Agenda

Following months of collaboration, the Critical Consumers Issue Forum (CCIF) is pleased to feature state commissioners, consumer advocates, and electric company representatives to highlight CCIF’s new report, consensus principles, and other takeaways. CCIF thanks the noted NARUC Staff Subcommittees for their collaboration on the program and welcomes all interested NARUC and NASUCA attendees to join.

Separate registration required (no fee): (Link Coming Soon)

Buffet Breakfast Available by 8:30 am (sponsored by Edison Electric Institute)

Program 9:15 – 11:00 am (in collaboration with NARUC Staff Subcommittees)

The NARUC Center for Partnerships & Innovation and U.S. Department of Energy Office of Electricity are co-hosting an interactive, members-only workshop on creating a data-supported decision-making environment at state utility commissions. The workshop will include limited presentations and ample time for peer-to-peer dialogue about the successes and challenges commissions are currently facing in receiving and using utility system data from companies to facilitate timely, data-informed decision making. When a commission requests data from a utility, do you get what you are expecting? Is it useful? Does it answer your questions? Are you able to analyze the data and synthesize insights across relevant proceedings? For many state decision-makers, it is difficult to define exactly what data are needed, in what format, and then what insights it can provide. Attendees will learn about successful examples from other states while also sharing challenges that can be overcome. Insights from this session will be combined with other NARUC-DOE sessions throughout 2026 and anonymously included in a new DOE Voices of Experience summary of gaps and opportunities in leveraging electricity system data to support investment decisions. Registration is free and open to state commissioners and commission staff.

This workshop is open to NARUC members only and requires free, advance registration. Register here.

Business meeting for the Staff Subcommittee on Telecommunications

Join the Staff Subcommittee on Electricity for a hands-on interactive learning session on electricity markets that incorporate distributed energy resources (i.e., solar panels, battery storage, bidirectional EVs, etc.) through live economics experiments. By stepping into the shoes of DER owners, you will have an opportunity to experience decision making under alternative retail pricing and market access rights followed by a discussion and presentation of results from all players. No advance knowledge is required.

Participants first operate with rooftop solar alone and later gain access to battery storage, eventually being allowed to buy/sell electricity directly from/to the grid. Attendees will experience first-hand how laboratory economics experiments can enhance our understanding of both power market fundamentals and potential behavioral/strategic interactions between market participants. Come prepared to interact with the setting and with each other, to ask questions, and to examine how such activities can illuminate the interplay among market design, behavioral responses, and regulatory frameworks

This event is open to all registered NARUC meeting attendees; priority will be given to Staff Subcommittee members. Seats are limited, so register in advance to secure your spot: Electricity Markets Simulation – Registration form

Since its creation, Lifeline service has provided essential telephone service for millions of low-income customers. Over the past several years, Lifeline has expanded from exclusively wireline voice-only service to include wireless service and mixed broadband and voice service. The anticipated transition to the all-IP network will create new opportunities and challenges for Lifeline service, as the FCC has recognized in its recent Lifeline NPRM. This panel will discuss the NPRM as well as state commission experiences as new providers seek to be designated as ETCs.

For commissioners who have served less than 12 months

(Commissioners/Commission Staff Only)

Separate registration required.

Join us for the third iteration of the NARUC Emerging Technologies Showcase, an interactive forum for NARUC members to engage directly with cutting-edge technology innovators. Attendees will be divided into small groups and rotate through a series of brief presentations led by 8 technology companies, sparking meaningful dialogue between utility regulators and innovators shaping the future of the energy sector. 

From 1:00 to 4:00 pm, this event will be open to NARUC members only. Full attendance for the duration of the program is expected. Register here.  

From 4:00 to 5:00 pm, there will be an open house period so all conference attendees can visit the technology companies.

Sponsored by the Critical Infrastructure Committee and Staff Subcommittee, with support from the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response and the DOE Office of Electricity.

Extreme weather events, including heat waves, polar vortices, hurricanes, wildfires, and flooding, are increasing in frequency, severity, and unpredictability. These events are placing unprecedented stress on electric, gas, and water utilities, prompting regulators and industry leaders to rethink resilience, planning, investment, and emergency response. These efforts sit alongside a critical, often underappreciated resilience mechanism: industry mutual assistance. During catastrophic weather events, utilities across North America deploy trained crews, equipment, and specialized teams to affected regions. This plenary session explores how utilities and regulators can better prepare for, withstand, and recover from disruptive events, while maintaining reliability, affordability, and equity.

