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Transforming public trust into an operating asset for utilities with Greg Cornett · Factor This

• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: Whether it's the headlines that the general public is reading or the reality they see in their monthly bills, one thing is clear.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: Energy costs are rising, making affordability a top-of-mind issue for people across the United States.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Utilities of all types have recognized this, and while they're working to define operational efficiencies that actually do lower costs, they also need to overcome the public perception that defines these rate increases.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: When a bill goes up, most ratepayers are focused on the name on the envelope, rather than the complex web of market forces, policy mandates, and necessary grid updates that are driving those numbers.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: We know the reality of those interconnected sectors, but they don't.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: So closing that gap requires utilities to rethink how they communicate and move away from traditional messaging to actively showcase the tangible value that these grid investments are delivering to people's everyday lives and for the future of society as a whole.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: Our guest today is somebody who's leaning all the way into that mission.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Greg Cornett is the president of Rhode Island Energy, and he brings over two decades of regulatory, legal, and operational leadership to the table.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: He'll be taking these insights to the stage as part of the Wednesday keynote at D Tech Northeast 2026, exploring how cultivating public trust is an essential affordability strategy in its own right, as well as why transparent communication is just as critical as any infrastructure update.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: But we wanted to capture some additional context around these issues, as well as a few other topics before he takes the stage.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: So, Greg, thanks so much for taking the time to connect.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Really glad to be here, Jeremiah.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for having me.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I touched on it in my intro, but you know, your career really in the energy sector spans a variety of roles and organizations.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Can you talk a little bit about how that experience has really shaped your ability to bridge gaps between what can otherwise be kind of siloed processes or thinking, either on the utility side or on the policy side or even with community stakeholders?
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's a great question.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: I you know, I think one of the biggest benefits of having worked in different areas across the energy industry is that I've learned to look at all of this from more than just one perspective.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I started my career in private practice working as an outside lawyer for a utility company and then moved in-house uh as a lawyer in sort of one segment of the business on the natural gas side, actually, and then expanded that over the course of many years into a legal role that had me responsible for um activities across three different jurisdictions and across multiple substantive legal areas.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then, you know, about three years ago, as you mentioned, I stepped into the role as president of Rhode Island Energy, and that's certainly given me uh a much greater level of perspective and exposure dealing with directly multiple stakeholders across the spectrum, including our customers.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: And so, you know, that I think with that as I look back on it, that experience has taught me that you know, most stakeholders aren't necessarily starting from the same place.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: You know, a regulator is focused on potentially things like consumer protection and and prudency.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: A legislator may be responding to constituents who are upset about um having to pay their bill or having trouble paying their bill.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: An operations team is focused on safety and reliability, and of course a customer is asking a very basic question.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: You know, how how can I afford this?
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: And can I count on your service?
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: Can I rely on it?
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_01: And so I see my job is trying to connect those perspectives without dismissing any of them.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: And that means being honest about the challenges, explaining where there are trade-offs, because there are certainly some trade-offs in at times, and and trying to find common ground where we can.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_01: And so one of the things that I've learned is that you can't build trust without, you know, only by just showing up when you need approval for something.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: You you've got to put in the time up front.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_01: You've got to build those relationships before those difficult relations decisions come.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then you have to be willing to listen and not just to to talk to people.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: You have to be willing to that's that's as as important as anything, is just that listening piece and understanding where folks are trying to come from.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it it speaks to there's not there's not often bad faith that comes into these conversations, but it's about different perspectives and different realities on each side of the table.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: And on the the utility side, I mean, utilities are these foundational community anchors, but then they're also responsible for the future of of energy, for the future of a sector.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: What is it, what does it mean for utilities to better, better convey this perspective as part of how they are part of these conversations that that balance the two roles, kind of that foot in the present and the future?
