Top Ten Resolutions for Energy Industry Executives in 2025 Jason Price and Niki Shah

Now in its fifth year in this publication, the Top Ten Resolutions for Energy Industry Executives continues to have no shortage of thoughts and examples on how ?the industry can rebuild the nation’s energy systems to support customers and combat climate change. The 2025 list highlights industry areas requiring more attention and focus. We hope these thoughts and examples are considered while defining strategic and investment priorities for 2025. ??

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1. Securing the Utility Data Ecosystem

Protecting customer data, as well as utility operations data, remains a challenge, particularly as grid-edge technologies like renewable energy, distributed energy resources, and microgrids face increasing cyber threats. In today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, the reliance on third-party vendors can expose proprietary information to significant risks, as some vendors operate under less regulatory scrutiny than distribution utilities. This vulnerability is concerning when considering the interconnected nature of equipment, where data flows freely to and from vendors. It's crucial to ask: What information are you sharing with your vendors, and how are they securing it? Unlike utilities, which are bound by stringent compliance requirements, vendors’ cybersecurity infrastructure and governance are generally less rigorous making them easier targets for hackers. To safeguard the entire ecosystem, it's essential to partner with vendors to enhance their security governance framework and architecture.

In today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, the reliance on third-party vendors can expose proprietary information to significant risks, as some vendors operate under less regulatory scrutiny than distribution utilities.

It is imperative to upgrade physical infrastructure while also modernizing and improving business processes and resource support for critical back-end systems like financial reporting, legal compliance, and learning management platforms to ensure they are resilient against external attacks. In the utility fight against cyber threats, proactive security through the full ecosystem is the strongest ally.

?2. Creating and Maintaining a Resilient Grid

Grid resiliency is increasingly critical as utilities face heightened risks from wildfires, extreme weather events, and aging infrastructure. It is important to continue leveraging cutting edge technologies like 3D mapping for equipment inspections, upgrading infrastructure, and implementing wildfire mitigation measures like deploying fire-safe devices and advanced risk modeling. Trenching powerlines, deploying secure and intelligent grid-edge technologies, investing in microgrids and virtual power plants (VPPs) are also gaining traction as solutions for uninterrupted and clean energy.

Advancements in grid resiliency are vital for utilities to adapt to climate risks, ensuring reliable energy delivery while minimizing environmental impacts and enhancing infrastructure security.

It is important for utilities to continue investing in innovation, and running pilot programs leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), to advance technologies that provide more visibility on performance, awareness, and maintenance of critical grid assets. These advancements in grid resiliency are vital for utilities to adapt to climate risks, ensuring reliable energy delivery while minimizing environmental impacts and enhancing infrastructure security.

3. Improving Energy Efficiency in Buildings and Equipment

Improving building and equipment energy efficiency remains foundational in decarbonization efforts and meeting clean energy goals. Utilities continue to play an important role in offering energy efficiency programs for residential, commercial and industrial customers, yet customers are still not taking advantage of their full potential. Successful product adoption and market transformation has been made in the case of lighting. For example, incandescent and fluorescent lights are now obsolete due to the introduction of LED lights through lighting energy efficiency programs; the same mentality of making the inferior technology obsolete should be the same goal with building and equipment energy efficiency. The key to the transition is developing operationally efficient and well-marketed customer programs to engage and?enroll more customers in such programs.

Energy industry leaders can take advantage of the lessons learned from previous energy efficiency programs for lighting. It’s important to empower customers by?informing them of the benefits of upgrading their old and inefficient technologies. Customer buy-in can be increased by emphasizing the benefits of properly insulating old and inefficient buildings allowing for right-sized, new equipment to provide greater savings by not having to overpay. Building energy efficiency is the low-hanging fruit for future utility success; we’ve done it before, and we can do it again.

4. Handling Data Center Load Growth

Utilities are facing unprecedented load growth driven by the expansion of data centers, AI, crypto mining, and advanced manufacturing. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), data centers and crypto operations have been the sole contributors to US commercial power sales growth since 2019, with Virginia, Texas, South Carolina, and Arizona experiencing the highest demand increases. Bank of America reports that electricity prices have risen significantly, with a year-over-year inflation rate reaching 5.9 percent in May 2024. This trend is expected to continue as AI and onshoring manufacturing drive decades of power demand growth.[1]

Traditional planning methods are insufficient for accelerated development of generation, transmission, and distribution infrastructure. The energy industry should encourage data centers to implement energy-efficient technologies and practices to reduce overall load impact, such as efficient cooling programs. Utilities can develop programs specifically incentivizing data centers to reduce or shift their energy usage during peak demand periods. There is even an opportunity to collaborate with data centers to integrate renewable energy sources to support sustainability goals and meet regional requirements to receive economic development funds. Data center demand will continue to grow, so the industry must learn to manage the trend and its needs.

