These articles are the first two in a series with PUF focusing on load growth as both a challenge and opportunity for the continued evolution of the U.S. power sector. The series will present innovative solutions to meet this new era of load growth in a way that is more resilient, affordable, and clean.

Roundtable with Con Ed VP Chris Raup, National Grid SVP Mike Calviou, Washington Gas VP Jessica Rogers, Old Dominion Electric Co-op VP Bill Pezalla.

“We, working with Southern Nuclear and other partners, effectively built a new construction platform that the new Team Vogtle used to then build the plant. The tools we helped them select and implement for this platform were the same tools they use in operations. There were two big advantages.”

“Utilities are pushing more obligations and responsibilities onto hyperscalers to avoid putting a burden on other customers. For example, we have seen a tech firm develop a transmission line it owns in the northwest U.S.”

“The most surprising is how many times we heard how much the utilities require regulatory stability to meet their goals. They are looking for predictability. However, it’s essential they make resilience a permanent capability to prepare and turn disruption into opportunity.”

“We’re seeing annual growth rates of between 13-16% nationally from data center power year-over-year between now and the year 2030. Data centers constituted about 5% of total U.S. demand in 2024, for comparison. That’ll increase to between 16-23% percent by 2033.”

“We’re fortunate being a global company on the supply chain side. Being part of the Iberdrola family in AVANGRID, it speeds up our wait time to 2 to 3 years. Where we had impacts from COVID in the U.S. on distribution transformers, we were able to take manufacturing slots from Brazil.”

“If we build an energy system which nobody can afford, we’ll have failed. If we build an energy system which is clean but not reliable, we’ll have failed. If we continue using unabated fossil fuels, we’ll have failed. The answer is somewhere in the middle of these three, and we’ve got to have a properly informed debate.”

“I see my leadership at Exelon and my leadership at EEI as perfect matches in terms of what we’re doing. Because if I lead with my customer, I lead with reliability, resiliency, security, and affordability. Those issues permeate all our organizations.”

Key industry thought leaders from the C-suite gave unique perspectives on building an energy system for resilience, growth, affordability, and more at the sidelines of Accenture’s International Utilities and Energy Conference 2025.