The Current

This week, Brad sits down with Clint Odom, Senior Vice President for Policy and Advocacy at the National Urban League , to discuss issues related to social justice and race relations. Clint talks about what companies can – and should – be doing to promote dialogue on these issues and what role the electric industry and smart city policies have for bettering the lives of Black Americans and minorities.  

To help explain how electricity providers are expanding the use of electric vehicles, Brad is joined by James Campbell, Director of Innovation and Sustainability Policy at Rocky Mountain Power. Rocky Mountain Power and its partners are helping to make Utah an attractive place for EVs. James shares how his state can become a model as companies and policymakers in other states pursue expanding EVs.

In August, an historic heatwave resulted in rolling blackouts that left hundreds of thousands of Californians without electricity. To help explain what happened and how we got to this point, Brad is joined by Philip D. Moeller, Executive Vice President of Business Operations Group and Regulatory Affairs at the Edison Electric Institute (EEI).

Millions of Americans resorted to working and studying from their homes as COVID-19 shut down offices and schools. The dramatic shift underscored that many families still lack access to basic broadband services, leading to businesses struggling and students falling behind their peers. Brad speaks with Houston Smith, Vice President of Government Affairs at Alabama Power, to discuss the electric power industry’s role in expanding access to broadband services. 

This week, Brad speaks with Donnie Colston, Director of the Utilities Department at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). Donnie discusses how IBEW members, including 250,000 utility workers, are operating safely during the pandemic and what support membership would like to see from Congress. 

This week, Brad sits down with Roshan Patel and Marie Sanderson, Partners at 50 State, a bipartisan strategic government relations firm, to share their perspectives on how successful governors have been so far in responding to the coronavirus crisis and what challenges remain. 

As state governments face the financial shock due to COVID-19, Brad digs into the tools available for federal and state policymakers to offset their budget shortfalls. He is joined this week by Ben Ritz, Director of the Progressive Policy Institute’s Center for Funding America's Future, and his colleague, Brendan McDermott, Fiscal Policy Analyst at the center, to discuss the fiscal challenges that states must tackle. 

It’s been nearly four months since utility companies suspended disconnections and bolstered their customer support programs in response to COVID-19’s economic impact. This week, Brad speaks with Tara Oglesby, Vice President of Customer Experience for Ameren, to review how the St. Louis-based company serviced its customers’ evolving challenges and what lessons it is applying to its customer support model. 

This week, Brad speaks with Emily Sanford Fisher, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for EEI, about trends in emissions related to COVID-19 and efforts throughout the electric utility industry to reduce carbon emissions while keeping rates affordable for customers. 

As electric utility companies across the U.S. brace for summer storms, hurricanes and other disaster events, Brad sits down this week to discuss the mutual assistance program and how companies offer one another resources during times of crises to get the power back on. Wally Mealiea, Director of Preparedness & Recovery Policy at EEI, and Willie Wilson, Vice President of Operations at Entergy Corp., discuss the mutual assistance program and how it was activated during the Easter Day storms that hit the South.