It takes a highly skilled workforce to provide reliable electricity service to customers, who depend on it more and more every day to power their lives. As electricity demand grows and our industry continues to deliver increasingly cleaner energy, the next generation of energy workers must be prepared to build, maintain, and operate energy infrastructure and equipment, including for new and emerging clean energy technologies. And, they must continue to work in the necessary positions to keep the lights on.

On this episode, EEI Senior Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer, and Chief Human Resources Officer Courtney Peterson and Center for Energy Workforce Development (CEWD) Executive Director Missy Henriksen discuss trends in workforce development, how companies are preparing the next-generation workforce, resources that CEWD offers to help companies with workforce development, and more!

Consumers Energy announced that in 2023, nearly 90 percent of customers who lost power had it restored in less than 24 hours. This progress is thanks in part to the company’s work to enhance its energy grid infrastructure, which includes adding smart technology, clearing tree branches away from power lines, and more. These efforts are part of a strategic plan called the Reliability Roadmap, and it’s an essential piece of Consumers Energy’s vision to limit the scope and length of power outages in the near future.

On this episode, Tonya Berry, Consumers Energy’s senior vice president of transformation and engineering, joins us to discuss the goals of the Reliability Roadmap, how Consumers Energy is enhancing grid reliability in Michigan, its efforts to prepare the next generation workforce as part of the plan, and more.

On this episode, EEI Senior Director of Electric Transportation Kellen Schefter and Consumers Energy Product Manager of Commercial Electric Vehicles Bethany Tabor discuss how the Michigan-based company is helping to support 11 school districts in its service territory to deploy and operate electric school buses and how the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean School Bus Program is helping to support these kinds of efforts.

Be sure to also listen to part one of this series, in which Schefter discussed a new white paper titled “Electric School Buses: Accelerating Equitable Deployment through Understanding Grid Impacts and Policy Solutions” with three co-authors of the report: Exelon Director of Clean Energy Initiatives Chris Budzynski; CALSTART Lead Project Manager, Northeast School Buses Ian Fried; and Sue Gander, World Resources Institute Director of the Electric School Bus Initiative.  

When we think of the acceleration of electric transportation, the spike in light-duty vehicle sales comes to mind, but it’s not just passenger vehicles that are scaling up. Medium- to heavy-duty vehicles, including school buses, are increasingly becoming electrified, much to the benefit of the communities they operate in.   

This episode takes a deep dive into electric school buses and how electric companies and other stakeholders are working together to ensure a smooth and equitable transition. EEI Senior Director of Electric Transportation Kellen Schefter discusses a new white paper titled “Electric School Buses: Accelerating Equitable Deployment through Understanding Grid Impacts and Policy Solutions” with three co-authors of the report: Exelon Director of Clean Energy Initiatives Chris Budzynski; CALSTART Lead Project Manager, Northeast School Buses Ian Fried; and Sue Gander, World Resources Institute Director of the Electric School Bus Initiative.  

Be sure to tune in to our next episode for more on electric school buses! Schefter will join Consumers Energy Product Manager of Commercial Electric Vehicles Bethany Tabor to discuss how the Michigan-based company is helping to support 11 school districts in its service territory to deploy and operate electric school buses. 

Dan Brouillette joined EEI as president and CEO-elect in October 2023, and became EEI’s president and CEO at the start of this year. Before joining EEI, Brouillette served as president of Sempra Infrastructure, a leading global energy transition company. He previously served as the 15th U.S. Secretary of Energy and before that as U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy, the chief operating officer of the department. Brouillette is the only person ever to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve in both roles. In the private sector, Brouillette has held leadership positions at USAA, where he served as a senior vice president and corporate officer, and at Ford Motor Company, where he was a vice president and served on its North American Operating Committee. 

On this episode, Brouillette discusses policy priorities for the electric power industry in 2024, how the industry will balance the growing demand for clean energy with reliability expectations, opportunities and challenges facing the industry, and more! 

On this episode, Sandi Safro, EEI associate general counsel of energy and technology regulation, and Patrick Arness, EEI senior director of government relations, discuss a few recent Department of Energy program announcements funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, including the Grid Innovation and Resilience Partnerships (GRIP) Program and the Regional Clean Hydrogen Hubs Program, which will help enhance energy grid reliability and resilience, advance the use of hydrogen as a clean energy source, and improve broadband access for unserved and underserved communities. 

At the end of the year, after serving America’s electric companies and their customers for more than 30 years, EEI President and CEO Tom Kuhn will step down from his current role. Kuhn has effectively worked with America’s electric companies to navigate major policy issues in Congress, throughout the federal agencies, and at the state and local levels. He also has led the development of strong-industry government partnerships, and has been extremely engaged in international dialogues that aim to advance the shared vision for an affordable and resilient clean energy future for all customers. 

On this episode, Kuhn discusses his decades of service, his sources of pride and inspiration, and his expectations for EEI’s member companies and the industry moving forward.

In late September, the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations held a hearing on the role of electric infrastructure in the wildfire that occurred in Lahaina on Maui on August 8. Hawaiian Electric President and CEO Shelee Kimura, along with Hawaii Public Utilities Commission Chair Leo Asuncion, and Hawai’i State Energy Office Chief Energy Officer Mark Glick, provided testimony and answered questions from the committee members, who had launched an investigation into the wildfire and each entities’ response.

This hearing was a significant step in initiating a broader, national conversation about what needs to be done to make electric companies, and the communities they serve, more resilient against increasing climate risk and extreme weather events. The growing threat created by wildfires is a problem that challenges not only Maui, but the nation and the world. The hearing raised questions about how electric companies, regulators, private property owners, and other stakeholders can take a holistic, collaborative approach to address these increasing risks.

The entire hearing ran around two hours, but this episode features key audio segments, including Shelee’s responses about Hawaiian Electric's application for a grid hardening project that had been pending with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission since last year, Hawaiian Electric’s wildfire protocols, and the obstacles to undergrounding power lines. You can watch the entire hearing on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce's YouTube page: https://youtu.be/Jc2SIl6kiY4.

November 15 is Utility Scam Awareness Day, and we’re raising awareness of tactics being used by utility impostor scammers that target customers of electric, gas, and water companies. Customers of all ages and backgrounds should be vigilant because anyone can be a target of this type of scam, but scammers especially target low-income or elderly customers. On this episode, Monica Martinez, executive director of Utilities United Against Scams, and Chris Peters, vice president and chief security officer of Entergy, discuss utility impostor scams, new scam tactics that customers should know about, what to do if you suspect you’re being scammed, and more.