(Invitees Only)

Keynote Address

Sunny Wescott
Chief Meteorologist – Emergency Response Specialist
Executive Director, Geospatial Intelligence ISAC

Utility Infrastructure and Agricultural Landscapes

How are commissions, utilities, and developers are balancing land use, water conservation, and the growing demand for energy and water security to support critical utility infrastructure needs? This panel will focus on how infrastructure projects can support rural economies, address landowner concerns, and maintain reliability. Learn how collaboration and best practices can strengthen local support while ensuring essential infrastructure is developed responsibly.

(Panelist TBA)

Bring-Your-Own Capacity (BYOC) can accelerate large load interconnection while maintaining reliability and limiting system costs. BYOC can include onsite resources, co-located generation, and offsite distributed capacity (BYODC), including demand response and distributed, front-of-the-meter batteries. Notably, offsite capacity is immense and quick to deploy. These portfolio approaches allow large customers to internalize system costs, reduce upgrade needs, and complement long-term transmission and generation development. In addition, most data centers maintain backup generation for uninterruptible power, and a growing number are adding behind-the-meter generation to shorten interconnection timelines and increase energy independence. These customer-owned assets represent a significant, largely untapped grid resource. This panel explores how distribution-connected data centers and grid-edge resources can enhance grid affordability and accelerate large load interconnection — and the policy, market, and regulatory changes required to get there.

(Invitees Only)

NARUC Committee and Staff Subcommittee Chairs

U.S. electricity demand could grow ~25% from 2023 to 2030, with residential rates rising ~15-40%, over the next five years. Meeting this demand will require not only new generation, but smarter use of existing transmission. ATTs, including Dynamic Line Ratings (DLR) and reconductoring, can quickly add capacity, unlock stalled generation, and relieve constraints. AES DLR deployments in Indiana demonstrate the ability to enhance grid capacity by ~43%, while American Electric Power used advanced reconductoring to nearly double transmission capacity on existing lines, freeing up 34 MW of generation, and saving consumers tens of millions of dollars. How can regulators ensure that utilities are using every tool in the toolbox to meet load growth affordably? How do utilities evaluate this newer suite of options? With larger balance sheets, how can third-party customers invest directly in and support ATTs to expand their operations more quickly? 

Draft Agenda

- Minnesota's Innovative Utilities - Local utilities share one or two of their innovative programs. Invited utilities include Centerpoint Energy, Xcel Energy, and Minnesota Power.

- Resolutions (if any)

(Commissioner Emeritus Only)

(Invitees Only)

(Invitees Only)

(Invitees Only)

(Invitees Only)

(Invitees Only)

(Commissioners Only)

All In: Weathering the Storms Together for Grid Reliability

This panel will examine how utilities, grid operators, regulators, consumer advocates, and the Department of Energy work together to maintain grid reliability during extreme events. Discussion will focus on lessons learned from recent winter storms, the role of emergency authorities such as Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, and the importance of coordination across regions and fuel types, as well as address the issues that arise in balancing reliability, affordability, and resilience.

(Additional panelists TBA)

EVs are rapidly becoming a major force on the power system, with 6.5 million now on U.S. roads. Regulators are increasingly examining how EVs can serve not only as new load, but as flexible grid resources through vehicle-grid integration (VGI). Unlike other sources of load growth, EVs, when well managed, can help put downward pressure on rates. Active managed charging can reduce EV peak demand by more than 50%, more than double or triple distribution hosting capacity, and defer infrastructure upgrades for up to 10 years. A Washington state pilot reinforced these findings, demonstrating that load shaping can reliably deliver desired charge levels with minimal driver overrides and proving that grid benefits need not come at the expense of mobility. This panel will explore how pioneering states are translating this potential into practice through innovative regulatory frameworks, managed charging programs, and efforts to scale bidirectional charging. Michigan regulators are advancing clearer interconnection requirements for bidirectional systems and more transparent benefit-cost analysis. California is deploying dynamic rate pilots, V2X programs, and regulatory rule updates to enable both managed and bidirectional charging. Drawing on these real-world examples, panelists will highlight how stakeholders are overcoming regulatory barriers and laying the groundwork for EVs to become valuable, scalable grid assets. 

