Utilities Resilience
Helping Power, Telecommunications, Sewer, Water, and Wastewater Utilities Access and Manage Federal Funding to Enhance their Resilience and Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions.
Upgrading Aging Infrastructure
Partnering with public, investor-owned, and small utilities to maximize funding from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), Department of Energy, USDA Forest Service, and other federal sources.
Whether seeking to retire outdated fossil fuel assets, harden energy grids to withstand severe weather, increase investment in renewable energy assets, or improve the safety of drinking water, rely on our disaster recovery and mitigation grant management expertise to assess your eligibility, support funding applications, and manage those funds with proven compliance practices.
Government Relations
When contemplating infrastructure improvements for a utility, it’s important to have federal and state policy experts on your side. We understand the unique infrastructure needs of utilities and how those needs align with federal funding and appropriations mandates of the IIJA and IRA.
Plexos maintains long-standing relationships within the U.S. Senate and the White House that help facilitate communication between utility stakeholders and policymakers regarding infrastructure grant funding opportunities. We understand the complexity of working with public utility regulators to align ratemaking with federal funding.
Funds Identification and Acquisition
Our funds acquisition experts focus on helping our clients identify available and suitable funding options through the Department of Energy (DOE), such as the Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program and the DOE Loan Programs Office, to help fund and support the completion of the full scope of their project.
Our analysis of funding options includes an in-depth review of the intended benefits of specific programs and projects against projected life-cycle costs and supply chain impacts. With that insight, our clients are positioned to act quickly to take advantage of federal infrastructure funding to speed up the funds acquisition process.
Funds Management
As the regulatory landscape continues to change, our compliance strategies prioritize effective quality assurance and quality control processes to minimize monitoring concerns or findings.
Solid project outcomes depend on clear roles and responsibilities, well-defined contracts, agile workflow project software, robust quality control procedures, and constant monitoring.
In late 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy announced up to $3.5 billion in Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program investments to help modernize the U.S. electric grid to lessen the impacts of climate change. This is only part of more than $10.5B that the DOE will be awarding in 2024 and 2025 for grid resilience, modernization, and sustainability.
Regulatory & Audit Compliance
Investor-owned and small-privately owned utilities need regulatory experts who understand their specific challenges when seeking state-level commission approval to spend federal funds. Plexos brings a unique combination of understanding the utilities industry and the regulatory process, federal funding requirements, and the ability to help achieve project approval from rate-making regulators.
Should the need arise, our experience with federal and state agency-led program audits helps clients navigate all aspects of monitoring and audit visits.
Program Evaluation & Project Selection
When our clients contemplate infrastructure projects involving renewable energy assets or biofuels, we perform a needs assessment to help clients define their goals, set realistic expectations, and understand potential risks.
As a result, clients are better positioned to identify a list of infrastructure or mitigation projects aimed to make utilities resilient and sustainable for the future and align with the IIJA and IRA program goals to have the best chance of receiving funding.
Insights & Resources
1 min read
Paul W. Rainwater to Chair Gov. Landry Task Force on the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans
Feb 29, 2024 by Plexos Group
1 min read
Broadband Expert Jojo M. Campos Joins Plexos in New Mexico
Nov 6, 2023 by Plexos Group