Wednesday, April 22, 2026
10:00am – 12:00pmlo
Pre-Forum Workshop (for Utility and Government Attendees Only)
Paul Reid, Azusa Light & Water and Eric Xu, PG&E
Candid roundtable discussion on current issues. Topics will be determined based on results of a survey that will be sent out in January. Note that this session is limited to 3 participants per organization due to room capacity. Please coordinate among your staff to determine who will attend.
12:00pm – 1:00pm
Lunch Buffet - hosted by Brighton Energy
12:45pm – 1:00pm
First-timer Meet & Greet
1:00pm – 1:15pm
Welcoming Remarks
1:15pm – 2:15pm
Opening Keynote
2:15pm – 2:45pm
Networking Break and Energy Quiz
2:45pm – 4:10pm
Strategic View
Katie Cort, PNNL and Ron Horstman, WAPA
This session will focus on planning for load growth. After decades of relatively stable demand, load growth is re-emerging as a central planning challenge for electric utilities. Accelerated adoption of electric vehicles, increased electrification of buildings, and rapid expansion of data centers are reshaping the scale, timing, and location of electric loads, while simultaneously creating new uncertainties for utility program managers. This session explores how utilities can proactively work to address evolving demand and associated challenges, while supporting affordability and energy efficiency improvements in all sectors.
- Hayden Reeve, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
- Jeff Deason, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
4:10pm – 4:15pm
Quick Break
4:15pm – 5:10pm
Meet the Exhibitors
Marie Krisa, Brighton Energy and Adrianne Rogers, City of Colton Electric Utility
5:10pm
Presentation of the Graham Parker Lifetime Achievement Award
5:15pm
Adjourn
5:15pm – 6:15pm
Reception
6:30pm
Dinner
8:00pm
Networking Event & Game
Unwind at a casual gathering with hot beverages to reflect on the day's discussions and engage in a fun networking game designed to get to know one another. Prizes will be awarded!
Thursday, April 23, 2026
7:30am – 8:30am
Breakfast Buffet
8:30am – 9:45am
Artificial Intelligence and the Electric Utility
Mary Medeiros McEnroe, Silicon Valley Power and Drew Johnstone, Burbank Water & Power
9:45am – 10:10am
Networking Break with Energy Quiz
10:10am – 11:00am
Utility Program Stand-up Challenge – Round 1
Cheri Davis, SMUD and Kamryn Hutson, City of Redding Electric Utility
Join us for the craziest round of concurrent sessions ever! Imagine speed dating meets the lightning round of a TV game show! Visit up to 4 storyboards detailing utility-sponsored energy programs or research. Each storyboard presenter has up to 5 minutes (plus up to 7 minutes for Q&A) to share with you the program’s goals, successes and lessons learned. A bell rings, you choose another storyboard, and the 12-minute clock starts again.
No Upgrade Needed: SCE Study Demonstrates Smart Panels In-Field Potential
Ivy So (APTM) Sage Quinn (EPRI), Mark Martinez (SCE)
As electrification accelerates, can the grid keep pace without costly upgrades of $10-20k per household? Smart panels could be key to unlocking new demand flexibility, avoiding expensive service upgrades, and giving customers enhanced visibility/control of their energy use. SCE and EPRI in its Smart Panel Field Study are installing advanced panels in 18 low-medium income homes to pave a roadmap for best practices. The project installs and monitors a variety of manufacturer smart panels in residences undergoing electrification or with on-site DERs. The study assesses the technical performance of this technology- evaluating its circuit-level monitoring capability and disaggregation of loads for identification of end-use peak drivers. This pioneering implementation is helping utilities navigate permitting pathways, develop installer training, and foster customer engagement. This session will share our field experience, customer outcomes, and insights into how smart panels can enable entire homes as grid-interactive assets, for reliability and community resilience.
Modesto City Schools National Sustainability Success
Gilbert Blue Feather Rosas - Modesto City Schools
Modesto City Schools (MCS) has been committed to supporting district-wide sustainability initiatives through its Sustainability & Adaptation Department. Since 2022, MCS has completed several projects including constructing solar carports at the 7 high Schools and converting half of its diesel fleet to battery electric buses, all while helping students develop skills green careers. These projects required substantial funding, requiring administrative support from the Modesto Irrigation District (MID) and Turlock Irrigation District (TID) to help finalize grant and investment tax credit applications. As a result, MCS successfully secured $23.9M in grants and $6.3M tax credits to continue supporting its sustainability initiatives. This helped the district become a 2024 California Green Ribbon Schools Awardee-Gold Level District. This poster highlights how utility backing helped secure funding and enabled the district meet its sustainability goals.
