EVP – Business Development, Fortis
Jim Laurito is EVP – Business Development, Fortis.
Steve Mitnick: What is your vision on the electric industry's future? Are you optimistic?
Jim Laurito, EVP, Fortis: We are significantly bullish about the future. Five years ago, there was a lot of talk as industry trends were changing. The talk was about a shift to cleaner energy driving a big change in the industry, customer demands shifting, electric vehicles, and battery storage.
All of these were described as disruptors. It was said that utilities were going to find themselves in what they call the death spiral, within that vortex. We don't believe in the death spiral.
As you look at the trends that are driving the future that I just described, all are significant investment opportunities for the utility. They're all areas of the sector that the utility should be the central focus in.
As we think about the future, and cleaner energy sources, utilities should be the hub of that.
And, in getting closer to your customer through deeper customer engagement, utilities should be the hub of that as well. In cyber security, physical security, and automation of the grid for allowance of two-way power flow, all of those things are enabled by the utility.
We think the future is extremely bright. There is investment opportunity in all of those areas, as far as the eye can see. We don't buy the theory of the death spiral or the demise of the utility.