Strategy & Planning

“The city council passed emergency legislation to say whoever the next nominee is with the Commission must have some level of expertise in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and utilities. I told the mayor I’d be willing to serve.”

“What is the purpose? Reliable, affordable, and sustainable. Why are we doing it? We’re doing it for the people in the District of Columbia. To what end? To move the District’s goals forward. That’s progress.”

Conversations with Chair Emile Thompson, Commissioner Ted Trabue, General Counsel Dionne Joemah, Deputy Executive Director Paul Martinez, Strategic Communications Director Kellie Didigu, OTRA Director Poorani Ramachandran, and Consumer Outreach Officer Karimah Bilal.

I keep thinking about how often people say our industry struggles to tell its own story. Utility regulation is more complex and more consequential than ever, and when we get deep into the details, it’s easy to forget that there are real people behind every decision. And more often than not, we’re all working toward the same broader outcomes.

“Through the AEIC Center for Operational Excellence, we’ve launched a multi-part workshop series dedicated to large load enablement, bringing together system planning, engineering, operations, and customer-facing leaders to identify practical strategies, barriers, and breakthroughs.”

“One of the most underappreciated risks is the condition of aging thermal infrastructure. Without proactive life management, the utility sector risks unexpected failures. For regulators, this raises questions about how asset integrity is assessed and how lifecycle risk is factored into planning and rate cases.”

“The energy transition is the operating reality for utilities and regulators today. Decisions being made now, particularly at the state level, will shape whether the evolving power system remains resilient, affordable, and accessible for all customers.”

“They are commonly called forever chemicals, as they dissipate so slowly environmentally. What makes PFAS compliance even more vexing is that because the substances are ubiquitous it is not the same as dealing with other hazardous materials such as lead or asbestos.”

“We are seeing another business model evolution happen in real time now. AI- driven load growth is increasing faster than traditional planning and regulatory cycles can accommodate. Moreover, this load growth looks different.”

“We’re going to be focused on finding opportunities in reducing overall OpEx for how businesses are run, making sure that shows up as a net reduction in cost for the customer. We’ll also be focused on energy efficiency opportunities and ways customers can take affordability into their own hands.”