Career Invites: Accelerating Electrification & Efficiency via a Powerful Workforce Pipeline
Ken Beitel, GridTech Central and Geoff Grimmer, Town of Eagle
Utilities across the West face a growing workforce crisis just as electrification, grid expansion, and energy-efficiency demands accelerate. Shortages of lineworkers, electricians, energy auditors, HVAC technicians, solar installers, and EV-infrastructure roles are delaying programs, increasing costs, and limiting utilities’ ability to meet reliability, climate, and energy-abundance goals. Career Invites, developed by GridTech Central, is a digital workforce-pipeline platform built specifically for energy and electrification careers. Using short-form career videos, localized training and work-based learning pathways, employer Quick Apply tools, and school- and community-facing interfaces, the platform helps students and job seekers quickly discover and pursue high-demand utility roles. This poster session will highlight workforce trends, platform capabilities, pilot results, and practical ways utilities can participate in regional and state-level workforce initiatives that support DSM programs, electrification, and grid modernization.
The SMUD Contractor Network: Accelerating customer electrification in the Sacramento Region
Courtney Brune, Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD)
The SMUD Contractor Network (SCN) plays a vital role in promoting customer adoption of electrification technologies by offering a trusted network of skilled professionals who can install heat pumps and EV chargers while adhering to SMUD’s program standards. Customers using our electrification rebate programs are required to work with these participating contractors, who are held accountable for quality work through desktop reviews and targeted inspections. This supports program integrity by ensuring installations are safe, reliable, and provide maximum customer benefits. The SCN directory allows customers to easily find vetted contractors, reducing friction and uncertainty about moving from gas-fired systems to cleaner, more efficient electric technologies. This poster will outline the challenges faced, the benefits delivered, and how the SCN actively supports and powers SMUD's electrification initiatives.
11:00am - 12: 00pm
Midpoint Keynote - Persuasion Power: Inspiring Agreement and Achieving Success
Barry Moline, President, BJM Solutions
Life gets easier when more people agree with you—at home, at work, and everywhere in between. Learn practical strategies to become more influential and bring others to your side without being pushy or manipulative. You’ll learn how to communicate authentically and with credibility, earn trust, inspire action, and shape decisions. You’ll walk away with proven techniques for presenting ideas with impact, rallying support, getting faster decisions, and becoming a more effective, respected leader.
12:00pm – 1:00pm
Lunch Buffet
1:00pm – 2:00pm
Utility Program Stand-up Challenge – Round 2
Cheri Davis, SMUD and Kamryn Hutson, City of Redding Electric Utility
Join us for the craziest round of concurrent sessions ever! Imagine speed dating meets the lightning round of a TV game show! Visit up to 4 storyboards detailing utility-sponsored energy programs or research. Each storyboard presenter has up to 5 minutes (plus up to 7 minutes for Q&A) to share with you the program’s goals, successes and lessons learned. A bell rings, you choose another storyboard, and the 12-minute clock starts again.
Building Utility–Community Trust for Inclusive Energy Access
Cameo Konfrst - Community Resource Project
Utilities across the country are striving to expand participation in energy-efficiency and clean-energy programs among low-income households. Yet enrollment barriers, complex verification processes, and historical mistrust often limit impact. This poster highlights best practices from Community Energy Project’s work with Oregon utilities to build trust, streamline access, and increase enrollment in energy-saving programs for frontline communities. Through community-based partnerships, simplified verification models, and culturally responsive outreach, CEP has helped utilities achieve deeper participation and measurable savings. Attendees will learn practical, scalable approaches to strengthen collaboration between utilities and community organizations, improve program reach, and ensure that the benefits of clean energy are shared equitably.
