WASHINGTON (September 16, 2026) — The Edison Electric Institute (EEI) and Axios yesterday convened industry leaders, lawmakers, and regulators for Electricity in Transition: Current Challenges, Future Power. The event explored the policy solutions and infrastructure investments needed to protect customers, meet rapidly growing electricity demand, and maintain grid reliability.

The event featured conversations with Duke Energy President and CEO Harry K. Sideris, Reps. Bob Latta (R-OH) and Sam Liccardo (D-CA), of the House Energy and Commerce and House Financial Services committees, respectively; Interim Chairman of the D.C. Public Service Commission Ted Trabue; and U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Administrator Tristan Abbey.   

Below are key takeaways from the event:

1. Reliable and affordable electricity powers the energy of every day.

Sideris underscored the essential role electricity plays in supporting customers, communities, and economic growth.

“People sometimes take for granted electricity and how important it is, but it powers everything everybody does every day. Electricity is the foundation for growing our economy and building our communities. Reliable and affordable energy is what you have to have to move forward,” Sideris said.

2. Large-load customers should pay their fair share and provide value to customers and communities.

When asked about the Ratepayer Protection Act, Rep. Latta emphasized the importance of protecting existing electricity customers from the costs associated with serving data centers.

“First and foremost, we want to make sure that the ratepayers that are out there aren’t paying for the data centers. The data centers have to pay for themselves. It shouldn’t come back to the existing ratepayers,” Rep. Latta said.

Sideris highlighted Duke Energy’s support for the customer-protection principles at the center of the discussion.

“We firmly believe that data centers should pay their fair share of the cost, and they are. That’s why we signed on to the ratepayer protection plan, and we’re putting it into action at Duke Energy,” Sideris said.

Sideris explained that Duke Energy’s Customer Protection Plus plan is based on three principles: protecting reliability, ensuring responsible growth, and requiring large-load customers to provide value. Under the plan, data centers are responsible for their infrastructure costs through tools including deposits, minimum payments, cancellation and termination fees, and long-term contracts.

“They have to pay their costs. They can’t be subsidized by the rest of our customers,” he said.

Sideris also highlighted how responsible data center development is generating local tax revenue for schools and public services, supporting workforce development programs, and creating both construction jobs and long-term employment opportunities.

3. Permitting reform is essential to meeting growing demand.

Sideris said Duke Energy is focused on ensuring that infrastructure is in place to support population growth, new manufacturing, and AI-related electricity demand while keeping customer costs as low as possible.

Rep. Latta emphasized that building additional energy resources and reforming permitting processes must advance together.

“We have to be producing more energy, but at the same time, permitting has to be right there with it. It’s not one or the other. They’re equal. What good is it if you can produce energy someplace, but you can’t move it from point A to point B?” he said.

Rep. Latta added that permitting reform is “absolutely essential” and urged Congress to act without delay to support the new generation and infrastructure the nation needs.

4. Modern grid technologies are improving reliability and reducing outages.

Sideris discussed Duke Energy’s investments in stronger poles, flood protections, and advanced technologies designed to reduce the frequency and duration of outages. He noted 75 percent of Duke Energy customers are now covered by self-healing technology, which can automatically reroute power when part of the system experiences an outage. According to Sideris, last year this technology "saved 2.5 million outages for our customers, and over 5 million hours of outages." 

5. The PJM region needs additional generation to keep pace with rapidly growing electricity demand.

Interim Chairman Trabue discussed how customers in Washington, D.C. depend on electricity produced across the broader PJM Interconnection region.

“We don’t have a generating station here in the District of Columbia... So Pepco, on behalf of its residential and commercial customers, has to procure that electricity on the open market through the PJM Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland grid,” he explained.

EEI long has called for reforms in PJM Interconnection to support the timely development and interconnection of new generation and ensure the region has the resources needed to maintain reliability and affordability. With electricity demand rising rapidly, bringing additional reliable generation and supporting infrastructure online is increasingly urgent.

“You’ve got a supply-and-demand imbalance, and our customers unfortunately are feeling the ramifications of that,” Interim Chairman Trabue said.

6. Faster processes and better data can support grid planning and investment.

Administrator Abbey highlighted EIA's efforts to improve energy data and better understand data center electricity demand. “The idea is to take our international energy stats and our state energy data system and make sure that the American people know where they’re accessing that data, they know where that data is sourced,” he said.

Rep. Liccardo discussed how faster interconnection processes could unlock private investment in the grid and local communities.

“It means billions of dollars to the hyperscalers, and that means billions of dollars of opportunity for us in terms of being able to invest in the grid and protect local communities,” Rep. Liccardo said.

You can rewatch the full event here.