While public power utilities are on the frontlines “of an enormous evolution, if not revolution, in our industry,” they remain independent, locally governed and locally managed, and the most reliable and affordable electric systems in the nation, said Scott Corwin, President and CEO of the American Public Power Association on June 29 in remarks made at APPA’s National Conference in Boston, Mass.
“We are gathered here at this cross section of events, at a historic time in this historic city, celebrating 250 years of the founding of our nation while we celebrate the benefits and the power of the people to provide electricity to their own local communities,” Corwin said.
“We deliver on our compact and common-sense notion that reliability and affordability for our customers comes first. This is enabled by our public service model with utilities reflecting their own community priorities. We have the expertise to decide at our local level what to invest, how to manage costs, and how to responsibly set rates to recover those costs,” he said.
“Our issues and our work on reliability and affordability are also top of mind in Congress, the Administration, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. So, APPA staff is working harder than ever on an array of policy changes to address these and other challenges. With dynamic times we do see some opportunity.”
Corwin detailed the wide range of issues that APPA is proactively addressing on behalf of its members including, among other things, permitting reform, reliability, financing, and Federal Emergency Management Agency reform.
With respect to permitting, APPA, in collaboration with its members, is “pushing hard every day to streamline the processes for smarter federal permitting and licensing for energy infrastructure. There is progress on the regulatory front, and there is a window of opportunity in Congress this year for legislation. We are taking your stories to the Hill to make the case for reducing timelines, redundancies and bottlenecks created by a set of laws that are way overdue for modernization.”
On matters impacting reliability and resource adequacy, APPA is very active in EPA proceedings on the regulatory treatment of the current and future fleet that is needed to meet member load. “And we are pushing the Reliable Power Act to empower FERC’s role when NERC has determined the bulk power system is at risk,” Corwin said.
On enabling investment, APPA prevailed in the budget last year to preserve tax exempt finance. “We continue to work to modernize private use rules on tax exempt finance to allow longer term deals that are needed, and we’re working on rules about access to the elective payment of energy tax credits.”
With respect to FEMA reform, Corwin said that APPA is pursuing reforms so that its members can get more timely reimbursement, noting that APPA offers a reimbursement template and other resources they can access for assistance.
He also detailed activities that APPA is engaged in with respect to wildfires, pole attachments and drones and noted that APPA remains focused on other key issues around supply chain and tariffs that impact timing and costs of the equipment that APPA members need to serve customers.
“Your advocacy has been critical to the progress that we’re making on these issues and have made over the past year. When you respond to our alerts, when you give to our PAC or when you come to the legislative rally, it is powerful… you are the local leaders with the local connections and the knowledge and you are the expert voices that your representatives in Congress will listen to and respect,” Corwin said.
“As we celebrate 250 years of independence, that spirit of independence flourishes among the 2,000 public power communities nationally,” he said.
“Our strength is magnified through interdependence of sharing best practices, information, and expertise. This collaboration and aggregation of resources is a cornerstone of the value of APPA. We work closely in partnership with joint action agencies, regional and statewide organizations, and other associations to enhance our strength in numbers.”
Examples of APPA’s collective impact last year and in the coming year are many including in the areas of cybersecurity, mutual aid, operating excellence, education and information tools.
In the area of cybersecurity, APPA has secured well over $30 million, partnering with DOE to help utilities deploy operational technology to bolster security.
“We have an active Cyber Defense Community that you can be a part of, and your utility can get certification of best practices in the new Cyber Accelerator Program,” he said. “We also play an important role in grid security” in co-leadership of the cross-industry Electricity Subsector Coordinating Council, co-chaired by board member, Tom Kent, Corwin noted. Kent is the President and CEO of the Nebraska Public Power District.
In addition, APPA plays an important role in helping members set the standards of excellence for each other, and in recognizing those making the commitment to meet those standards through the Reliable Public Power Provider and Smart Energy Provider programs, Safety Awards, the Customer Satisfaction Awards, and other awards.
This year APPA enhanced its array of tools to track and pursue those efforts in excellence through PowerTRX (for safety and reliability); a Risk Management Toolkit; rate design case studies; a report with specifics of how public power utilities are serving data centers including policies, contracts, and rate constructs; upcoming AI tools for utility knowledge and applications; and APPA’s DEED program provided scholarships and funding for an array of member pilots in innovation.
“These examples are just some of the ways APPA steps up as to bridge…our members’ independence and our collective interdependence. Our APPA staff all work incredibly hard for you,” Corwin noted.
“Your Board of Directors, the Executive Committee and officers work and travel throughout the year to represent you, and all of our committees on which many of you serve are crucial to helping us adopt the policies and programs that ultimately benefit over 55 million people served by public power. Thank you so much for your dedication and our shared mission and this essential public service,” he told the audience of public power officials.
To best chart the path forward, APPA listens to its members, including a member survey APPA sent to members this year, Corwin noted.
“We’ve conducted many member committee listening sessions” and is working with the Board to chart goals and success measures to prioritize in 2027-2029, he said.
“Some of these will be internally focused so that we can remain strong financially and be even more responsive, efficient, and nimble in our delivery of services for you.”
As APPA looks to the future, “we want to welcome your ideas on any service we can provide or enhance, especially as it relates to onboarding and educating that next generation that will inherit this great public power tradition.”
Public power “may be born of independence, yet we are clearly collectively stronger through our interdependence as one community with APPA aligning priorities and helping public power speak and move as one. That is how we will power the next 250 years. Thank you for being a part of APPA, for your service to your communities, and your guidance on the winding road ahead.”
