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.”

“H.R. 1 terminated several key energy tax credits for residential and commercial taxpayers. These changes accelerated the construction and utility interconnection timeline requirements for projects seeking to leverage those federal tax credits.”

“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.”

“Today, compliance and risk management resemble a constant turning puzzle, much like Rubik’s Cube. With every move, the alignment of risk and compliance across the organization is reshaped.”