The following Q&A with select individual recipients of the American Public Power Association’s 2024 national awards offers a range of perspectives on what it takes to create and keep a utility culture that prioritizes reliability and is ready for the challenges and changes ahead.
Responses are from:
- Marc Cain, power plant operator, City of Augusta, Kansas, Electric Utility, and winner of the 2024 Robert E. Roundtree Rising Star Award
- Jason Frisbie, general manager/CEO, Platte River Power Authority, Colorado, and winner of the James D. Donovan Individual Achievement Award
- Weijun Li, engineering and operations manager, Braintree Electric Light Department, Massachusetts, and winner of the 2024 Harold Kramer-John Preston Personal Service Award
- Harold Pudliner, borough manager/CEO, Weatherly Borough Electric, Pennsylvania, and winner of the 2024 Larry Hobart Seven Hats Award
What have you found to be the most important aspect to maintaining a reliable system?
CAIN: Our people. My co-workers and I must believe in our utility and have the desire to want to improve. Furthermore, we have to believe in public power as a whole and work closely with other utilities to assist one another where we can to become more reliable together. Close communication within our utility, with other organizations, and across our region allows for us to gain a strong network and grow into tomorrow’s level of public power.
LI: Ongoing system improvements — build it right, factor in redundancy, continue to harden it, and keep up with proper maintenance. Being a not-for-profit municipal system, BELD prioritizes reinvesting in the system to improve it. We emphasize proactive maintenance to ensure a reliable system.
PUDLINER: Infrastructure maintenance is crucial to maintaining a reliable system. For us, that includes tree trimming, pole maintenance, and infrared monitoring, in addition to upgrades to the substation and the oil testing of larger transformers on a required basis. Asset and inventory management has become critical for maintaining reliability, with equipment sometimes taking months or even a year to obtain.
What do you see as the biggest threat to grid reliability?
FRISBIE: Obtaining permitting for dispatchable resources and having adequate transmission infrastructure are certainly at the top of my list. I believe RTO markets must create sufficient incentives to ensure resource adequacy, and I am also concerned about cyber threats that seem to be increasing at an alarming rate. Additionally, renewable energy is crucial for sustainable development, but its intermittent nature poses challenges for grid management. Increasingly severe weather such as hurricanes, wildfires, heat waves, and ice storms can impact renewable power supply, gas pipelines, and power transmission lines and test the grid’s resilience. Additionally, inconsistent or shifting energy policies can complicate long-term planning for grid improvements and investments.
PUDLINER: We have seen that power systems can be attacked by local or foreign groups. Severe weather has also tested the reliability of generation and presented the prospect of losing generation during these events, when it is most needed. Moreover, we are beginning to feel the effects of climate change as increasingly frequent severe storm events and temperatures strain our grid.
CAIN: In a time of great advancement in technology and improvement to the grid, we have also opened ourselves up to many threats. I do not believe we are ready for increased loads from mass electrification, as our systems weren’t designed for that kind of demand. The costs of upgrading are too high for many utilities, especially public power utilities, which strive to provide affordable power to our communities. For those of us able to invest into modernizing our systems with technology such as [advanced metering infrastructure] and Wi-Fi-controlled SCADA systems, we also must acknowledge the need for a robust cybersecurity provider and incident response plan.
How has your organization adapted to address broadening electrification and changing end-user behavior?
FRISBIE: We spend more time engaging with our customers to better understand their needs and educate them on the best ways to reduce their carbon footprint and manage their energy costs. This is accomplished, in part, by offering incentives for energy-saving behaviors and products. I find that most customers want to help us achieve this energy transition but do not have the time or expertise to understand the best way to support their utility. I believe it is our job to provide that support to them.
Are public power utilities taking the right steps to attract and retain engineering talent? What else could they be doing to develop these leaders?
LI: Public power utilities, especially smaller ones, might not always be in an advantageous position [to attract talent] when compared to big investor-owned utilities. Public power utilities’ community-focused management and operations make them attractive, though, and there is plenty of excitement working for a municipal power company. BELD has a co-op/internship program that has been successful in developing young engineers. We encourage them to earn their master’s degree (while working full-time) and pursue their PE license. We also provide them with opportunities to participate in management and leadership programs. To stay competitive in attracting and retaining young talent, public utilities may need to get even louder in promoting the benefits of public power, as both a service and an employer.
As someone relatively new to the industry, what would you share with more seasoned public power leaders about how they can help younger workers grow their skills and knowledge?
CAIN: Let your staff know that you believe in them, and then prove it. Invest in your staff by educating them, listening to them, trusting in their abilities, and sending them to conferences and workshops. The more they learn, the better the utility will be set up for the future. They will trust themselves more in their roles and will also be building a network of people that they can call upon later, both of which are vital to our future.
How has management of a small electric utility changed over your decades of leadership? What skills are essential for small-system managers to have?
PUDLINER: The availability and cost of equipment has drastically changed. We have also faced increasing difficulty in finding individuals who want to work in the electric field. As for essential skills, managers of small electrical systems have to constantly be aware of asset management, financial positions amid increasing customer debt, and increasing costs of energy and transmission fees. Managers also have to get into the field and know the system as well as their line supervisors in order to make critical decisions. Managing an electrical system requires a person to constantly look ahead for potential dangers and plan for system problems. Most importantly, managing an electric system requires complete dedication to the customers and to the safety of workers, who maintain and repair infrastructure in the worst weather conditions.
How has public power management changed over your decades of leadership?
FRISBIE: While I’m not sure public power management has changed during my time in leadership, I believe successful and impactful leadership is about listening, inspiring, and empathizing, as well as adaptability, curiosity, consistency, and culture. Our industry is going through a massive transformation as electricity, a public health and safety service, becomes increasingly political. I firmly believe that people who choose to be in this business come from a culture of public service and have immense pride for the communities in which they live and work. As leaders, we must stay focused on continuous improvement to help the next generation accomplish greater things.
How are you helping your utility plan for the future?
LI: I pay close attention to trends in the power industry and do what I can to help BELD stay current or ahead of the curve. We keep up with our system planning studies and continue to implement system improvements such as securing facilities, conducting substation rebuilds, protecting system upgrades, performing overhead reconductoring, completing underground feeder cable replacements, and adopting and deploying new technologies. We also endeavor to prepare the utility for the clean energy transition and expanding electrification.
PUDLINER: We are in the process of upgrading our substation. All of the wiring, insulators, and switches have been upgraded, and then we will be upgrading our reclosers. We are looking at installing AMI metering, as well as a SCADA system. We are part of the R.I.C.E. program with American Municipal Power. We will also be installing more electric vehicle charging stations.
CAIN: We focus on investing into our staff and adopting industry best practices. Currently, we are completing numerous improvements to both our grid and our Municipal Electric Plant II. We have also become more involved with KPP Energy, Kansas Municipal Utilities, Kansas Municipal Energy Agency, and Kansas Municipal Gas Agency to help where we can and learn from others within the organizations.
FRISBIE: As the CEO, it is important that I set the vision, mission, and strategy to support transitioning our resource portfolio in a reliable, financially sustainable way. This includes developing a comprehensive strategic plan that aligns with our board’s long-term goals and anticipates various future challenges and opportunities. Equally important is planning for our future workforce needs by designing a competitive total rewards strategy that helps us retain and attract the right talent for our evolving industry.
We proactively engage with the communities and other stakeholders to maintain strong relationships and transparent communications about our energy transition. This includes regular community meetings with elected city officials and staff, as well as publishing news stories and social media posts that share our progress with the clean energy transition and the challenges we face.