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: I I think that those roles, while they could be perceived to be in conflict, or are actually they're certainly very closely aligned and linked.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: You know, a utility it is and has to be a foundational institution in the community.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_01: We provide an essential service.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: We employ a lot we employ a lot of people.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: We support local organizations, and we have a responsibility to be there when people need us the most.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm reminded of that right now as we're, you know, looking out, as I'm looking out the window and the winds are starting to whip up and and we're expecting a significant nor'easter here in in in New England.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, our customers expect us to to be there when the storm hits.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: They expect us to be there when they're struggling.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the community expects us to show up at all of those times and places.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: And but we also have to be, you know, we have to be an innovator.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: Uh the energy system is changing rapidly.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_01: We're dealing with near with new technologies, electrification, renewable energy, changing customer experiences and expectations, and the need for a much more resilient system.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: And, you know, standing still isn't an option.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_01: So we have to we have to find a way to to be both of those things.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, those those expectations are are real.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: And in a lot of cases, I mean, utilities take pride in those expectations.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: I've talked to a lot of folks that that take pride in the fact that, yeah, flipping on that light switch, the people don't think twice about it.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: That that expectation is is just there.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: But I mean, you've talked about how that kind of reliability, it requires significant capital investment.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: So what's the most effective way to showcase this value to customers and regulators when it comes to here's how we're delivering that value to not only meet that expectation, but in some kind, in some ways kind of see see it evolve?
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I I think that's a a really, really important piece of of what we're trying to tackle currently as we are getting, you know, as we're working very hard to innovate and to build a grid of the future, one that is ready for the heavier electrification demands.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_01: You know, all of the innovation that's being being brought to bear, especially here in New England, in a state like Rhode Island, which has the most aggressive carbon reduction targets in the country.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and all of that requires a lot of innovation and a lot of investment.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, customers don't necessarily care that we have a new technology platform or or something like an advanced meter.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: And likewise, regulators can oftentimes be very skeptical of those things.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_01: They may think that it's just some sort of new gold-plating approach that we're trying to bring to increase our profits.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: And so what we have to learn what it is that customers care about and what regulators care about, different stakeholders care about, and and and that helps us to message it.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: We have to to communicate innovation through the lens of customer value.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: And we need to be equally clear that innovation is not a substitute, you know, for getting the fundamentals right.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: We can't talk about the future of energy, I don't think, with while neglecting reliability and safety and affordability and the customer who needs help today.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: So we've tried to get down to a much more micro level in just down to the community level.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: So when we're doing a reliability project in in an individual community, we're we're not only talking with the neighbors who might see us out there doing the work, but we're talking with the local officials.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we're and then we're talking with our customers and we're highlighting that work and what it's going to bring from a meaningful reliability or safety perspective at that micro level so that they're not just hearing about something that we're doing and not understanding, okay, that sounds great, but what's that gonna do for me?
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and I and I think that connects with something we're gonna talk about DTEch 2026 that that's coming up in a few months, but I wanted to pick up on something that came up at your panel last year at D Tech Northeast.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: You you talked through, I mean, uh what it meant to focus on innovation, process, and people, but what you just mentioned about that that micro level, like here's what that actually looks like.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I was gonna ask you about how any of that has evolved, but I think it's evolved in a way that that you guys are just getting much more specific around how you're how you're using your your folks to better connect with the community.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I I'll give you one discrete example.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: We've been we've been working to enhance the deployment of reclosers across our our network.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, these automated devices that allow us to to sectionalize and to to get get power back on quickly in the event of of a of an intermittent outage and as opposed to having to roll a truck out.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so we're we're one of the last states to really deploy those in a in a meaningful way.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: But again, it's you know, it sounds interesting in in the in the abstract, but but we've been trying to communicate that directly to our customers as we're doing that.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so explaining down to the level of of calling them smart switches, because we we in the utility industry, we get down to this, or we often use a lot of acronyms and a lot of names that you know, we're a lot uh I'm not, but a lot of us are engineers and and and yeah, I can say we're closer and I know what that means, but a customer doesn't know what it means.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: And so we've we've we tried to use language that makes them at least think about connecting the dots and then explaining to them exactly what that does.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: And then post post-storm event, we're then communicat we're gathering data throughout a throughout an outage event, for example, and and communicating back to those communities that have those investments that we actually avoided X number of outage minutes.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: And and you benefited from those investments and and and helping them understand that there are there is a reason from their perspective that benefits them for why we're making these investments.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Gosh, I love that.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: The communicating X number of hours you weren't down.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: Like here's here's what that's what that looked like.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: That's just tangible in a way that reliability isn't, and like that that makes sense to to somebody.
• 10:33
  SPEAKER_00: But like that communication piece, like that's ultimately at the heart of of this affordability topic, which I know you you address frequently on on LinkedIn and you recently wrote an article for the Boston Globe, uh, which I encourage folks to to check that out if you haven't seen it.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um and something you get at in there.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's no silver bullet solution to to any of this.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: So what it when you when you talk about it with other utilities, is it about and and talk about that communication piece?
