Cybersecurity, Reliability & CIP

As commissioners and industry leaders gather at NARUC, I hope the conversations extend beyond individual jurisdictions and focus on what we can learn from one another.

“A good catch is defined as a hazard detected before it becomes an ignition, a serious public safety event, a catastrophic failure, or a correctly identified trouble location.”

“The stakes are measurable: Dragos’s 2026 findings put the industry-wide average dwell time for ransomware in OT environments at 42 days, which leaves ample time for an adversary to explore the paths a network permits.”

“Given that many of the problems facing the country’s system are common throughout the electric power sector, examining Puerto Rico’s grid modernization journey yields insights relevant to mainland utilities as well as those serving islands.”

Puerto Rico offers a timely setting for the NARUC 2026 Annual Meeting and Education Conference in November, serving as a real-world case study for utility infrastructure reliability and resilience nearly a decade after major hurricanes devastated the island. The conference will address challenges of affordability, rapid infrastructure deployment, meeting customer needs, and much more.

This panel at the NARUC Summer Policy Summit examined how utilities, grid operators, regulators, consumer advocates, and the Department of Energy work together to maintain grid reliability during extreme events. The discussion focused on lessons learned from recent winter storms, the role of emergency authorities such as Section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act, and the importance of coordination across regions and fuel types, as well as addressed issues that arise in balancing reliability, affordability, and resilience.

“The opportunity now is to make Wildfire Mitigation Plans more understandable, comparable, and evaluator-friendly, much as integrated resource and transmission plans became over time.”

“We’ve been told by customers they’re getting asked about Gridscope deployments on bond ratings and insurance calls – we’re hoping that in addition to direct reliability and risk reduction benefits we can provide, we’re also able to make a dent on affordability.”

“For utility leaders, cyber risk is increasingly intertwined with how we operate, manage, and restore the grid. This evolution has implications for how utilities should think about preparedness, resilience, and leadership.”