Agenda

Investigate the practical steps utility leaders and finance professionals can take to stay ahead of the evolving financial and regulatory landscape for public utilities. Delve into the upcoming changes to governmental accounting standards, including walking through practical examples of how these changes could affect financial reporting and decision making. Then explore common attributes of fraud and how organizations are preventing and addressing it, including why strong internal controls and proper segregation of duties remain essential. Discuss single audit and regulatory considerations and how control weaknesses can create broader compliance risks. Conclude with a forward looking discussion on funding capital projects, including the role of financial forecasts, key budget to actual controls, and how capital decisions affect rates and your long term financial planning.

Topics: 

• GASB changes on the horizon and what they mean for your financial reports
• Fraud prevention and internal controls for resource-constrained organizations
• What utility finance pros should know about regulatory changes and compliance
• Financial planning and sustainable options for funding capital projects

Build core literacy in the concepts surrounding risk and critical infrastructure and learn about the frameworks and assessment tools that can help your utility prioritize and manage risks surrounding your assets. Begin with an introduction to the fundamental components of risk — threats, vulnerabilities, consequences, and likelihood — and then explore how structured frameworks can support clearer decision-making across your organization’s leadership. Designed for professionals who need a grounded, shared understanding of strategic risk and the emerging challenges utilities face in managing it. Walk through how to conduct qualitative and quantitative approaches to risk analysis, including developing risk registers and interpreting risk analyses with confidence.

Topics:

• Elements of risk and risk management 
• Developing effective, structured risk scenarios
• Using frameworks to understand and prioritize risk
• Approaches for assessing and analyzing risk
• Challenges for utilities in risk management

Rapid, concentrated demand growth from data centers, advanced manufacturing, and other super sized electric loads have the potential to bring major economic development opportunities, but come paired with complex challenges around service needs, infrastructure investment, procurement, and more. How public power providers structure rates and policies determines both whether your community attracts this growth and to what extent existing customers see effects. Explore what high load factor customers need from the grid and how utilities can translate those needs into thoughtful, defensible rate structures, line extension policies, and contracts. Discuss strategies for balancing opportunity and risk, and considerations for contracts such as firm vs. non firm service, cost recovery mechanisms, and market structures. Examine what other utilities are doing to design competitive offerings that support modern load growth and sustain affordability.

Topics: 

• Industries driving load growth and their energy requirements
• Considerations for economic development
• Rate design strategies for large loads – and the effect on other customers
• Trends in utility policies and rate structures
• Developing contracts that support the community and the large customer

Imagine planning a trip without choosing a destination, mapping an itinerary, or knowing who you’ll travel with. Many of us approach our careers this way — hoping things will work out without ever taking the wheel. This is your invitation to stop wandering and start steering — not just for yourself, but for the teams you lead and influence. Learn how to begin to take ownership of your career and professional development, while also learning how to cultivate accountability, foster a growth mindset, and empower others on your team. First, reflect on your values, uncover your strengths, and learn tools to help you create a personalized roadmap for growth. Then explore how to effectively encourage your team to adopt a growth mindset, take accountability, and create a team development action plan. Whether you're just starting out or looking to reignite your path, stop waiting for someone else to lead and start practicing how to guide your own journey toward a fulfilling career and culture of results.

Topics: 

• Leading yourself: build clarity, confidence, and direction in your leadership brand
• Identifying stealth development opportunities and accelerating career momentum
• How to foster a culture of accountability and results within your team
• Developing a growth mindset and empowering others through coaching, feedback, and recognition
• How to create a team development action plan aligned with your leadership values and organizational goals

Join this unique opportunity to practice cyber response in a safe yet highly realistic setting, gaining practical insight into how attacks develop, how defenses are tested, and how teams can respond effectively under pressure. This immersive, hands on exercise from the University of Texas at San Antonio brings you into a simulated, corporate grade digital environment where cyber incidents unfold in real time. Attendees will work individually or in group to detect, identify, and mitigate cyberattacks across tailored scenarios using industry standard security tools. The Cyber Range is a nationally recognized exercise designed to mirror the complexity, pressure, and decision making challenges utilities face during actual incidents — strengthening both your technical skills and readiness for cyber defense. A truly experiential learning opportunity, this session lets you practice responding to a cyberattack before it happens on the job.