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: Is it about spending the bulk of their time to talk about market forces or about how some of these what some of these actual efficiencies look like in a way that can create that tangible value, or about driving policy decisions that ultimately impact affordability?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like how do you how do you try to to focus that that communication?
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it Jeremiah, it varies from to from piece to piece.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_01: There we, you know, obviously we're always trying to target a variety of of different stakeholders when we're trying to get our messaging out.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, in general, I would say it it's it's all of the above.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: We're trying to speak to you know, regulators and legislators who are making decisions that impact us every single day, but also ultimately to our customers so that they understand, you know, we are trying to be look, we're trying to be disciplined with our capital spending.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_01: We're trying to make smart choices and smart decisions.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're trying to have the grid be resilient for an ever-changing weather weather pattern and worsening weather patterns.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_01: And we're trying to ensure that the grid is is ready for future electrification, but we're also trying to make decisions now that are going to help control costs in the future.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_01: None of this is getting cheaper.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, uh the cost of of our basic equipment is going up every single day and and um has gone up exponentially over the last several years.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_01: So, you know, there's a balance there that we have to achieve every single day when we're making these decisions.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I I think one of the mistakes that we've made in the utility industry in general is that we've not typically been big advocates of the work that we do.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: We tend to just keep our heads down, do the job.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: We're not looking for praise, we're not looking for uh, you know, any recognition.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_01: We're just we're you know, utility professionals are service-minded and we're trying to just do our job.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and that served us well as an industry, I think, for for a long time.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_01: But it it is not work in today's environment, not with the not with social media, not with the level of focus that there is on affordability, on the need for investments.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, the data center debate itself has brought all of this kind of front and center.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_01: The energy discussion has become very much part of the zeitgeist of the day.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's we're it is built into the lexicon of everyday conversations.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: I I never go anywhere hardly and sit at a bar or and have a drink or have a dinner, and that I don't overhear somebody having a conversation about something related to the industry.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: And that's just a different perspective.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: And so we have to meet our customers where they are.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: We have to meet these stakeholders where they are and arm them with information and and communicate in a very different way than we've communicated in the past.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: And it can be uncomfortable, um, frankly.
• 13:43
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we don't nobody wants to to be shining a light on on the work that they're doing every single day necessarily.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: You just want to do your job and and be done with it.
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_01: But we've got to communicate, or if not, we're not going to be successful.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and all of it speaks to these assumptions that that I think a lot of folks are making when they see those bills rising.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, yeah, oh, there's there's that extra, I'm I'm getting charged this now, which is that much more than the previous month.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: That means this organization is pocketing those extra dollars.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you we know that that's not the reality, but then then too, then is it that unc uncomfortable conversation of hey, here, like how overt do we need to be in terms of here's the the reality?
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: I think we, you know, my view and and mine's just one, but certainly the approach that I brought in my time here at Rhode Island Energy has been one where we take those issues head on and and we don't we don't avoid those difficult conversations and we don't run from the basics.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we we are an investor-owned utility.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: So we are earning a profit.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: It is a regulated profit, it is not a guarantee.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: So we're trying to educate our customer base and educate our stakeholders around, you know, why that is important, why and and and frankly, how how much is it?
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: Um you know, we you see in the aggregate, X utility reported X number of earnings last year, and that number, you know, is probably going to be in the tens of millions.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: And so I can understand why a customer who's sitting here and and struggling to pay their bill would say, wait a minute, why how is that fair?
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: How is it fair that you know, that PPL or Rhode Island Energy or pick pick whatever utility is making this level of profit?
