Better Results Together
Sheri Givens is President and CEO of the Smart Electric Power Alliance.
At the beginning of the year, many of the conversations across our industry sounded familiar.
Load growth. Affordability. Reliability. Resilience. Cybersecurity. Each was discussed during its own forum or event, addressed through its own process or proceeding, and regarded through its own set of stakeholders’ eyes and viewpoints.
Six months later, these challenges remain, and they have become more urgent. But I find myself asking a different question than I would have asked in January, not whether we have solved these challenges, but “are we getting better at solving them together?”
Over the course of my career, I have seen the same lesson play out repeatedly. A project is ready to move forward. The technology is sound. The economics work. The need is clear. Yet the people who will ultimately have to implement it, regulate it, pay for it, or live with its consequences are brought into the conversation too late. By the time the formal process begins, positions have hardened and progress slows.