Recalibrating utility strategy as conditions change

ICF’s Utility Advisory Council brings utility leaders together to compare approaches, test assumptions, and share practical perspectives on the issues shaping utility strategy.

Meeting details

Wednesday, September 23

6:00 PM  Welcome dinner

Clarity Reston | 996 Opportunity Way, Reston, VA

Thursday, September 24

8:15 AM  Breakfast

9:00 AM  Welcome

9:30 AM  Leadership perspectives on regulatory and market change

Executive, policy, and technology leaders will share how utilities are responding as regulatory, market, and customer conditions shift. Through a fireside chat and facilitated discussion, we’ll examine how affordability pressures, data center growth, evolving customer expectations, and the expanding role of demand-side resources are influencing utility priorities and strategy.

Speakers:

• Jennifer Layke, Executive Director, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE)
• Anne Choate, President, ICF

10:30 AM  Regulatory shifts reshaping utility strategy

This session will examine the regulatory and market developments most directly shaping utility decision-making today, and will explore their influence on program portfolios, investment priorities, and regulatory strategy across regions.

Discussion topics include:

• Regulatory developments affecting utility planning and customer programs
• State approaches to affordability, load growth, and grid modernization
• Regional energy market trends and emerging policy priorities
• Implications for demand flexibility and customer investment strategies
• Peer discussion on regulatory challenges and lessons learned

11:00 AM  Break

11:15 AM  What customers are willing to pay: New ICF research

We’ll share findings from ICF’s recent willingness-to-pay research and explore what they reveal about customer priorities, program participation, and rate design.

11:45 AM  Planning for rapid load growth and market change

Drawing on ICF’s latest Energy Demand Report, we’ll highlight emerging demand trends, evolving customer segments, and the market forces driving growth across service territories. We'll also discuss how utilities can use forward-looking market intelligence to anticipate demand shifts, inform infrastructure and regulatory planning, and build a more consistent view of future needs across planning, regulatory, customer, and operations teams.

12:15 PM  Lunch

1:15 PM  Optimizing the grid: Integrating DSM, demand response, and flexible load management

As utilities look for cost-effective alternatives to traditional infrastructure investment, demand-side resources are increasingly treated as strategic grid assets. We’ll explore how DSM, demand response, and flexible load management can be deployed alongside physical grid investments to improve system performance, meet evolving load requirements.

Together, we’ll look at how utilities can:

• Evaluate DSM and demand response as grid resources
• Model integrated resource strategies
• Assess tradeoffs across supply- and demand-side investments

1:45 PM  Prioritizing strategic investments

Participants will apply the day’s discussions to the decisions facing their own organizations. Together, the group will identify actions that can be advanced now, investment and policy opportunities that warrant further exploration, and shared challenges where continued peer discussion could be valuable.

2:15 PM  Closing discussion and next steps

We’ll close by capturing the day’s key themes, outstanding questions, and priorities for future Council discussion.