5. Streamlining Planning with Renewable Energy Zones (REZs)

The journey towards a more sustainable future is dependent on the coordination of renewable energy generation and new transmission and distribution system expansion, but the complexities of this coordination result in renewable energy projects being late to complete, overbudget, or worse, stranded at times. This planning burden can be reduced by developing Renewable Energy Zones (REZs) integrating renewable energy generation locations with storage and transmission facilities necessary to service loads safely and reliably that consider the infrastructure, environmental impacts and community concerns. Paired with low-impact siting and community engagement, the development of a REZ represents a solution for aligning timescales between building renewable energy facilities, which take just a few years, and constructing transmission lines, which can take over a decade.

The industry should encourage regulators and policy makers to take this proactive planning approach to unlock economies of scale and valuable partnerships with environmental and community organizations while also providing a regulatory framework to simplify permitting that streamlines the entire process. The clean energy transition industry would benefit from prioritizing REZ-based planning to enhance grid reliability and attract investment, while considering environmental and community concerns, ultimately reducing projects costs, accelerating the growth of renewable energy projects and enhancing their positive impact on local communities.

6. Planning and Development of New Infrastructure

The Department of Energy (DOE) National Transmission Study, released in October 2024, finds that the United States transmission system must expand by at least two times the size of the 2020 transmission system by 2050 to meet increasing customer demand and state clean energy goals. Interregional transmission must grow to more than three times its current capacity while also ensuring reliability and providing optimal emissions savings.[2] Regional transmission owners (RTOs) that collaborate to drive the removal of barriers to interregional transmission and coordinate investment at scale present the best option to meet and exceed the demands placed on the transmission system by load demand and still meet clean energy goals.

Regional collaboration has been successful from disaster recovery to supply chain coordination, and from critical infrastructure security to participation in regional system operators. Now is the time to recognize the transformational role infrastructure developers can serve to secure the full suite of benefits that interregional transmission can bring.

Industry leaders should serve as proponents in regional transmission by working with policy makers and regulators to overcome barriers to interregional transmission growth. Regional collaboration has been successful from disaster recovery to supply chain coordination, and from critical infrastructure security to participation in regional system operators. Now is the time to recognize the transformational role infrastructure developers can serve to secure the full suite of benefits that interregional transmission can bring. Whether you are a utility leader, infrastructure developer, or a large energy consumer, it is necessary to encourage greater regional coordination with state regulators, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and the broader transmission development community to meet the challenges and opportunities the country faces in the transition to clean energy resources.

7. Addressing Equity and Community Benefits in Infrastructure Investment

The regulatory approval process has a new set of rules. No longer do engineering plans and having rights-of-way deem sufficient for regulatory approval and federal funding. Winning bids must demonstrate measurable environmental justice, equity, and community benefits for rate approval and DOE grant support. Incorporating equity and community benefits comes in the form of addressing community health and needs, job creation, and environmental protections. The energy industry even has the ability to positively impact community resources such as schools, parks, and other community centers. This shift from engineering-driven investments to community-centric benefits challenges the energy industry’s traditional planning approach but helps to ensure that investments are equitable and environmentally just.

As an industry, it is vital to ensure that all communities, especially marginalized ones, have access to clean and affordable energy, and a voice in what happens within their communities.

As an industry, it is vital to ensure that all communities, especially marginalized ones, have access to clean and affordable energy, and a voice in what happens within their communities. This involves proactive measures such as industry-wide collaboration with community organizations to identify current community needs and challenges that could risk leaving low-to-moderate (LMI) income households behind in the transition to sustainable energy systems. Furthermore, investing in workforce development can allow the industry to support community resilience while also creating a skilled labor force for the future. Comprehensive sustainability plans must also integrate environmental justice and equity to be truly effective. By prioritizing these elements, we can transform challenges posed by climate change into opportunities for inclusive growth and community empowerment.

