Join our YouTube Channel to access this briefing and additional, exclusive USEA content! 

What appears to be a perfect storm is gathering for the nation’s electric utilities next year and beyond: Supply demands on the system could be beyond its predicted capacity to deliver.

The multiple challenges to the system signal an end to the relatively quiet times the industry has enjoyed for five decades of slow growth. Now that is upended by new realities including:

• The relentless demand for more power from hyperscalers.
• Uncertainty about future wind projects.
• Connection congestion.
• Constrained transmission.
• Impact of self-generators before and after the meter.
• Affordability as prices rise, triggering consumer and regulatory alarm.
• Supply chain tightness.
• Uncertainty about bulk power equipment supplies from China.
• Regulatory uncertainty as states and federal regulations clash.
• Increasing wildfires in areas previously thought to be immune.
• Above all, the rise in unpredictable and severe weather events.

The United States Energy Association will facilitate the media taking a hard look at the challenges facing the industry in 2026 and beyond at its next virtual press briefing. It will take place on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at 11 a.m. ET.

As usual, a panel of senior reporters will question a panel of experts and visionaries for an hour. USEA President and CEO Mark Menezes, a former deputy secretary of energy, will be on hand to add his deep knowledge of the subject to the exchange.

Press briefings are unrehearsed and give reporters an opportunity to ask questions on the record of some of the best thinkers and operatives in the industry.

The Experts: 

• Jim Robb, President and CEO, NERC
• Ted Vatnsdal, Executive Director, Strategic Risk, MISO
• David Naylor, President and CEO, Rayburn Electric Cooperative
• Charles Bayless, Former President, Tucson Electric and Illinois Power Company
• Tom Falcone, President and CEO, LPPC
• Spencer Hanes, Vice President, EnerVenue
• Shanthi Muthia, Electricity Demand Specialist, ICF

The Reporters:

• Matt Chester, Energy Central
• Jennifer Hiller, The Wall Street Journal
• Ken Silverstein, Forbes
• Evan Halper, The Washington Post
• Adam Clayton Powell III, PBS
• Peter Behr, Politico’s E&E News