“Our nuclear plants in Minnesota are an important part of our overall strategy. We are building some natural gas to maintain reliability, as we retire most of the coal plants in our generation fleet.”

“Our ultimate goal is to exit coal at some point in the future, but that transition needs to be done in a thoughtful manner where we’re not risking reliability.”

“We’ve added thousands of smart grid devices, including sensors and switches, and distribution automation on every circuit. We have one of the most advanced distribution networks in the country. We’ve deployed a state-of-the-art DERMS.”

“Moody’s Investor Services names NorthWestern Energy in the top 5 among 50 publicly traded North American utility and power companies on Best Governance Practices.”

“Our five-year plan is based on investment in renewables. Part of that is because we are in Missouri and Kansas, and Kansas is the wind capital of the nation.”

“Last year, in partnership with EPRI, we conducted our first sustainability materiality assessment, which is a best practice in the ESG space.”

“We are at an inflection point — we have a clean energy strategy on the table right now, and if regulators are supportive, by 2030 our generating portfolio will flip to 52% renewable energy.”

ESG conversations with executives at American Electric Power, Arizona Public Service, Evergy, Northwestern Energy, PPL Corporation, WEC Energy Group, and Xcel Energy. Guidehouse’s Dan Hahn and Michelle Fay sat in on some of these.

In what could be aptly called the Environmental, Social and Governance Era, utilities are being scored for their ethical performance, quite rigorously, quite comprehensively, by highly influential organizations. The issue is so big that we devoted a special issue of PUF to it.