The Future Starts Now: Opening Panel Gathers Utility CEOs
Posted on June 23, 2016 by Amelia Lamb
Tags, Conference & Events
The solstice has passed and it is officially Summer - which means CUB is now in the thick of planning our sixth annual policy conference, The Future Starts Now, taking place on Friday October 14th. In this week’s special conference update, I’m pleased offer a preview of the opening panel, which will convene five CEOs of Northwest utilities to discuss “The View From the Top”.
Returning to the CEO panel from previous years will be Elliot Mainzer, Administrator of Bonneville Power Administration, Stefan Bird, President and CEO of Pacific Power, and Jim Piro, President and CEO of Portland General Electric. Joining them for the first time will be David Anderson, who in August will succeed Gregg Kantor as CEO of NW Natural, and Darrell Anderson, President and CEO of Idaho Power. The panel will be moderated by CUB Executive Director Bob Jenks.
This will be the third consecutive year that the CUB Policy Conference has opened with a CEO panel, but this year for the first time, the topics being discussed will be rooted in the here and now, rather than future speculation. Two years ago, our CEO panelists agreed that coal-fired energy would soon be a thing of the past, but there was no agreement on the timeline or mechanism for transition. Today, the Clean Electricity and Coal Transition Plan has become law and the utilities are actively mapping out their paths to compliance.
Solar power has undergone a similarly decisive transition. The economic case for solar investment grows progressively stronger, and with the community solar provision of the Coal Transition Plan, utilities now have the beginnings of a legal framework within which to participate and grow the solar industry even further.
Of course, plenty of market and regulatory conditions remain uncertain, and we expect some lively debate this year on topics such as rate design, the future of the CAISO Energy Imbalance Market, prospects for natural gas as a “bridge fuel”, and how public power is affected by recent regulatory developments. The model of the flexible utility is here– the challenge now is to determine approaches to flexibility that ensure energy remains accessible, affordable, reliable, and clean.
Registration for The Future Starts Now opens next Friday, July 1st! Watch our blog on that day for the registration link AND for the exciting announcement of our very first Consumer Champion Award winner! We’ll be updating you throughout the summer on each of our breakout panels, and we’ll be adding speaker info and supplemental materials to the conference website on an ongoing basis. Conference sponsorship opportunities are, of course, still available; contact Pamela White for sponsor information at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or (503)227-1984 x10. You can also follow conference news on Twitter at #CUBCon16, or sign up to receive conference updates via email by contacting me, Amelia Lamb at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
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12/27/16 | 0 Comments | The Future Starts Now: Opening Panel Gathers Utility CEOs