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In an era of record-breaking demand and aging infrastructure, maintaining equitable rates is a strategic necessity. This topic explores how digital innovation, regulatory reform, and transparent communication strategies can be leveraged to address these issues on all sides. Sessions focus on bridging the gap between operational reality and consumer perception to allow utilities to move from awareness to empowerment, ensuring the benefits of grid modernization are both visible to the consumer and sustainable for the ratepayer.
Core Concepts Discussed
- Performance-Based Regulation
- Time-of-Use (TOU) / Dynamic Rates
- Energy Burden
- Energy Efficiency & Weatherization
- Disconnect Metrics
- Affordability Ratio (AR)
- LIRA & CARE Program
- Budget Billing
- Community Metering
- Virtual Allocation
- Arrearage Management Programs (AMPs)
- Topology Optimization
- Non-Wires Alternatives (NWAs)
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Affordability educational opportunities
8:00 AM
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In this course, we’ll explore the ‘what’ and ‘why’ of DER management: What are DER What issues arise as DER proliferates Mitigating these issues with DER grid support functions How to manage DER to p …
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New to SCADA? No prior SCADA experience is required. This course provides a practical introduction to Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems and their essential role in electric util …
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The IAES Summit will bring together utility professionals, engineers, regulators, policymakers, entrepreneurs, and community leaders to explore the future of energy access, affordability, and availabi …
8:30 AM
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As electricity demand rises rapidly (driven by factors including AI, data centers, and widespread electrification) grid flexibility has shifted from a ""nice to have"" to an absolute necessity for mod …
10:00 AM
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In today’s utility environment, affordability is one of the most urgent and visible drivers of customer trust, satisfaction and demand behavior. Yet many organizations still approach it as a collectio …SpeakersChairperson
10:15 AM
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Join Utility 2030 (U2030) for The Human Grid Kitchen, an immersive, culinary-themed leadership simulation designed to help utility and technology leaders practice transformational leadership in a safe …
11:00 AM
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Utilities are facing a convergence of workforce challenges at the same time grid complexity, capital investment, and operating cost pressures are accelerating. As experienced workers retire, turnover …Speakers
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Keeping Electricity Affordable – Balancing Reliability, Resilience, and Cost in a High-Growth Era While there is broad consensus on the critical need for affordable electricity, utilities recognize th …Speakers
12:00 PM
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This half-day interactive workshop brings together utility, technology, and solution provider leaders to explore practical strategies for advancing grid flexibility, resilience, and operational intell …
1:00 PM
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Utilities are under growing pressure to modernize infrastructure, strengthen reliability and resilience, and manage rising system complexity, all while demonstrating affordability and accountability t …Speakers
2:00 PM
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Utilities are replacing aging infrastructure, absorbing load growth that has outrun nearly every forecast, and hardening systems against climate hazards that keep getting worse. Most capital planning …SpeakersChairperson
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The electric utility operating model is under pressure. Distribution systems are becoming more complex, customer expectations are rising, data center and electrification-driven load growth are acceler …Speakers
8:30 AM
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Join us as we kick off DTECH 2027 with our host utility, Southern Company, and presenting sponsor, Itron. Then, we’ll explore a question that challenges us to think bigger: What does it mean to acce …Speakers
9:00 AM
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This session explores how utilities are leveraging automated solutions analysis to scale time-series distribution planning and help planners automatically identify, evaluate, and compare mitigation al …Speakers
10:00 AM
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As distributed energy resources (DERs) scale rapidly, utilities must evolve beyond traditional control paradigms to unlock their full grid value. PG&E is advancing a DERMS-centric architecture that ex …
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Power Distribution systems are evolving rapidly as electrification, data‑center growth, and widespread DER adoption reshape both the scale, temporal and locational patterns of demand. Traditional dist …Speakers
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The policy and regulatory landscape shaping the electric grid continues to evolve in response to sustained load growth, accelerating electrification, rising data center and industrial demand, and the …SpeakersChairperson
11:00 AM
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As load growth from electrification and AI data centers is driving increasing strain on secondary distribution infrastructure up to the bulk system, utilities need managed charging solutions they can …
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The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) has published typical time frames for data centers, generation, and transmission development. While the specific times to build infrastructur …Speakers
1:00 PM
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In this panel discussion, utility and industry leaders from Pacific Gas & Electric, SA Power Networks, Hatch Consulting, and Black & Veatch will discuss how leading organizations are defining value, e …Speakers
9:00 AM
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The grid edge is generating more data than ever before: from advanced meters to distributed energy resources, but most utilities still struggle to turn that data into timely, actionable decisions. Thi …Chairperson
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CELESC (Centrais Elétricas de Santa Catarina S.A.) is the Brazilian electric power distribution utility responsible for serving almost the entire territory of the state of Santa Catarina, Brazil. It s …Speakers
11:00 AM
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As electric vehicle (EV) adoption accelerates, utilities face increasing pressure to manage electrification impacts on local distribution systems while maintaining affordability, reliability, and cust …Chairperson
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For the T-Flex initiative, PG&E is focused on delivering an initial Minimum Viable Product (MVP) that improves transmission interconnection speed-to-power through enhanced system monitoring, automatio …Speakers
1:00 PM
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As the energy transition accelerates and capital expenditures rise, the industry is facing significant challenges when it comes to balancing necessary grid modernization with ratepayer affordability. …SpeakersChairperson
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Building EV managed charging programs that move the needle on grid reliability and energy affordability requires automakers, utilities, and platforms working in coordination to orchestrate for constra …SpeakersChairperson
2:00 PM
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Customer engagement has long been "table steaks" for utilities, but today, the stakes have never been higher, particularly as AMI modernization, distributed energy resource growth, and affordability p …Speakers
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Wildfire is no longer only a Western utility problem. As ignition risk expands into new geographies, utilities outside California are facing a question they weren't originally designed to answer: how …
3:00 PM
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Exelon’s transformational delivery model is designed to modernize complex utility operations through an agile, incremental approach that aligns business process, technology, data, and change enablemen …Speakers
10:00 AM
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Utilities and states are investing billions in incentives for heat pumps, EV charging, panel upgrades, and weatherization — counting on those programs to drive efficiency and decarbonization. Yet many …
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The US Department of Energy Office of Electricity is developing a Grid Modernization Investment Framework, (GMIF) a structured, adaptable, in-depth maturity model guide that sets a benchmark approach …
2:10 PM
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Many utilities are spending less than 1% of asset replacement value annually on their aging grid; a 100-year renewal rate with a $600B price tag over the next decade. We need innovation to help balanc …
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A bipartisan SPARK for the grid | Factor This Brief
The DOE announces SPARK funding recipients, NineDot celebrates NYC battery energy storage, Exus Renewables repowers wind projects, Invenergy and HASI expand their partnership, NorthStar finishes a Michigan solar site, and Renewable Properties now plays in PJM.
Sept 28, 2026
Not the worst time for an AI data center to spill 5,500 gallons of backup fuel into a tributary | Factor This Brief
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Sept 21, 2026