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: And so we, you know, it's a fair question.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: We have to explain to them why that is important, why why that you know fuels our ability to make these investments.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_01: And it is a cost of doing business, but it is also a very small piece of the bill.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I I remember uh about 18 months ago when I sat down with my team and said, look, guys, I think we need to I need I think we need to break this down in very simple terms for our customers.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: And we we're talking every single day about all of the various pieces of a bill, but we're never we're never just acknowledging this is where this is the piece where our rate of return comes into play and and how much it is on on an average or a typical customer bill.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: And so we started as part of our communications uh throughout the year, twice a year, providing uh a document to our customers that that outlines all of the components of a bill and and what each of those pieces are based upon supply prices for the summer or winter.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_01: Uh and and then including in there, this is what a a typical profit is on your piece of the bill.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it's the you know, and and here here's the great news.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_01: It's the smallest piece of of anything on the bill, essentially.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_01: And it's in our case, for a typical residential customer, that it's it's only about$2.50 some cents a billing period.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: So that helps them understand, okay, I understand now.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: I yeah, I get that they're a business, they have to make some money, and and it's only two dollars and fifty cents, and that's what's helping me ensure that I've got a system that's safe and that's reliable and that's modern.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: And it becomes a lot more understandable and palatable for customers, I think, at that level, versus them seeing a you know, tens of millions of dollar number and and being upset about it.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and just making those assumptions.
• 17:08
  unknown: Yeah.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I I I know a lot of this is gonna be be part of what you're gonna be getting into as part of the the keynote panel, but as as you've been talking this through, like what what are you looking forward to to getting into with some of the other other utilities up there?
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_00: And to me, like some of it is about, I mean, really a different way of of thinking.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's not that that some of these efficiencies, like you guys could have I mean, you have that info to to provide that, but it's about shifting to being proactive with that communication.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: But then what does that look like?
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: And does it mean communicating that rate of return or X amount of outage minutes that you weren't down?
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like what any of that looks like?
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_01: No, it look look, I I think one of the things the industry does really well is is share best practices and ideas across the industry.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_01: We've got a lot of organizations.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: DTEC is one of them that gives opportunities for for us to get together and to share ideas good and bad and and to share experiences good and bad, and how we've come through those and and where we've had successes.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: And no two jurisdictions are the same necessarily.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: I've you know, I've certainly learned that as a transplant from from Kentucky up to Rhode Island, that it's it is very, very different in ways that I never anticipated in terms of the customer base and customer expectations and mindset, the local media environment, political environment, all those things.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm looking forward to getting, you know, being able to share some of the the good and bad about what we've learned on this journey over the last almost three years of of my involvement here and and and being in the storm of of affordability here in New England and and having this discussion around the policy costs and and the investments that we're making and all of those different components of it, and but also learning from others about what they've done and where they've seen um you know benefit from different things and and then taking that back and and and you know maybe that spark some additional.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_01: I never come to one of these conferences without having something that, you know, some idea or two or three that's sparked in me.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_01: And it it's not necessarily that that I'm gonna take you know wholesale what someone else has done or expect them to take wholesale what we've done, but take some ideas and and and make it your own back to your jurisdiction and your utility and and make it fit for your customer base.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: And it's something I've seen as well, because as you as you mentioned, like what works for one utility might not work for another, even if they're in the same state or just just a few miles over, but it's that that way of thinking.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_00: How is a given utility, how are given utilities and stakeholders thinking about these problems, thinking about these challenges?
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: There's just a lot of different ways to get this message out there.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's so so critical.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like you have that that story around value, but what does it look like to turn that into an article, into a video, into a discussion?
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: And like it can still, all of it can still be that same communication of value, but just doing it in different ways.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: But then, too, I mean, you mentioned earlier about using some of your people in different ways.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it got me thinking about you know, how critical is the identity of the messenger when it comes to communicating some of this?
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I keep going back to to research.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: I put together an article earlier this year that showed that nearly 100% of people, which 100% of anything is not something you see these days, but uh neither 100% of the people that were surveys really trust engineers to solve these future energy challenges.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: And it makes me wonder if engineers themselves need to be a bigger part of this this education, this communication.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they might not be as polished as some of those PR professionals, a communication professional, but at the same time, that authenticity that that might speak speak volumes.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_01: I couldn't agree more.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: And we've that's one of the things that we've tried to focus on over the last two years as we've rolled out a different communication strategy, both both at a high-level perspective, uh, but but then as we started communicating on individual, um, I talked about some of the reliability messaging that we've had and the investments that we're making.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: We're every single, every single day we're using real employees.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: We're we're no longer using stock images of people in our in our messaging or in our ads.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_01: And we are wherever possible using the people who are doing the actual work to talk about those investments.
