Date: May 2026

While utility programs often take years to develop, public power and cooperatives are proving they can be uniquely agile. This session explores the “soft skills” and organizational strategies required to move from ideation to implementation at record speed.

We feature two deep-dive case studies on the “fast track”:

• Seattle City Light (Pat Herman, Daniel Merz): How SCL broke down internal silos to launch a new industrial curtailment program in just six months.
• Rappahannock Electric Cooperative (Meghan Jennings): Lessons on scaling a 1,000-participant pilot into a full-scale, Board-approved tariffed program within a regulated environment.
• The session concludes with a 30-minute interactive workshop, where attendees will collaborate on solving common “speed-to-market” hurdles and share strategies for securing rapid executive buy-in.

Speakers:
Patrick Hermann, Seattle City Light
Meghan Jennings, Rappahannock Electric Cooperative