Perspective

Moody’s began publishing discrete ESG scores in January 2021. PUF spoke with the Moody’s team responsible for the coverage of regulated and unregulated utilities, midstream energy, public power, and power project financings, in both the U.S. and Canada.

“ESG impacts everything: the way companies trade, the way they are growing, and their M&A strategy, as well as how shareholder activists are screening companies and sectors.”

In what could be aptly called the Environmental, Social and Governance Era, utilities are being scored for their ethical performance, quite rigorously, quite comprehensively, by highly influential organizations. The issue is so big that we devoted a special issue of PUF to it.

“A utility may be dealing with a manufactured gas plant or other facility that closed down in the early 1900s, yet the policies may not have been issued until the 1940s.”

“EV make-ready is the electric distribution infrastructure needed to support increased load and demand brought by EV charging infrastructure.”

How can we make the supply chain for solar (presently largely offshore-based) more resilient?

“We work with local neighborhoods, community-based organizations, and churches and communities of faith to build solar and other clean energy projects that help reduce energy burdens for people in the neighborhood and help to support local jobs.”

The utilities industry holds three of its most important conferences of the year over a seven-day period.

PG&E met with firms that responded to its Request for Information, each of which presented their approaches to accomplish this unprecedented project. Herein are key excerpts of the RFI.

As we have experienced the effects of innovation in all aspects of our industry, so too has innovation revolutionized the conversion from “overheading” to undergrounding. Converting selected overhead wires to underground cables has consequently become a compelling option for utilities across the country.