With Great Power

4.7 (85)
CAREERS
UPDATED BIWEEKLY

The electric grid is one of the most complex machines ever built. And it’s changing faster than ever. ‘With Great Power’ is about the people building the future grid, today. Each episode features stories about the technology, climate, security, and economic shifts that are reshaping utilities and the electricity system.

DEC 16

Season 6 is coming soon!

The power sector is at an inflection point. Skyrocketing load growth and rising energy prices are converging with an aging electric grid, inadequate power supply, and regulatory hurdles. It’s a perfect storm that’s forcing utilities to take a serious look at their business models. But new innovations focused on meeting energy demand and confronting the affordability crisis are tackling these challenges head on. If you’ve been a With Great Power listener over the past five seasons, you’ve heard stories from many of the people behind those innovations. This season, we’re digging even deeper. You’ll hear from some of the leading voices in the power sector, from utilities and energy management companies to developers, community advocates, and grid planners. Stay tuned for all new episodes about the superheroes building the future electric grid, today. Season 6 launches soon. Subscribe to With Great Power on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. With Great Power is a co-production of GridX and Latitude Studios. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this podcast, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The Grid X production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

2 min
NOV 11

Unconventional lessons in customer experience

In Nigeria, tens of millions of people live without access to reliable power. Utibe Bassey grew up in Lagos, and knows what it’s like to not have electricity to perform simple daily tasks. When she moved to the United States as a teen, she didn’t think much about electric utilities. But she did think about how managers treat employees – a thought spurred by an unfortunate instance she witnessed while working at a fast food chain. Ever since then, Utibe has refined her personal philosophy, “Love as a KPI,” which prioritizes kindness and human connection in the workplace. As we prepare for our season six launch, we bring you one of our favorite episodes from season three of With Great Power. In this rerun episode, Utibe tells Brad about how she puts her personal philosophy to work at Dominion Energy, where she is vice president of customer experience. She also talks about what it means to work in the power industry, having lived without access to reliable power in her youth. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Erin Hardick. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The GridX production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

25 min
OCT 14

Why utilities are consumer product companies now

Chris Black had always planned on being an architect. But during his freshman year in college, he pivoted to computer science. On the surface, it looked like a strange change of course. But Chris saw parallels in the importance of form and function in both fields. Computer science eventually led Chris to the energy sector, where he brought his passion for making great digital products to the world of utility rates and programs. In 2022, Chris became the CEO of GridX. This week on With Great Power, Chris Black talks about why he’s so focused on product design and creating great user experiences. He also discusses GridX’s recent acquisition of energy data analytics company InnoWatts, and explains why and how GridX will continue to grow through mergers and acquisitions. Chris also shares his views on the ways that utilities are evolving and why he considers them to be product companies. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The GridX production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

24 min
SEP 30

Can your EV save the grid?

During a visit to Silicon Valley in 2015, Nick Woolley realized that the many Teslas he saw whizzing past him were not just new cars, they could also be distributed energy resources. He was working for National Grid in his native England at the time, but he couldn’t shake the idea that EVs could provide demand flexibility to the grid in a way that could benefit drivers and utilities alike. In 2018, he founded ev.energy to develop a platform for managed EV charging using real-time, dynamic price signals. Today, ev.energy works with utilities, drivers, and charger manufacturers to automate EV charging in order to shift demand from peak hours and reward drivers in the process. This week on With Great Power, Nick Woolley talks about the ChargeWise pilot program in California, which is using dynamic price signals to optimize EV charging. So far, it has saved consumers more money than time-of-use rates while evening out grid demand. Nick also describes what it would mean to scale dynamic charging nationwide. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The GridX production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

24 min
SEP 16

A second shot at smart meters

In 2015, Laura Sherman and her colleagues from Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet’s office rode horses into a special part of the Rocky Mountains called the Thompson Divide. Laura had landed in Sen. Bennet’s office after grad school as part of a policy fellowship with the American Academy for the Advancement of Science. At the time she was a legislative assistant to Sen. Bennet. She and her colleagues were working on legislation to protect federally-owned portions of the Divide from future energy and mineral extraction. It was all part of a plan she made years earlier, while studying geochemistry at the University of Michigan. Laura realized that to influence climate policy, she needed to connect her research to policymakers. Today, Laura continues to connect people and policy as president of the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council, a trade association that’s advancing clean power in the state. This week on With Great Power, Laura Sherman talks about the state of advanced metering infrastructure in Michigan, why she wants utilities to deploy next-generation smart meters, and the value the technology provides to Michiganders and consumers everywhere. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The GridX production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

