“The energy industry is moving beyond innovation for innovation’s sake. We’re entering a period where success will be measured less by the technologies we deploy and more by how effectively we integrate them into the way we plan, operate, and regulate the electric system.”

The electric power industry’s top minds convened for EEI 2026, the Edison Electric Institute’s premier annual thought leadership forum, in Las Vegas in June.

“Root cause analysis in incident response is more complicated as industrial automation grows. New scenarios need to be blended by the planning team to incorporate thinking and questioning as to what might be possible and what an adversary would have to do to attack the water system.”

From September 21–24, 2026, the global energy regulatory community will gather in Tbilisi, Georgia, for WFER IX under the theme “When Balance Is Achieved.”

“A major utility serving a mix of these customers is no longer diversified at scale even though it serves AI operators in multiple jurisdictions. It is exposed to a single wager held by a tiny club of whales.”

“A recent report from the Interstate Renewable Energy Council offers a starting point for regulators evaluating options to strengthen their states’ interconnection procedures.”

“The opportunity now is to make Wildfire Mitigation Plans more understandable, comparable, and evaluator-friendly, much as integrated resource and transmission plans became over time.”

“We’ve been told by customers they’re getting asked about Gridscope deployments on bond ratings and insurance calls – we’re hoping that in addition to direct reliability and risk reduction benefits we can provide, we’re also able to make a dent on affordability.”

“By leveraging load flexibility, utilities can unlock additional capacity rapidly and at lower cost relative to generation and T&D buildout – but this resource has been underutilized to date.”

The National Standard Practice Manual for Benefit-Cost Analysis of DERs provides a BCA framework for public utility commissions, state energy offices, consumer advocates, investor-owned utilities, and other stakeholders to assess the benefits and costs of DER investments and strategies.