“You have to start with a small win before your utility will trust larger things with AI, but utilities aren’t going to be able to deliver clean energy in a scalable, cost-effective, reliable way without AI.”

“On markets and policy, which is what I hold near and dear to my heart, there’s a lot of work to be done. There’re just problems all over the market as we’re trying to figure out how to structure programs or policies to make demand flexibility work in the residential sector.”

“We’re putting demand-side resources on a more equal playing field. That’s an evolution that we’ve not done with such advanced modeling before.”

“It’s not about flattening the load; it’s about shaping the load to match your resources. This is weird, so it’s not resources following load, necessarily, there’s still a lot of that going on, but this is also a conversation about load following resources. That’s how this has changed.”

“We’re normalizing it by letting folks know how many people in their area, territory, zip code, are participating in programs. We’re letting them know it’s normal in their neighborhood, giving them exact data, so folks understand it’s not only those folks who are that check away from poverty, but a lot are going in and out of these programs over time.”

“We’re pivoting our model and taking a broader approach to say, where can we have a dedicated low-income team that is not just helping when someone has a problem with bills but is there when they are onboarding and when they’re setting up their service to get a better sense of what the profile is of that user.”

“Looking forward, we know we can’t rely solely on utility discount programs to ensure affordability for our ratepayers. We have to look at ways to ensure that the energy that’s being procured is being done in an inexpensive manner, as well as that we are reducing overall usage.”

Excerpts of remarks from the Institute for Electric Innovation’s Powering the People annual conference.

“These two systems have become interconnected, rather than just Interdependent. A new reliability paradigm, the Interconnected Bulk Energy System, emerges with this evolution, reflecting the increased interrelationship between the gas and electricity sectors.”

“We always start with what our customers want. Our customers want a resilient, clean, affordable grid. All our investment plans are designed to meet the goals in our various jurisdictions.”