Podcast
Vedeni Energy’s Deep Dive
Hosted by Vedeni Energy, LLC · EN
Vedeni Energy's Deep Dive provides a weekly, in-depth analysis of the most relevant and timely issues within the U.S. electric power industry.
73episodes
Episodes
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Change Fatigue Is Undermining Good Management
Apr 2900:19:38Tap to summarizeMany change efforts do not fail in a dramatic way. They wear people out. A company launches a new reporting structure, then adjusts office expectations, then changes performance language, then installs a new tool, then resets priorities after a rough quarter. None of those moves is shocking on its own. Taken together, they can leave people feeling as though the ground never quite holds still. Work still gets done, but with more drag. Managers repeat themselves. Teams keep asking what matters now. Good employees begin to conserve energy instead of giving it freely. That is change fatigue.
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Planning Takes Center Stage as Power Markets Hold Steady
Apr 2400:23:34Tap to summarizeAcross North American wholesale power markets, the dominant near-term theme this week was operational normalcy, alongside increasingly consequential medium-term planning and policy work. Western conditions remained comparatively soft, with CAISO and the broader WEIM footprint continuing to publish routine daily market and renewable reports while focusing stakeholder attention on EDAM launch readiness, onboarding, summer preparedness, and transmission and intertie processes. SPP’s western expansion continued to shift the regional conversation toward seam coordination and governance follow-through, while Markets+ remained centered on market design and stakeholder committee activity rather than near-term operating events. In Alberta and Ontario, the immediate market signal was similarly calm, but both AESO and IESO advanced tariff, transmission, and procurement frameworks intended to accommodate future load growth and system change.
Transcribe →Transmission Planning, Competition, and Who Gets to Build the Grid
Apr 2400:22:28Tap to summarizeThe U.S. power business knows how to talk about the need for more transmission. That part is not hard. Demand is rising, generation is shifting, data center developers want service quickly, and reserve margins are tightening in more than one region. The harder part is deciding how to plan the next wave of grid projects, how to pay for them, and who should be allowed to build them. That is where the real leadership test lies right now.
Transcribe →When a Flat Organization Goes Too Far
Apr 2200:21:47Tap to summarizeFor years, companies have treated flatter structures as a sign of progress. Fewer layers. Faster decisions. Less bureaucracy. Lower costs. On paper, that sounds sensible. In the real world, it often creates a quieter problem. Work gets pushed onto fewer managers, the number of direct reports climbs, and the people who are supposed to coach, correct, and coordinate the system lose the time to do it well. That is no longer a theory. Gallup’s recent work on span of control found that the average number of people reporting to managers rose from 10.9 in 2024 to 12.1 in 2025, nearly 50% above the level Gallup measured in 2013. At the same time, Gallup’s 2026 workplace data showed manager engagement dropping sharply, and its separate leadership research found that leaders often report stronger overall life evaluations while also experiencing greater day-to-day emotional strain. That combination should get the attention of any executive team. It means the manager layer can still look functional from a distance while getting weaker at the exact work only managers can do.
Transcribe →Soft Prices in the West, Load Growth in Focus Elsewhere
Apr 1700:20:40Tap to summarizeWestern markets were generally soft over the week, as mild weather, strong renewable output, and robust hydro conditions suppressed real-time pricing in California and Texas, keeping broader western balancing conditions manageable. Reuters reported negative spot power in California and Texas early in the week, while CAISO continued final implementation work for the May 1 EDAM launch and advanced WEIM readiness activity for new participation. SPP’s western expansion, completed on April 1, remained the major structural development in the West, reinforcing operational diversity and the importance of seam coordination as Markets+ design work continued. In the central and eastern markets, pricing appeared more mixed but generally orderly, with no evidence in the reviewed sources of broad reliability stress comparable to that seen during winter conditions. The week’s most consequential developments were policy- and planning-related: ERCOT filed a preliminary long-term load forecast indicating very large load growth; MISO focused on outage-scheduling reforms tied to resource adequacy risk; PJM remained focused on large-load integration, interconnection reform, and FERC scrutiny of co-located load rules; ISO-NE discussed changes to restrain day-ahead ancillary service costs; and NYISO, AESO, and IESO continued advancing transmission, market design, and procurement work tied to long-run electrification and load growth.
Transcribe →Utility Leadership: When Every Dollar Shows Up on the Bill
Apr 1700:20:21Tap to summarizeFor a long time, utility leaders could rely on a simple story. Demand would grow slowly, capital plans would move through the usual channels, and rate cases would be tough but manageable. That is no longer the story. This past week made that plain. Utility Dive reported that investor-owned utilities plan to spend about $1.4 trillion through 2030, up roughly 21% from last year’s five-year plans. At the same time, Reuters reported Duke Energy’s request to recover more than $800 million in winter fuel and purchased-power costs in North Carolina. Put those two facts together, and the problem comes into focus. Utilities need to build. Customers are already tired of hearing why the next bill has to be higher. Middle managers and senior leaders are caught in the middle of that tension, and how they handle it will shape the industry’s standing with regulators, boards, and the public.
Transcribe →Workplace Trust is a Management Issue, not a Culture Slogan
Apr 1500:21:35Tap to summarizeTrust is often discussed as if it belongs in a values statement, a town hall, or a culture slide deck. In practice, it sits much closer to the daily mechanics of management. It shapes how quickly decisions move, how openly people speak, how much checking and rechecking a team needs, and whether employees believe what leaders say, whether the news is good or bad.
Transcribe →Spring Shoulder Markets and Western Transition Activity
Apr 1000:20:46Tap to summarizeNorth American wholesale electricity markets moved through a spring shoulder week, with public disclosures pointing more to implementation work, scheduled meetings, settlement readiness, and refinement of transmission or interconnection processes than to broad reliability stress. In the West, California ISO continued to advance policy prioritization, interconnection-rights retention, and EDAM and DAME settlement readiness, while SPP’s western-facing calendar showed immediate post-expansion follow-through in both core RTO governance and Markets+ user forums. ERCOT’s public notices similarly reflected a system operating without a major headline emergency, yet still managing the practical demands of maintenance windows, market-system availability, and routine qualification activity. Across much of the footprint, that combination is typical of an orderly shoulder-season interval: fewer weather-driven extremes, but no reduction in the volume of market-design and readiness work that will shape the second half of 2026.
Transcribe →OT Cybersecurity Leadership in Power Utilities
Apr 1000:22:45Tap to summarizeFor years, utility leaders have treated cyber risk as a standing condition of the business. It sat on board agendas, in compliance binders, and in tabletop exercises. This week, it moved closer to the control room. On April 7, federal agencies warned that Iran-affiliated actors were actively exploiting internet-facing programmable logic controllers across U.S. critical infrastructure, including the energy sector. On April 8, NERC said it was actively monitoring the grid and had amplified the government advisory through the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center. That matters because PLCs are not office software. They sit close to physical operations.
Transcribe →Leadership Accountability: the Management Issue That Won’t Wait
Apr 800:20:57Tap to summarizeThere is a reason accountability has become a central topic in leadership discussions. Recently, the chatter about managers has been filled with familiar issues: slow decision-making, inconsistent follow-through, unclear priorities, burnout, and teams that are busy yet not accomplishing much that truly matters. Beneath the surface of slogans, most of these problems trace back to one simple issue: people are often unclear about what good work looks like, who owns which results, when a decision is final, or what happens when commitments are broken. That is an accountability issue.
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