The electric power industry is entering a new phase of growth. Electricity demand is rising again, driven by data centers, electrification, and new industrial load. But while attention often focuses on generation resources, one of the biggest challenges may be transmission development. 

Across the country, utilities and system operators are working to expand the grid, but projects can take years to permit, finance, and build. The result is a growing conversation about whether the transmission system can keep up with the demands being placed on it. 

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Marc Miller, Partner and Energy Practice Area Leader | Host

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When people talk about the energy transition, much of the focus is on electricity: generation, transmission, distribution, and electrification. But natural gas continues to play a critical role across the energy system, from power generation to residential heating to industrial processes.

At the same time, the role of natural gas is being actively debated. Utilities are facing increasing regulatory scrutiny, evolving policy direction, and long-term uncertainty about demand.

So the question becomes: how do utilities continue to operate and invest in natural gas infrastructure while navigating that uncertainty?

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Marc Miller | Partner and Energy Practice Area Leader

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Ed Baker | Partner

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Utilities are under increasing pressure from multiple directions. Load is growing again, driven by data centers, reindustrialization, and electrification. The system itself is becoming more complex, with distributed resources and new technologies. And at the same time, utilities are managing workforce constraints and an explosion of data from AMI systems and other sensors deployed in their infrastructure.

Against that backdrop, there's a growing conversation about how artificial intelligence, or AI, can help utilities operate more efficiently and make better decisions. But while many utilities have experimented with AI, far fewer have successfully scaled it. For many, AI still feels more like experimentation than execution.

So the question becomes: how do you move from pilot projects to real, sustained value?

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Marc Miller, Partner and Energy Practice Area Leader | Host

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Jon Kerner, Partner | Guest

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For regulated utilities, the rate case is the moment when strategy, capital investment, and regulatory expectations all come together. It’s the process through which utilities justify their investments, establish their authorized revenue, and ultimately secure the resources needed to build and maintain critical infrastructure.

In many ways, the rate case is where a utility’s strategy meets regulatory scrutiny. It’s the moment when the company must clearly explain not just what it plans to spend, but why those investments matter for customers and the future of the grid.

Or to borrow a phrase from a well-known movie, it’s where utilities have to “show me the money.” Well, not me, but you get the idea.

And that challenge is becoming more complex. Utilities are entering a period of unprecedented infrastructure investment, while regulators and stakeholders are increasingly focused on affordability and clear customer value.

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Marc Miller, Partner and Energy Practice Area Leader | Host

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Josh Kmiec, Partner | Guest

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Utilities are entering a new capital cycle. Across the industry, we’re seeing more than a trillion dollars of planned investment, driven by load growth, resilience needs, aging infrastructure, and the energy transition.

But this isn’t just about investing more. Utilities are being asked to deploy capital more deliberately and more effectively than ever before.

That creates a dual challenge:

• Are we investing in the right things?
• And can we actually deliver them?

Getting one right without the other doesn’t create value, and increasingly, both are under scrutiny.

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Marc Miller, Partner and Energy Practice Area Leader | Host

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Gerardo Morales, Partner | Guest

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Tony Gonzalez, Partner | Guest

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To learn more about our research on the capital plans of America's largest utilities, read this article. You can fill out the form to request our full report of the data.

Over the past decade, many utilities deployed advanced metering infrastructure, giving them new visibility into customer usage and grid operations. But technology and expectations have evolved quickly, and a new generation of capabilities is emerging. 

Utilities are now beginning to explore what many are calling AMI 2.0, systems that go beyond basic meter data collection to support more advanced grid operations, deeper customer insights, and potentially much more sophisticated use of analytics and artificial intelligence. 

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Marc Miller, Partner and Energy Practice Area Leader | Host

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Kevin Hernandez, Partner | Guest

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For years, utilities were planning around relatively stable demand growth. But suddenly, that’s changing. Data centers, AI infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, and industrial reshoring are driving a new wave of load growth that is larger, faster, and more concentrated than what most utilities have dealt with in decades. 

And while these projects create major economic development opportunities, they also introduce significant challenges around planning, infrastructure, risk, and execution. 

So the question becomes: how do utilities prepare for this next era of demand growth?

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Marc Miller, host | Partner and Energy Practice Area Leader [email protected]

Chris Sturgill, guest | Partner

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