In this episode of the T&D World Live podcast, Joe Bentley, Senior Vice President of Electric Engineering at Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), shared his optimistic vision for the future of the electric utility industry, despite the growing challenges of climate change, infrastructure demands, and surging electricity costs.
Bentley, who began his career in the Midwest with AES and Indianapolis Power & Light, emphasized the stark contrast between those utilities and the massive scale and complexity of PG&E. With 70,000 square miles of service territory and over 150 radial distribution circuits exceeding 100 miles in length, PG&E’s infrastructure demands are immense — but also present unique opportunities.
Bentley reframed today’s biggest challenges — affordability, reliability, and sustainability — not as competing goals but as parallel tracks. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he said, pointing to the convergence of grid modernization needs and a surge in beneficial load growth, particularly from hyperscale data centers. These customers, he argued, could actually help bring down overall electricity costs due to their high load factor and willingness to pre-fund infrastructure.
He also discussed PG&E’s rethinking of capital expenditures, shifting from ongoing expenses like tree trimming to long-term investments such as undergrounding lines — moves that simultaneously improve wildfire resilience and reduce annual costs. He highlighted how distributed energy resources, especially EVs and stationary batteries, could play an expanded role in grid resiliency.
When asked about high electricity rates, Bentley acknowledged the problem but stressed the need to consider value over volume. He compared electricity to smartphones: underappreciated until it’s gone. “Maybe your kilowatt hours are higher, but if your total energy cost is going down, that's a huge benefit,” he said.
On AI and technology, Bentley described PG&E’s use of artificial intelligence to improve asset management, streamline customer interconnections, and analyze massive amounts of sensor data.
The episode concluded with a look at PG&E’s partnership with the City of San Jose, where an ambitious pilot project is leveraging waste heat from data centers for district heating — an example of how to scale decarbonization without sacrificing affordability.
Bentley left listeners with a message of collaboration: whether it's restoring power after wildfires or sharing equipment between utilities, the electric industry thrives on shared expertise and mutual aid. His final takeaway? Embrace the "and" — not "or" — in today’s grid challenges.
You can also listen to the other episodes of T&D World Live by going to https://tanddworld.podbean.com/
