POWERUP 2026
Session Details
Check back often as the program continues to evolve
KEYNOTE – Two Hurricanes in 13 Days: Duke’s Outage Communications Transformation After Helene and Milton
In late September and early October 2024, Hurricanes Helene and Milton struck Duke Energy’s service territory within just 13 days, affecting nearly 2 million customers in…
KEYNOTE – Building the Utility of the Future: How PG&E Is Advancing Resilience Through Innovation, Integration, and Preparedness
As utilities face increasingly complex threats – from wildfires and severe storms to rising customer expectations and rapid load growth – resilience has become a defining…
Public/Private Partnerships During a Crisis
When major events escalate, no single organization can respond alone. Effective coordination between utilities, government agencies, and private-sector partners becomes essential to maintaining operations, restoring service,…
The Resilience Equation: Balancing Infrastructure, Demand, and Mutual Assistance
In an era where “unprecedented” events have become the norm, resilience is no longer a localized goal but a national imperative.
Peer Networking Roundtables
PowerUp’s interactive roundtable discussions provide attendees with an opportunity to engage directly with peers and industry leaders on today’s most pressing outage, emergency management, and resilience…
Alabama Power’s ETR Monitoring Program for Accurate Outage Communication
Alabama Power received Chartwell’s 2026 Gold Award for Excellence in Outage Communications for its Estimated Time of Restoration (ETR) Monitoring Program...
Forecasting Resilience: How Utilities Are Responding to Weather Risk
From hurricanes and wildfires to ice storms, heat waves, and flooding, severe weather is reshaping how utilities prepare for and respond to operational threats...
Digital Hazard Reporting: Turning Community Input into Operational Intelligence
CenterPoint Energy received the Gold Outage Operations Award for the transformation of its outage processes and customer communications by translating community observations into real‑time operational intelligence...
Navigating TCPA, AI, and Consent Risk in Utility Customer Communications
As utilities expand customer outreach through text, voice, and digital channels, the legal landscape is becoming more complex. In this timely session, communications attorney Bill Raney…
Inside OPPD’s Response to a Once-in-500-Year Ice Storm
Omaha Public Power District (OPPD) received the Gold Emergency Management Award for its response to a rare, once-in-500-year ice event in 2025. OPPD executed a comprehensive, safety-first emergency…
Mutual Aid to Market Forces: The New Era of Utility Resource Acquisition
As major events grow larger and more complex, utilities are rethinking how they secure the people, equipment, and contractor support needed for response and restoration. This…
Outage Communications for Business Customers – Strategies for Meeting Expectations
As expectations rise among commercial and industrial customers, outage communications are becoming a defining element of the business customer experience. This panel brings together leaders from…
Data-Driven Resilience: How Award-Winning Utilities are Redefining Restoration
Utilities are transforming outage operations through mobile tools, real-time dashboards, advanced analytics, and predictive models that improve situational awareness, resource coordination, and risk mitigation. This panel…
Beyond the Plan: Building Operational Resilience Across the Utility Enterprise
Utilities are rethinking business continuity as an enterprise capability that extends far beyond maintaining documentation. This panel will explore how leading organizations are integrating business continuity,…
The Long Tail of the Outage: Managing the Customer Experience Before and After the Event
Utilities often focus on the moment power goes out and the moment it is restored. But the customer experience around outages begins long before the first…
Prioritizing Critical Functions: Making Enterprise Continuity Decisions
Identifying critical functions is a foundational element of business continuity, but prioritizing them across an entire enterprise is often where the real challenge begins. While individual…
