Exelon
Calvin Butler is the CEO of Exelon. Darcie Houck is a Commissioner for the California Public Utilities Commission. Ken Thomas is State President of AARP Florida.
PUF brings a look at a General Session at this summer's NARUC Summer Policy Summit that was divided into four panels: "The Tightrope: Utility CEOs' Balancing Act." In those four panels, utility CEOs faced Commissioners and a Consumer Advocate to discuss how they balance new resource investments and grid modernization, while ensuring reliability and reasonable rates. The CEOs grappled with tough questions, including how decisions are made concerning how and when to operationalize new initiatives, and whether communication and engagement levels are adequate.
Exelon CEO Calvin Butler joined California Commissioner Darcie Houck and AARP Florida State President Ken Thomas for Tightrope Four.
California Commissioner Darcie Houck: Exelon is the largest utility in the nation by customer, with ten million customers and shareholders, so you're answering to six Commissions. In doing this, you're responsible for providing safe, reliable, and affordable electricity to those customers.
How do you balance being able to do that with the policies tied to our clean energy transition, extreme weather events, as well as additional new load we're inevitably going to see coming on board for transportation, building electrification, data centers, and manufacturing?