This panel will assess how different generation resources—nuclear, renewables, natural gas, energy storage, geothermal and demand response—work together to maintain affordability and reliability as electricity demand rises.

Fireside Chat with Bob Frenzel

A conversation between Bob Frenzel, CEO, Xcel Energy, and NARUC President Ann Rendahl.

Data Centers: Converging, Emerging, and Diverging Perspectives

Data centers, AI, and load growth are now inescapable facets of state and federal authority. They’re not going anywhere. Where are we on meeting the increasing demands on the grid, on policy decisions, our economies, and physical landscapes? Or, are we still catching up to technology that’s rapidly evolving? Through their lens of emerging issues, status reports, and technical expertise, our series of speakers will offer unique, individual quick takes on what’s working, what’s worrisome, and what’s wrong. This dynamic session will offer much to think about well past the coffee break!

(Additional panelists TBA)

C-Suite Perspectives on Investing in Clean, Dispatchable Generation

Utility executives from leading energy companies discuss the critical investments needed to deliver clean, reliable, and dispatchable power in an era of rising demand and decarbonization goals. This high-level panel will explore emerging technologies, project economics, regulatory challenges, and capital allocation strategies for firm clean generation — including advanced nuclear, geothermal, long-duration storage, hydro, hydrogen, and next-generation gas with CCS. Learn how utilities are balancing intermittency risks while building a resilient, affordable, and sustainable energy system for the future.

Justin Driscoll
President and CEO
New York Power Authority

(Additional panelists TBA)

Can We Have the Best of Both Worlds? Options for Improving Affordability in an Era of Load Growth

State utility commissioners face a defining paradox: at a moment of rising customer bills and political pressure to constrain rates, the path forward must also run through investments in grid infrastructure to meet ongoing and new needs. As load growth accelerates due to electrification and data center demand, and as aging systems require modernization, utilities must deploy capital to better leverage the system we have and build the system we need; without careful regulatory design, these investments could exacerbate customer affordability challenges. Is there a path to energy abundance, economic competitiveness, and consumer affordability or are they inherently in conflict? If utility regulation aligns incentives, ensures prudent and performance-based investment, and communicates how infrastructure expansion can ultimately lower system costs over time, we could have the best of both worlds. This panel will discuss questions of how, not whether, to invest, and how to structure oversight, cost allocation, and business models so that necessary capital deployment translates into durable affordability, reliability, and public trust. Panelists will provide perspectives from utilities, financial markets, and industry organizations on how affordability considerations are shaping long-term planning, regulatory strategy, and investment decisions.

(Additional panelists TBA)

Daikin Applied and Center for Energy and Environment invite you to tour Daikin's new state-of-the-art Research & Development test laboratory 20 minutes from downtown Minneapolis. The site showcases Minnesota's innovative leadership in developing high-efficiency HVAC technologies, from air source heat pumps to commercial rooftop units to hyperscale data center cooling technologies. The test center has some of the most advanced research and testing equipment to ensure products are being developed to meet efficiency and sustainability specifications. Tour attendees will have the opportunity to see chambers used to test the performance and reliability of HVAC equipment at the most extreme conditions.

Daikin Applied is a subsidiary of Daikin Industries Ltd., a leading manufacturer of residential and commercial HVAC systems. Center for Energy and Environment is a nonprofit organization with decades of experience discovering and deploying effective energy solutions through program development and implementation, research, lending service, and policy advocacy. 

Register here

The Midcontinent Independent Grid Operator or MISO is responsible for keeping power flowing across its region reliably and cost-effectively. MISO focuses on three critical tasks: 1) managing the flow of high-voltage electricity across 15 U.S. states and the Canadian province of Manitoba; 2) facilitating one of the world’s largest energy markets with more than $53 billion in annual transaction in 2025; and 3) planning the grid of the future.

A tour of the MISO Eagan office provides visitors with a structured overview of the Regional Transmission Operator’s role in ensuring the reliable and efficient delivery of electricity across the region. The visit begins with an introduction to MISO’s mission, governance, and operational responsibilities, followed by a detailed explanation of the systems and analytical tools used to manage real?time grid operations and energy markets. While touring the control room overlook, guests receive a comprehensive briefing on its functions and the critical activities performed by system operators. The tour concludes with an opportunity for discussion with MISO staff, offering deeper insight into the organization’s operational practices and its commitment to maintaining a resilient and dependable electric grid.

Register here