Events

Foundations of Electricity: Principles, Policies, & Practices

NARUC Professional Development:
Track: Electricity

December 1, 2, 3, 2026, 2–4 PM Eastern, Live online

Overview:

The electric system in the United States is a complex network of generation facilities, transmission and distribution delivery networks, and end-users. It has been described as a single machine that enables thousands of organizations to cooperate to move power across vast geographic areas.

This course covers the development of the United States' electric system, how it has grown and changed over more than a century, its regulatory and policy foundations, and the most recent trends, challenges, and policy responses, including rapid growth in electricity demand from data centers, manufacturing, and electrification. The course also reviews the entities and stakeholders that shape energy policy and regulation, including companies, regulators, and consumers.

Fees:

NARUC State, Associate, and Federal Members: $265
Other State, Federal Government, and International Agencies / NASUCA Members / Academia: $465
All Others: $665

Register

Learning Objectives:

At the end of this course, participants will understand:

  • The fundamental elements of the electric system.
  • How those elements are planned and operated to deliver reliable and affordable service.
  • The history of electricity regulation, including different regional approaches, authorities, and responsibilities.
  • How utilities recover their costs and how customer rates are set.
  • How organized wholesale markets (RTOs/ISOs) differ from vertically integrated states, and what that means for regulators.
  • Trends in technology, demand, and policy affecting utilities and the electric sector.

Course Outline:

Day 1: How the System Works

  • Introduction to the different elements of the system-generation, transmission, distribution
  • Brief history of the electric system
  • Load forecasting, resource adequacy and reserves, and economic dispatch

Day 2: Who Regulates What and How

  • State and federal regulation of the electricity sector
  • How utilities recover costs
  • Regional organizations: RTOs, ISOs, NERC

Day 3: Growth, Constraints, and The Road Ahead

  • Growth in electricity demand
  • Constraints on supply
  • Regulatory and policy reactions, new technologies, modernizing the electricity system

Instructors:

Laura Beauchamp
Vice President, Business Operations and Strategy, Entergy

Laura Beauchamp guides the long-term decisions shaping how Entergy meets the growing demand for reliable, affordable power from traditional industries to emerging sectors like data centers. She oversees the comapny's generation and transmission strategy, integrated resource planning, customer programs supporting energy efficiency and demand management, ensuring that the company can support large-scale industrial expansion while maintaining the reliability and affordability customers depend on.

Kevin Huyler
Vice President, Regulatory and Analytics, Edison Electric Institute

Kevin Huyler leads EEI's federal regulatory efforts, developing policy positions on behalf of its members before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Department of Energy, and other federal agencies. Prior to joining EEI, Kevin led regulatory policy for a combined electric and gas utility. He spent two years as a staff member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, served as a policy advisor to former FERC Commissioner Suedeen Kelly, and worked in FERC's Office of Energy Market Regulation.