The 2026 State of State Regulation Luncheon at NARUC’s Winter Policy Summit was a resounding success, as PUF Executive Editor Rachel Bryant moderated a discussion with members of the NARUC Executive Committee, including NARUC President Ann Rendahl, First VP Jehmal Hudson, Second VP Katie Sieben, and Treasurer Josh Byrnes.

“Clearly, attracting younger generations to the water and wastewater industries is going to require a rebranding that underscores reinforcing public educational awareness as to the crucial role of water in public health and community development.”

“Historically, Section 202(c) was used sparingly. More recently it has emerged as an active tool to address reliability as large load growth, infrastructure constraints, and weather volatility have placed sustained pressure on regional systems.”

“FERC Order 2222 required RTOs and ISOs to open wholesale markets to aggregated distributed energy resources. The objective was straightforward: allow flexible, distributed resources to compete alongside traditional capacity and reduce pressure on the system. The results, however, were limited.”

“Hosting capacity analysis (HCA) maps serve as a practical tool and offer transparent, detailed insights into where the electric grid can support new load – such as EV charging infrastructure – and where costly utility upgrades may be unavoidable. HCAs are emerging as a critical tool for EV charger deployment.”

”Market need has led to an explosion of creativity in the long duration energy storage space, with novel technologies, from R&D to early-stage commercially viable solutions rushing to fill the gap. To untangle this dimensionality, we present a structured framework for analyzing the LDES market.”

“In December 2025, the NARUC Task Force on Natural Gas Resource Planning announced the release of four planning roadmaps offering strategies and tools to help commissions align natural gas distribution utility planning processes with state policy goals.”

“The electric sector’s cybersecurity posture is undergoing a fundamental shift. This evolution recognizes that organizations must plan for scenarios where adversaries are already operating within the environment.”

“We have areas that are not expecting load growth – and potentially even a decrease in load – like in eastern Kentucky in the Appalachian region, where we haven’t gotten a lot of economic development.”

The 2026 NARUC Winter Policy Summit was held February 8-11 in Washington, D.C. and gathered regulators from across the country along with international attendees for four days of education and camaraderie.