Honoring Our Colleagues: Key Account and Advanced Key Account Certificate Program Graduates
Congratulate the newest graduates from the APPA Academy's Key Accounts and Advanced Key Accounts Certificate Programs.

The Customer Conversation: Tips from the Front Lines
How do utilities communicate clearly and effectively with customers on the issues that matter most—from rates and outages to programs, services, community engagement, and the value of public power? Join a panel of your peers from customer service, public communications, key accounts, and energy innovation and adoption as they share how their organizations connect with customers across different audiences, situations, and channels. Through real-world examples and practical lessons learned, panelists will discuss strategies for simplifying complex information, addressing customer questions and concerns, communicating during challenging moments, and building trust over time. Whether you're talking with residential customers, business accounts, or community stakeholders, you'll leave with fresh ideas and proven approaches for making customer communications more clear, consistent, and effective.

Honoring Our Colleagues: Excellence in Public Power Communications 
Immerse yourself in visionary communication strategies that will leave you enlightened and motivated as we showcase the videos capturing the highest honors this year in the prestigious Excellence in Public Power Communications Awards.
 

Welcome
Teresa Broyles-Aplin, President and CEO, Nashville Electric Service

CEO Address
Scott Corwin, President and CEO, American Public Power Association

Honoring Our Colleagues: Smart Energy Providers and Public Power Customer Satisfaction Awards
Applaud excellence in energy efficiency and sustainability with the 2026 Smart Energy Provider designees. Celebrate exceptional customer service as we recognize the winners of the Public Power Customer Satisfaction Awards.

Creating Superfans: How To Turn Customers Into Lifelong Advocates
We’re living in an experience economy. Customer experience drives over two-thirds of customer loyalty; more than brand and cost combined. Learn why it’s important for organizations of all kinds to consider every member of your team as part of the Experience Department, and how customer experience translates to competitive advantage. Walk through a memorable, five-step framework proven to create — and keep — superfans that you can take back to your utility.

Brittany Hodak is an award-winning author, entrepreneur, and customer experience expert who helps businesses turn customers into superfans. Her SUPER Model™ framework has empowered thousands of organizations’ employees to transform customers’ apathy into advocacy. When her debut book, Creating Superfans, was released, Forbes declared: “If you have customers, you need this book. Period.” A recognized authority on customer experience, Brittany has authored more than 350 articles for top media outlets, including Success, Adweek, and Inc.

Learn what experienced key accounts representatives are doing to navigate common challenges in today’s evolving landscape. Hear which strategies have driven success in their utilities, and gain candid lessons and practical insights into what’s worked, what hasn’t, and what makes sense for your key accounts. Then discuss key takeaways and exchange ideas for strengthening your key account program and driving meaningful impact in small group roundtables.

Find out how utilities are using smart rate design and pricing strategies for large loads to improve reliability, guide growth, and influence customer behavior — while remaining fair, simple, and competitive. Learn about tools to help you communicate the value of your rates, avoid under recovery and cross subsidization, evaluate contract options, and confidently price large load opportunities using real world lessons and proven frameworks.

Dissect why key account programs often fail, highlighting common issues related to strategy, clarity, prioritization, relationships, and follow-through. Get practical guidance and tools to help you strengthen your approach, operate your program more strategically, and build stronger, more effective partnerships.

As data centers and advanced manufacturing drive unprecedented demand for power, success depends on how effectively utilities and customers work together from first inquiry through energization and long-term operations. Gain perspective on what data center teams value most in a utility partner, from speed and certainty in the interconnection and service process to clear capacity, transparent cost responsibilities, coordinated permitting and construction timelines, and reliable ongoing service. Hear practical approaches for structuring early-stage collaboration, aligning technical requirements, and setting expectations that reduce schedule risk and support confident investment decisions.

Being a key accounts representative means serving as your utility’s trusted ambassador. Gain practical guidance and tips for how to represent your organization with confidence, professionalism, and strong business etiquette when engaging with your clients.

Kick off the conference with an interactive peer discussion focused on your most pressing key accounts challenges that sets the stage for a collaborative and engaging conference experience. Exchange insights on managing large loads and navigating rate increases, share effective incentive strategies, and learn how fellow key account representatives are overcoming obstacles and delivering measurable wins.

Rapid growth in data center development — driven by AI and digital services — is reshaping electric load forecasts and raising concerns about affordability and system capacity, particularly for public power utilities serving rural areas. Examine findings from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory on how battery energy storage systems deployed alongside data centers can help manage peak demand, reduce potential cost shifts, and defer or avoid expensive transmission, distribution, or generation upgrades. Discuss use cases where BESS can provide grid benefits such as cost effective peak shaving and reliability, and how to evaluate storage alongside alternative capacity solutions.

Utilities invest significant effort in designing programs, yet often lack insight into which customers are ready to participate or what will help them sign up. Explore how utilities of all sizes are using AI to gain customer intelligence to move beyond broad promotion toward smarter, targeted outreach. Hear what utilities have learned from pilot programs using AI-based tools to better identify customers for heat pump, EV rate, demand response, and other programs. Review considerations for effectively leveraging AI for customer program adoption to help your utility do more with less.