8. Securing the Supply Chain

The supply chain sector for critical infrastructure has entered a new era with undefinable complexities and challenges that will create vulnerabilities in the electric grid. From geopolitical events to standardizing equipment to changes in the buyer-supplier dynamic, the industry has been caught off guard. The industry needs more transparency, coordination in planning, and cost allocation to minimize risks in order to keep projects within timelines. This new era in supply chain exposes the limitations of conventional supply chain practices and calls on utilities to take a new approach. Energy industry executives are grappling with the complexities of securing critical materials and supplies amidst heightened global competition, managing volatile commodity availability and prices, and adapting to the fast-changing dynamic relationship between suppliers and customers.

It is time for comprehensive rethinking of supply chain management and procurement. Active participation and coordination from all stakeholders is required to solve these challenges. It is important to stay in the know by joining the Critical Infrastructure Security Consortium (CISC), which provides the information and tools necessary to enhance and strengthen cyber security and reduce operational risk.?Utilities and their suppliers can encourage utilities to standardize purchasing decisions by working with the DOE’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains and acting regionally with sister utilities and state leaders to strengthen purchasing commitments that make suppliers more willing to invest in order to meet demand.

9. Defining AI Governance and Security

If 2024 could be described in one term, it would likely be “AI.” It was the big ticket anomaly with significant discussion. Unfortunately, what was not discussed enough was how to securely integrate AI into an organization and its surrounding ecosystem. AI is only as powerful as the data put into it; utility data can be as valuable as gold and must be protected as such. Utilities must define security governance and management protocols around the data being integrated into AI systems. The type of data being integrated, the data sources, and the processing approach should be well defined to avoid misinformation and external influence, while also protecting infrastructure and customers. Although powerful, AI models can create a mismatch between data and real-world applications, which can have disastrous impacts on the grid.

AI is only as powerful as the data put into it; utility data can be as valuable as gold and must be protected as such. Utilities must define security governance and management protocols around the data being integrated into AI systems.

Utility leaders should make AI training and change management priorities of the organization, much like annual phishing trainings, to ensure employees use AI technologies safely and are compliant to future regulatory requirements. Regular data checks will also ensure the correct inputs are going into AI-driven decision-making. AI integration will define the utility of the future, but we must prioritize utility safety during this shift.

?10. Engaging Customers

Many customers struggle to understand their natural gas, electric, and heating bills, often confused by rising costs and rates.[3] The confusion leads to frustration and at times stops people from taking control of their energy use and costs. Many Americans are not aware of their options for electric rate plans, such as time-of-use rates and demand electric vehicle charging which could save them money. It’s essential for energy providers to focus on customer engagement and education. Federal agencies have already been working with schoolchildren to teach them about energy; current customers should not be left behind in this effort. From understanding the cause behind a bill’s increase to simply understanding what a “kilowatt” is, utilities can empower customers to make informed decisions to reduce energy consumption and save money.

Many Americans are not aware of their options for electric rate plans, such as time-of-use rates and demand electric vehicle charging which could save them money. It’s essential for energy providers to focus on customer engagement and education.

Energy industry leaders should take this opportunity to build relationships with customers. Earn their trust and customers will buy-in on other initiatives, such as scaling demand flexibility and reducing arrears, ultimately reducing other utility challenges. Customers are at the center of every utility decision, so why not bring them along for the journey?

CONCLUSION

A theme throughout this year’s Top Ten list is collaboration. We need to collaborate as an industry to make many of these resolutions possible. Our energy system and the utility industry are designed to collaborate; therefore, we can fulfill these resolutions and many others if we so choose. Let’s work together this year!

Author Bios

Jason Price is a director of industry strategy and client development in West Monroe’s Energy and Utilities Practice, based in New York City. He is a graduate of the NYU Clean Energy program and the host of the Power Perspectives podcast on Energy Central. Niki Shah is an experienced consultant in West Monroe’s Energy and Utilities Practice, advising energy and utility clients on their climate action, regulatory, and infrastructure strategies. The authors would like to thank Paul DeCotis, Betsy Soehren Jones, Meridith Uniacke, and Rich Allen of West Monroe for their contribution to this editorial. The views are those of the authors and not of West Monroe. Please contact the authors for questions and comments at [email protected] and [email protected].

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[1] Morey, M., McGrath, G., & Minato, H. (2024, February 1). Tracking electricity consumption from U.S. cryptocurrency mining operations. U.S. Energy Information Agency. https://bit.ly/3A69hlj.

[2] U.S. Department of Energy. (2023, October 30). National transmission needs study. Grid Deployment Office. https://bit.ly/3A18nXk.

[3] Field, J. (2022, December 8). Consumers struggle to understand their electric bills and rate options, survey finds. Utility Dive. https://bit.ly/4dYangR.

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