• 21:20
  SPEAKER_01: So uh we just finished um a gas main replacement project down in Newport, in the Newport area back in the winter.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_01: That was a critical investment in into the system down in that part of the state.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_01: And and we had some of our gas engineers um, you know, talking with the media about it and explaining that with them and in the videos that we then posted to social media and shared directly with our customers because that's that's really you're right.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: That's who they want to hear from.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_01: They want to hear from those, and and and here's a bonus those are their neighbors and they're they're their friends or they're you know, their church members and uh their own customers.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: They're these are folks that live and work.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: and play here in in the communities that we serve.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: And so it it I just think it comes across a lot a lot more sincere uh and believable when they're hearing from the people that are that are literally in the in the mud or up in the bucket trucks doing the work uh as opposed to me or or our you know we have a great communications team they can they can you know the uh put them up against anybody in terms of communicating a message but customers understand they they get that that with that polish comes some enhanced skepticism I think they're like oh this guy is just you know trying to feed me a line here and and and so you know I get that I get that skepticism and but it's they there's just something more inherently trustworthy I think about hearing it from the the men and women that are are in the trenches doing the work.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: Totally agree and makes me think I got I gotta run down some of those assets maybe that's something we can we can provide more exposure for our our employees don't necessarily or don't necessarily feel comfortable doing that sometimes and we've had to help them get comfortable with uh with doing that.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_00: Excellent uh so you know we've been been talking about the the present and a lot of that's gonna be be something that you're exploring in a big way on the stage at D Tech Northeast but if we shift out to to look at the future, you know if you're looking out in the next three to five years, how do you expect any of these opportunities and challenges that surround affordability to to continue to evolve and take shape?
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah I listen I think the reality is it's just it's only going to get more intense and you know more challenging.
• 23:33
  SPEAKER_01: The environment is not going to get any easier it it the affordability component is going to continue to be really critically important across um all aspects of it.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so we've I think it's in incumbent on us and inherent that we become much better advocates and much better communicators and much more transparent about what it is we're doing and why we're doing it.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_01: And frankly much more willing to have these listening sessions and to understand the perspectives of the various stakeholders as we try to move through this this new world and and and come to to resolution on on the how to move forward when we know customers are are challenged with with paying their bills, when we know that there is concern around what's driving costs and concern around making investments that perhaps aren't aren't really needed.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_01: And we have to be able to to defend those things and and we can't take it for granted.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: Excellent well really appreciate taking the time to connect last question for you Greg.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: Is there we've been talking power so let's let's talk uh some powerful advice you know what's a key piece of advice that anchors your leadership or a perspective from outside the sector that you think is missing here or just something that that really fuels your or drives your overall approach?
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yep no I that's I appreciate that question.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: If you know I think for me it's that you have it I really try to have a fundamental approach of of leaving every position, every meeting every opportunity that I have a little better than I found it.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_01: And and that doesn't mean every decision's going to to make everybody happy I I had a conversation yesterday with a customer who reached out to me via email and was unhappy about about his bill and and you know I it was so I get they got our team to to dig into the details and to get me the information and and and they worked with him directly but he continued to you know he and I had an exchange back and forth on email about about some of those things as well because he I think he wanted to have that communication and and we don't have the discretion that I think people sometimes think we have to just say oh well don't worry about it this month.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_01: And so I just you know I always try to make sure that that I leave those interactions with with the customers or with lawmakers or with any other stakeholder with them understanding that they had someone who was who listened to them who was honest with them and transparent about about what the outcome was even if it wasn't a message that they wanted to hear.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: And that they at least could understand that we were operating in good faith and and trying to do the right thing and and that we understood where they were coming from and and you know we tried to find a a middle ground where we could.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: So you know I just I think the I think we just have to as an industry embrace the the reality that public trust is is an operating asset and and we have to treat it as such.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: We we we're not going to be successful in making the investments that we need to make in citing projects and in doing the work that we need to do every single day if we don't have some level of public trust and that that is something that can be lost very very quickly and takes a really long time to earn back.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_01: And so it's a s it can be a a bit of a slog at times to to to work through those challenging environments and and to build that trust but I just I think it's critical it's it's it's it's arguably always been really important but I think it's it's more important now than ever.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: Totally agree and like we have the have the tools have the data to to enable that public trust but it's about getting that into the communication and making that part of the part of the the goal.
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_00: Well excellent well uh really looking forward to your conversation DTEC Northeast that's going to be taking place on November 4th the event is the second through the fourth in Boston so Greg appreciate you taking the time and looking forward to seeing you on the stage this November.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_01: Likewise Jeremy I appreciate it thanks a lot