.” 

“In the last two years, we’ve seen demand growth double, and it will likely continue,” he added. “At the end of the day we need more generation and more steel in the ground.” 

Affordability and Reliability: 

“Americans are feeling cost pressures across the board—food, health care, housing, and energy,” Maloney said. 

He noted that electricity prices vary by region, but data show about 34 states have kept rates below average over the past five years. 

“When Americans flip a light switch, turn on their heat or air conditioning, or plug in their phones, they expect it to work,” he said. “That’s our commitment—to deliver reliable and affordable power every day.” 

PJM and the Need for New Generation: 

Maloney also addressed ongoing challenges in the PJM Interconnection region, highlighting concerns about rising costs and a lack of new generation in the region. 

“There’s bipartisan frustration—from FERC, the White House, and governors—because this is not sustainable,” he said.  

Permitting Reform and Building Infrastructure Faster: 

“We’re seeing momentum around solutions, including permitting reform, which is critical to getting projects built on time and at lower cost,” Maloney said. 

“It can take a decade or longer to build transmission in the United States,” he added. “That delay can increase project costs significantly—and those costs are ultimately borne by customers.” 

Convening Energy and Technology Leaders at EEI 2026 in Las Vegas (June 2-4): 

“At EEI 2026 in Las Vegas, we’ll bring together one of the largest gatherings of electricity experts and thought leaders,” Maloney said. “We’re looking forward to hearing from leaders across the energy and technology sectors as we work together to power America’s future.” 

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.

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.

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.