Yesterday’s rigid succession plans won’t build tomorrow’s leaders. Your organization needs a nimble, embedded approach that uses technology and data to align talent with evolving roles and anticipate workforce needs. Learn a fresh, practical perspective for turning succession planning from a routine HR exercise into a true leadership advantage. Examine a case study involving how one organization redeployed talent, preserved institutional knowledge, and built agile leadership pipelines when it faced the closure of a power plant.

Hear directly from a representative from the Governmental Accounting Standards Board on how the latest changes to the standards affect your public power utility’s accounting and reporting.

Learn the most important concepts behind COS and rate design and how to interpret common rate components on a bill. This is an introduction for non-financial utility professionals (e.g., operations, engineering, customer service, communications), or newer finance staff, who want a practical understanding of what drives rate changes. Learn about the key steps that connect revenue requirement, cost allocation, and rate components.

Learn strategies to transform your key financial information and concepts into plain language to provide your organizational leaders outside of finance with a clear understanding of where your utility stands. Discuss tips and review examples of how utilities have helped translate capital planning, rate considerations, and regulatory measures into more digestible materials.

Any number of developments — now or in the near future — could reshape your resilience planning efforts. Instead of gazing into the proverbial crystal ball, hear which requirements trends, planning targets, operational shifts, and forecasting insights experts advise you follow and analyze to better anticipate changes and strengthen long‑term strategies for your utility.

As utilities navigate industry transformation, workforce transitions, and increasing operational complexities, the ability to build and sustain a future-ready workforce has never been more important. This panel discussion will bring together senior leaders from small to large utilities to explore how organizations can strengthen knowledge transfer, support cross-generational workforce development, and foster innovation while preparing employees to meet evolving customer, infrastructure, and regulatory demands.

For those new to the utility world, get an overview of key industry terms, common challenges, and current trends affecting utilities. Gain a deeper understanding of how utilities work and how they can affect the communities they serve and the environment. Also discuss the utility’s role in hot topics like energy distribution, water management, and new technologies.

Changes to net energy metering policies have impacted customer technology adoption. Explore how and why Austin Energy, an early leader in value-based solar compensation, evolved its value of solar methodology, and what the change has meant for the utility and its customers.

Utilities strive to establish fair and equitable rates in an increasingly complex regulatory environment. Gain insight into the electric utility ratemaking process from the lens of a utility finance professional, including how utilities are applying cost-of-service studies to the process. Share lessons from recent utility rate cases and discuss how finance can help preserve affordability.

Continued activity and uncertainty around tariffs and trade‑related supply chain pressures is making utility planning challenging. Walk through recent trends and decisions and what steps utilities can take to prepare for continued uncertainty. Discuss which key risk indicators to monitor and how these risks could influence your utility’s long‑term project and budget decisions.

Gain a deeper understanding of how various factors are affecting the price of electricity, including load growth, technology, and geopolitical concerns. Learn practical strategies to balance affordability, financial resilience, and economic development. Review the core contractual and financing mechanisms, cost of service study considerations, and targeted rate design strategies that align risks and rewards appropriately, ensuring growth opportunities are good for all customers.

It’s not enough for you to know the risks your utility faces, you have to be able to express to others across the organization why various internal stakeholders need to be involved in managing the risk. Gain strategies and review tools for how to communicate the purpose and responsibilities of risk, controls, and audit in a way that resonates with those outside of risk management, fostering a more efficient enterprise. Review simple frameworks for organizing information in a way that helps reduce confusion, improve collaboration, and reinforce the value of enterprise risk management in everyday work.

Public power utilities must compete for skilled talent while balancing public accountability and fiscal responsibility. Explore practical approaches to keeping public power compensation competitive through market data, compensation studies, and strategic pay practices. Gain insights on how utilities can strengthen recruitment, improve retention, and align compensation strategies to support a sustainable and resilient workforce.

