Spring Symposium

CEDMC Spring Symposium
California’s Clean Energy Future:
Flexible, Distributed, and Technology-Enabled

2026 Spring Symposium Wrap-Up

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The 2025 Spring Symposium in Costa Mesa, CA was a big success. The day began with Examining the EE Business Plans for 2028-2035. Shelby Bush, Peninsula Clean Energy; Darren Hanway, SoCalGas; Erica Keating, SoCal Edison; and Lujuana Medina, SoCalREN discussed the fact that utilities are underspending budgets since the shift to 60% — yet still meeting or exceeding TSB goals. Is the value of energy efficiency declining, or are we simply getting smarter? The speakers from two IOUs, a CCA and a REN faced the question head-on and moderator Ericka Flores from NRDC posed conversation-starting questions about EE’s essential role in addressing rising electricity costs and accelerating load growth.

The next session covered the task of Making Electrification Work for Every Customer. Presenters included Lauren Bates, E Source; Leah Catanzarite, PG&E; Ely Jacobsohn, CPUC; Ram Narayanamurthy, CEC; and John Whitchurch, Cascade Energy. Moderator Beckie Menten from the Building Decarbonization Coalition (BDC) led the discussion on why electrification is central to California’s clean energy agenda, but customers aren’t buying in, and the reasons reveal a deeper problem with how we measure success. The session examined what’s being left out and makes the case for a more integrated approach as portfolios increasingly seek to combine EE with load flexibility and electrification. EE becomes a critical tool for making electrification affordable and durable for customers.

Accelerating Transportation Electrification in California: Lowering Fuel Costs While Protecting Affordability was the third session of the day. It highlighted how energy efficiency and electrification programs—already active in communities across California—can accelerate adoption while reducing total costs for customers. By pairing transportation electrification with technical assistance, financial incentives, an

d site‑specific planning, utilities and public agencies can enable residential, fleet, and public‑sector charging where it makes the most sense—aligning load with available grid capacity and minimizing infrastructure upgrades. Sam Pournazeri from ICF led the discussion and speakers were: Aaron Dyer, SoCal Edison; Hilary Polis, E Source, Sage Stone, Clean Power Alliance; and Vincent Weyl, CEC.

Next up were three real-world examples of Transformative Community-scale Energy Solutions from Advanced Energy Communities funded through CEC’s EPIC grant program. Panelists were Genaro Bugarin, The Energy Coalition (BAAEC); Neil Moffatt, Serious Controls; Therese Peffer, California Institute for Energy & Environment (CIEE); and moderator Wade Stano, MCE. They each shared how a portfolio-of-strategies approach, breaking down program silos to deploy DERs, home electrification, transportation, and community engagement as integrated solutions, has the potential for measurable outcomes across California communities.

A big draw of the day was the Keynote on the State of the Energy Efficiency

 Industry delivered by Cottie Petrie-Norris, CA Assemblywoman, District 73 and chair of the Utilities and Energy Committee.

The final session, Getting it Right: Opportunities for Load Growth to be a Grid Resource included data center experts and explored how large-scale data center operators can move beyond passive energy consumers to become active partners in California’s demand flexibility ecosystem, and how data, analytics, and technology are transforming electrification programs into measurable grid resources. They shared how they are integrating load flexibility, improving forecasting, and using real-world data to align customer programs with resource adequacy and system needs. From implementation challenges to emerging best practices, the discussion included insights on what it takes to make load growth from data centers and electrification work for the grid—not just in theory, but in practice. Speakers were: Astrid Atkinson, Camus Energy Inc.; Thomas Folker, Leap; Wannie Park, Pado; Scott Chamberlin, Neuralwatt; and led by moderator McGee Young from WattCarbon.

See the full day’s presentation slides here.

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