Summarized in Rhyme
Steve Mitnick has authored five books on the economics, history, and people of the utilities industries. While in the consulting practice leadership of McKinsey & Co. and Marsh & McLennan, he advised utility leaders. He led a transmission development company and was a New York Governor’s chief energy advisor. Mitnick was an expert witness appearing before utility regulatory commissions of six states, D.C., FERC, and in Canada, and taught microeconomics, macroeconomics, and statistics at Georgetown University.
Twenty-one hundred were there at the meeting
It was quite the affair
Attendees taking up almost all the seating
A record NARUC’s Prez Pridemore did declare
The first plenary
One of the best in memory
It was called the power of partnership
About mutual assistance
And the crews who travel a distance
They are truly exemplary
Next there were presenters on data centers
The growth in load isn’t like days of old
And it hasn’t yet slowed
This new demand was not as planned
Said the panel with perspectives that were firsthand
And then there were sessions with a lot of questions
About the challenges facing our regulatory profession
Like the panel on tradeoffs in financial
This concern is everywhere
It is truly national
There was a lot of knowledge from the stage
To download
Though by then I was frankly
At overload
What actual solutions are practical?
So that competing goals
Affordability and reliability
Are compatible?
The panel discussed this for us
In a way that was tangible and valuable
Like the conversations about wildfires
And what responses are required
Like the various positions
About the additions of transmission
And of the condition of
And convictions about
The energy transition and emissions
And how reliability is for a utility
The primary responsibility
Requiring a capability that calls for
All-of-the-above flexibility
Lastly everyone gathered
For a peering into the crystal ball
After which NARUC leadership
Took a well-deserved curtain call
A NARUC policy conference puts ideology aside