Utility Advisory Council
Latest Insights
Recap: Navigating Data Center Expansion
What role should utilities play as data center growth accelerates and community scrutiny intensifies?
As approvals for new projects grow increasingly uncertain and opposition becomes more organized, this piece explores how utilities must move beyond engineering to act as trusted stewards—balancing affordability, reliability, clean energy goals, and economic development while addressing customer and community concerns. It offers a clear-eyed look at the tradeoffs utilities face, alongside practical insights on governance, stakeholder alignment, and proactive engagement strategies needed to counter misinformation, build credibility, and enable responsible growth in a high-stakes, highly visible environment.
Recap: Spring Innovation Showcase
Demo Highlights
The session featured two live demonstrations: Sightline Home, a customer-facing “digital front door” that helps customers explore whole‑home energy upgrade tradeoffs without overstating savings, and Sightline Assist, an AI-enabled tool designed to automate document review and data extraction for DSM program applications. Sightline Home emphasized realistic, directional guidance tied to customer priorities (cost, emissions, incentives), while Sightline Assist showed how AI can classify and extract data from images, forms, receipts, and certificates to reduce manual processing efforts across various program delivery workstreams. Together, the demos highlighted practical ways technology can improve customer experience, data integrity, and operational efficiency.
Discussion Highlights
Utility participants discussed the importance of being a “trusted advisor,” particularly amid affordability pressures, electrification complexity, and varying regulatory priorities across regions. The group explored AI readiness—balancing efficiency gains with governance, cybersecurity, transparency, and responsible use—landing collectively “in the middle” on adoption readiness. Conversation also surfaced broader system impacts, including customer perceptions of electrification, make‑ready costs, and growing public concern around AI-driven load growth and data centers.
Council Overview
The council brings together executives who are leading transformation within their organizations and seeking a meaningful role in shaping the tools, insights, and strategies that will define the industry’s next chapter.
As a member, your organization sits at the center of ICF’s strategic innovation engine—gaining direct access to market intelligence, emerging technologies, and peer-level executive dialogue. Members convene up to three times per year with ICF strategists, program implementation leaders, and subject-matter experts in focused sessions designed to deliver practical foresight and actionable insight. Each engagement is structured to help leaders stay ahead of evolving regulatory expectations, rising customer demands, and rapid technology change.
Council discussions focus on the issues that matter most to today’s utility leaders:
- Rapid shifts in demand-side management program design and performance expectations.
- Electrification, distributed energy resources, load flexibility, and grid planning implications.
- Digital engagement and customer experience transformation.
- Regulatory pressures and market signals influencing long-term planning.
- Innovation pathways that accelerate decarbonization and modernize portfolios.
Through this collaborative forum, members do more than exchange ideas—they help refine and advance them. The council helps shape forward-looking solutions that drive measurable impact within participating organizations and across the broader utility industry.
Current Members
Member Benefits
Council meetings
Spring innovation showcase (virtual)
Each spring, ICF will host a 90-minute virtual event spotlighting cutting-edge solutions to tackle the industry’s most pressing challenges. Members connect directly with product teams, explore real-world applications, and help shape the features and direction of solutions that matter most to utilities.
Annual executive meeting (in person)
Held each September at ICF's headquarters in Reston, VA, this full‑day session convenes all members for strategic dialogue with ICF executive leadership and utility experts. The meeting includes scenario planning and collaborative design sessions focused on the challenges and opportunities that matter most to you.
Participation in this annual meeting is an essential requirement of membership.
ICF is pleased to offer travel and lodging support for participants as requested and if allowed by your organization. Please contact Kelly Schneider, Kelly.Schneider@icf.com for more details.
Thought leadership and market analysis
Quarterly industry snapshot
A concise, executive‑ready briefing synthesizing:
- The most influential regulatory developments.
- National and regional DSM and pilot activity.
- Shifting customer expectations and technology adoption trends.
- Innovations that are reshaping the industry.
Access to ICF insights and research
Members receive priority notification when new or updated ICF research, reports, and executive thought leadership relevant to utilities are released. This access enables your organization to respond quickly, brief leadership effectively, and stay ahead of industry developments. This includes:
- Forecasts and market outlooks.
- Regulatory analyses.
- Technology adoption and customer behavior research.
Contact
Jeff Adams
Senior Vice President, Utility Programs and Services Division Leader