If so, what can we do now to head it off?

A live audio conference presented by Restructuring Today on June 20, 2008

Hear National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners President Marsha Smith's, former Electric Power Research Institute CEO and Galvin Electricity Initiative Director Kurt Yeager's and GridWise Alliance President Steven Hauser's in-depth discussion of what may be the biggest questions facing the industry today:

• Whose job is it to fix the crisis?
  
  
• What are the role of corridors in reliability planning?
  
  
• Where is demand going?  What is demand likely to grow to in our lifetimes?
  
  
• Can the electric industry meet the target?
  
  
• What role will higher prices play in the mix?
  
  
• Will the industry be able to meet the goal given America's carbon footprint?
  
  
• Can that be done at a price America can pay?
  
  
• Will the industry be willing to put out the money to meet the demand?
  
  
• What about tensions between states and RTOs?
  
  
• Who actually has the authority to fix the problem?

Meet the panel:

• Kurt Yeager is the executive director of the Galvin Electricity Initiative.  He joined the firm in an effort to perfect the electric power system shortly after it was launched by former Motorola Chief Bob Galvin in 2005.  
  
  As its leader, Yeager works with electricity experts, innovators and entrepreneurs to design and build prototypes of a smart, efficient electric power system that cannot fail the consumer.  
  
  Yeager retired as the president and chief executive officer of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in 2004, after 30 years with the organization.  Under his leadership, EPRI evolved from a nonprofit industry think tank to a family of companies that undertake both proprietary and collaborative research and development for the electric power industry in the US and 40 other countries.
  
  During that time he also guided an industry-wide collaborative effort to address challenges and plan for the future of electric power.  The Electricity Technology Roadmap and the Electricity Sector Framework of the Future have since become the foundation of utility industry progress.
  
  Yeager was named the 2003 Technology Policy Leader for Energy by Scientific American.  He has authored more than 200 technical publications on energy and environmental topics and chairs the World Energy Council study on energy and climate change. 

• Marsha Smith is a commissioner at the Idaho Public Utilities Commission and the president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC).
  
  She serves on the NARUC board and executive committee, is a member of NARUC's committee on energy resources and the environment and past chair of NARUC's electricity committee.  She is an elected member of the Western Electricity Coordinating Council's board of directors, co-chair of the National Action Plan for Energy Efficiency and co-chair of the steering committee of the northern tier transmission group.
  
  She represents Idaho on the Western Interconnection Regional Advisory Body and chaired the Western Interstate Energy's board committee for regional electric power cooperation from October 1999 to October 2005.  
  
  She is a member of the Electric Power Research Institute's advisory council, the National Council for Electricity Policy steering committee, the Harvard Electricity Policy Group, the Western Conference of Public Service Commissioners and the Idaho State Bar.
  
  Before her appointment to the commission, Commissioner Smith served as deputy attorney general in the business regulation/consumer affairs division of the office of the Idaho attorney general and as deputy attorney general for the Idaho PUC.  She was the commission's director of policy and external affairs and chair of the NARUC staff subcommittee on telecommunications.

• Steve Hauser is vice president of strategy for GridPoint, the pioneer of an innovative Smart Grid platform to address today's energy challenges while aligning the interests of electric utilities, consumers and the environment.
  
  Hauser is responsible for creating new markets and partnerships to accelerate the long-term growth of GridPoint.  He has been nationally recognized for more than 25 years as a leader in clean energy technology development efforts.  He was featured in MIT's Technology Review magazine as a pioneer in the electric smart grid revolution in 2002.
  
  Hauser also serves as president of the GridWise Alliance, an advocacy group supporting a national imperative for modernizing the nation's electric infrastructure.  He has brought together more than 200 companies to create a broad industry vision to transform energy systems, markets and technologies since 2000.  
  
  Hauser has also led the creation of a new national brand called "GridWise," significantly raising the visibility of these issues with federal and state policy makers.

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