As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms the workplace, the greatest opportunity for driving organizational impact is in how well AI can enhance – not supplant - human intelligence. Learn practical ways HR and utility leaders can integrate technology with workforce expertise to improve productivity, enhance workforce planning, and support smarter organizational outcomes. Grow your awareness of the array of emerging AI tools public power utilities can leverage to strengthen the human capabilities that remain essential to leadership, decision-making, and operational success.

Connect with colleagues from joint action agencies and state and regional associations to swap ideas and strategies on the business and finance topics of your choice.

Connect with colleagues from other large public power utilities and organizations, including joint action agencies, to swap ideas and strategies on the business and finance topics of your choice.

Especially in volatile times, your financial forecasting strategy needs to shift, including conducting risk-adjusted modeling, to bring clarity to the breadth of financial implications surrounding uncertainty. Learn strategies for effective forecasting and how to build structures that remain stable yet flexible in turbulent conditions. Hear from public power utilities that leverage financial forecasting as an everyday tool, including tips for how they communicate with governing bodies to ensure shared understanding.

Connect with colleagues from other small public power utilities to swap ideas and strategies on the business and finance topics of your choice.

Depending on your stance, AI is either a risk, a tool, or somewhere in-between. Review the key risks, limitations, and best practices for using AI in risk management to ensure your utility applies it effectively and avoids common pitfalls. Walk through key considerations when evaluating AI tools and test out some practical use cases to gain familiarity with how to apply AI safely and effectively in your own risk management work.

Labor and employment issues continue to evolve, creating new challenges for public power utilities and HR leaders. This session provides an update on the most pressing hot topics impacting the workplace today—from changing regulations and case law to workforce expectations, negotiations, and compliance considerations. Attendees will gain practical insights and real-world perspectives to help navigate emerging labor trends, manage risk, and support a stable and productive workforce in the public power sector. 

AI is quickly becoming a strategic priority for public power utilities, but many efforts stall because organizations focus on how to use certain tools before addressing their data, governance, and organizational readiness. Evaluate the questions leaders need to ask to assess whether their utility is truly prepared to invest in AI. Explore a practical AI readiness framework, evaluate real-world use cases, and discuss how to develop a structured approach to prioritizing initiatives that deliver measurable value.

According to the Electric Power Research Institute, data centers could consume 9%-17% of U.S. electricity generation by 2030 — more than double current use. Dive into these projections and discuss what the rising electricity demand can mean for affordability across the U.S. Learn what policies and rate structures across public power are helping to protect existing customers and mitigate risk as development presses on.

Get a clear, practical overview of the current interest rate environment and what it means for public finances. Gain insight into how and why interest rates change, how Federal Reserve policy influences the market, and what those shifts mean for managing both bond proceeds and general operating cash. Discuss common treasury considerations including liquidity needs, compliance and arbitrage, as well as investment options and best practices for responsibly managing public funds.

Hear directly from representatives from the rating agencies on how they are analyzing public power and the electric utility industry. Discuss how the suite of economic and regulatory changes over the past year and technological advances expected in the future can affect your utility’s bond ratings.

Explore how public power utilities are responding to a challenging insurance market while strengthening financial resilience. This session highlights rising costs, limited coverage, and increased industry complexity driven by infrastructure growth and electrification. Speakers will share practical strategies to improve risk communication with underwriters, address coverage gaps through contract structuring, and apply effective risk transfer approaches. Attendees will leave with actionable insights to reduce exposure, enhance preparedness, and support stronger long-term financial decision making.

Strong organizational culture requires intentional leadership, employee development, and meaningful engagement. Discover how one public power utility strengthened its workplace culture through leadership coaching, employee leadership academies, real-time feedback, and transparent compensation practices. Gain practical ideas on how investing in culture can improve recruitment and retention while creating a more connected and engaged workforce.

As tax policy and incentive programs continue to evolve, project economics and compliance expectations are feeling the effects. Review which of the latest developments are most relevant to public power and what policy changes mean for finance leaders, including common execution risks and areas where organizations are focusing on documentation and governance.

With technological advancement and AMI, utilities have more data to understand customer behavior, develop new rates, and evaluate the effectiveness of those rates in achieving utility goals. Find out how utilities are using rate strategies like time-of-use and residential demand to better support their communities and the utility’s long-term financial stability.