24 min
SEP 2

Crunching the numbers on the nuclear renaissance

Mike Kramer has always liked puzzles. But in 2017 he faced one harder than any sudoku. This one involved the livelihoods of hundreds of American families. As director of business operations and the chief financial officer for Exelon Corporation’s eastern region, Mike Kramer was accountable for the financial health of seven nuclear generation facilities across four states. And things were not looking good. The trend lines for nuclear power had been heading down. In much of the country, renewables had reached grid parity and cheap natural gas was edging out nuclear power. He couldn’t make the math work at one of the reactors Exelon had operated for nearly 50 years – Three Mile Island Unit One. So in September 2019, it shut down. But last fall, things started turning around. Exelon spin-out Constellation, where Mike is now VP of data economy strategy, is restarting the plant as the Crane Clean Energy Center. And things are looking up at Constellation’s nuclear plant in Clinton, Illinois, which it is relicensing to operate for another 20 years. This week on With Great Power, Mike shares his take on the nuclear energy renaissance, what it’s been like to go from decommissioning to recommissioning a plant, and what growing demand for emissions-free power means for Constellation’s nuclear fleet across the country. With Great Power is a co-production of GridX and Latitude Studios. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this podcast, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The GridX production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

25 min
AUG 19

Energy outreach from small towns to the world stage

In the early 2000s, when she was doing legal work in her native Texas, Sheri Givens held state government roles that put her in the thick of energy policy-making. And in 2009, Texas Governor Rick Perry appointed Sheri the chief executive of Public Counsel of the Texas Office of Public Utility Counsel. That made her, in effect, the consumer advocate for all 20 million Texas utility ratepayers. To do that job well, Sheri wanted to sit down with consumers across the state. So she spent days crisscrossing the state in her truck advising consumers on their energy utility choices. Sheri went on to consultancy and executive roles in the energy sector. Now, as president and CEO of the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA), a non-profit organization for energy sector professionals, she still has that same enthusiasm for empowering people. Amid tremendous demand for clean energy and deep uncertainty around federal energy policy, SEPA convenes folks from across the sector, the country, and the world to learn from each other. This week on With Great Power, Sheri shares why she’s bullish on states' progress toward clean energy goals despite federal headwinds, and what strategies utilities are using to advance policy and innovation right now. With Great Power is a co-production of GridX and Latitude Studios. Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere you get podcasts. For more reporting on the companies featured in this podcast, subscribe to Latitude Media's newsletter. Credits: Hosted by Brad Langley. Produced by Erin Hardick and Mary Catherine O’Connor. Edited by Anne Bailey. Original music and engineering by Sean Marquand. Stephen Lacey is executive editor. The Grid X production team includes Jenni Barber, Samantha McCabe, and Brad Langley.

20 min
AUG 5

Taming explosive load growth with rates

Fifteen years ago, Scott Engstrom thought utilities were boring, bureaucratic organizations where people went for job security. But after co-founding GridX in 2010 during the smart meter era, he discovered an industry full of dedicated people tackling complex challenges. GridX went the next five years without a paying customer. Then, in 2015, California mandated time-of-use rates, and the start-up found its footing. Today, Scott helps utilities nationwide design and implement sophisticated rates for a variety of programs, from electric vehicle charging to demand response programs and virtual power plants. Because as load growth from AI data centers and industrial customers strains the grid, sophisticated rates have become more critical than ever. This week on With Great Power, Scott outlines how rate design helps utilities manage unprecedented load growth from data centers and why "growth pays for growth" protects existing customers from new infrastructure costs.

24 min

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4.7

out of 5

85 Ratings

Good stories about the energy transition

04/18/2023

REworlder

These are really well-produced stories about many of the trends that are shaping the electric grid. It’s a very complicated topic told in a digestible narrative format. Good stuff.
Utilities killing solar, very obvious

Feb 19

nancylaplaca

This is a good podcast, well produced, as they have utility money. The interviewer is very good, and I appreciate the content, but trying to paint the utilities as some kind of saviors is absolutely ridiculous. Anyone who’s involved with utilities for more than a few weeks understands the rampant corruption. Case in point: one Arizona regulator is a former lobbyist for the gas industry, and Arizona is 56% fossil gas, 10% coal and a sad 10% Solar. No worries, though, they will be losing a lot of water in the next 5 to 10 years, and all those thermal power plants run on water. I could write reports on the corruption, and indeed I have. Let me know if you want any and I can send them to you. Don’t forget to check the Energy and policy Institute, they are the experts on Utility corruption.
Electrifying!!

11/16/2022

240VOD

So far so good! Great pace and interesting discussion.
Looking forward to this one!

11/07/2022

Power Grid

I’m always looking for more insight into what is needed for electrification and future-proofing the grid.

The electric grid is one of the most complex machines ever built. And it’s changing faster than ever. ‘With Great Power’ is about the people building the future grid, today. Each episode features stories about the technology, climate, security, and economic shifts that are reshaping utilities and the electricity system.