Public power leaders must adapt to stay competitive and relevant in a quickly evolving industry. Explore what it means to lead in this era of transformation, and how to shift your mindset and utility culture to a customer-centric approach that anticipates needs and delivers exceptional experiences. 

A wave of cutting-edge technologies promise to transform generation, storage, and grid management. Explore where technologies from long-duration energy storage to small modular reactors, geothermal and AI are in development and what utilities can expect from them in the next decade. Join a lively discussion with tech experts and industry peers on how and when public power should evaluate emerging technologies and how they might help you meet reliability, sustainability, and affordability goals.

In a crisis, how a utility communicates can be as critical as how it responds operationally. Wildfires, extreme weather, outages, rate pressures, cyber incidents and public-safety events now unfold in a 24/7 environment where customers, employees, media, regulators and elected officials demand answers in real time. This session gives CEOs and senior leaders a practical crisis-communications playbook: what to say, when to say it, who should say it, and how to avoid the common “fight, explain, delay” reflexes that inflame headlines and social media.

Continue the conversation and connect with your fellow public power leaders over lunch hosted by APPA.

Dive into the factors creating challenges for public power leaders in ensuring resource adequacy and system reliability. Hear different perspectives from across the sector with a panel of executives on how they are navigating the uncertainty surrounding large loads, conflicting federal and state policies, and long-term investments. Discuss practical options for securing new resources — from locally owned projects and microgrids to SMRs and emerging technologies. Weigh your options and share strategies to adapt, innovate, and maintain reliability in today’s evolving energy landscape.