A Utility’s Role in Supporting Building Decarbonization Retrofits in Existing Affordable Housing
Sachiko Tanikawa - San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Where does one begin to decarbonize a portfolio of multifamily buildings from the 1960s and 70s with thousands of fully occupied affordable units? A San Francisco Public Utilities Commission program aims to help by providing multifamily affordable housing owners with a free electrification “roadmap” that identifies site-specific strategies to achieve whole-building electrification. Initial program results have revealed that while owners want to stay ahead of electrification mandates, many are still unfamiliar with the technical complexities of converting older, high-density buildings. Through the program, the utility has expanded the knowledge base of multifamily building owners and helped them take meaningful first steps toward electrifying their portfolios. This poster will explore program results and how a utility can play a role in supporting equitable building decarbonization.
Empowering Every Home: Transforming Residential Decarbonization with Cloud-Based Energy Modeling
Amaury Bertreaud, Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments (AMBAG) and Mudit Saxena, XeroHome
Tasked with implementing region-wide and equitable energy efficiency and building decarbonization, the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments (AMBAG), as a partner of the Central California Rural Regional Energy Network (CCR REN), worked with XeroHome to roll out a cloud-based energy modeling tool across Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz counties. Using public data sources, homeowner input, and utility records, the team developed an energy model for every home, effectively replacing costly on-site assessments with “virtual audits.” Homeowners can access their home’s energy usage and upgrade pathways, while CCR REN, AMBAG and jurisdictions in the Monterey Bay Area are supplied with region-wide insights to support scenario analyses, program design, and climate action planning efforts. This poster will explore CCR REN's innovative approach to delivering immediate value to residents, while building a platform that can provide communities with insights to drive meaningful climate actions.
CalFlexHub Demand Flexibility Gateway Project
Julie Hayes, Julie Hayes Consulting and Mark Martinez, SCE
Smart appliances and devices have the potential to help customers manage their bills by flexing energy consumption in accordance with utility prices. The challenge is getting them to talk to each other. Southern California Edison, in collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s CalFlexHub Program, saw an opportunity to develop a low-cost energy management interface that could integrate smart appliances from different manufacturers to deliver benefits to both utilities and customers. The collaborative focused on finding solutions that would work for customers in low-income and rural communities with limited broadband access, developing a residential energy “gateway” that utilized wi-fi and alternative forms of broadband. The project resulted in a low-cost software and hardware approach that enables disadvantaged customers to participate in and benefit from load management strategies that support demand flexibility in California. This poster provides an overview of the project, along with the methodology and key findings of this research.
2:00pm – 3:30pm
Technology View
Eric Olson, NEEA and Mark Martinez, Southern California Edison
- How Using Luminaire Level Lighting Controls Can Make HVAC Systems More Efficient
Chris Wolgamott, NEEA
- Why Prices Must Be the Fundamental Mechanism for Electricity Coordination
Bruce Nordman, Consultant
3:30pm – 4:00pm
Networking Break and Energy Quiz
4:00pm – 5:15pm
Customer View
Marie Krisa, Brighton Energy and Mary Medeiros McEnroe, Silicon Valley Power
- Low-Income Customer Insights Learned From 12 Years of Robust Research
Martha Wudka, Vice President, Evergreen Economics
- Who’s the Customer Here? Effective Marketing for Rental Properties.
- Stefan Samarripas, ACEEE
5:15pm – 6:15pm
Reception
6:30pm
Dinner and Team Trivia Game
Pick your dinner companions wisely because you’ll be competing as a team in our Trivia Night. Prizes will be awarded to the table with the highest score!
8:00pm
Wine Tasting & Networking
Nonalcoholic beverages are available, too!
Friday, April 24, 2026
7:30am – 8:30am
Breakfast Buffet
8:30am – 10:00am
Microgrids
Kapil Kulkarni, California Public Utilities Commission and Scott Mayfield, Evergreen Energy Partners
- Hydrogen Integration to Microgrids
Jennifer Medina, SoCalGas
- More than Backup Power: How Battery-Enabled Microgrids Stabilized County Water Infrastructure
Annie Secrest, Sustainability Manager, Department of Airports, County of San Luis Obispo
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10:00am – 10:30am
Networking Break with Energy Quiz
10:30am – 12:00pm
Utility Programs Snapshot
MaryDawn Buntin, Kittitas PUD and Adrianne Rogers, City of Colton Electric Utility
- Young Energy Pros - Paying High School Students to Save Energy in Commercial Buildings
Dr. James White, Chelan County Public Utility District
12:00pm
Adjourn
12:00pm – 1:00pm
Lunch