CEDMC Spring Symposium

Practical approaches that can be taken to more effectively deploy efficiency and demand management resources needed to combat climate change

The Council’s 2026 Spring Symposium:

• Date: Thursday, May 7, 2026
• Location: Norma Hertzog Community Center, 1845 Park Ave, Costa Mesa, CA 92627 (in-person only, no Zoom)
• Symposium: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
• Registration opens at 8:00 am
• Networking Reception: 5:00 - 6:30 pm
• Website: https://cedmc.org/events/spring-symposium/

The Spring Symposium is the Council’s one-day professional conference, focused on practical approaches that can be taken to more effectively deploy efficiency and demand management resources to achieve California’s clean energy and decarbonization goals. Topics include a combination of technical and policy issues.

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Agenda

Click on speaker name to see their bio!

Session 1: Examining the EE Business Plans for 2028-2035

With utilities consistently underspending budgets since the shift to 60% — yet still meeting or exceeding TSB goals — a critical question emerges: is the value of energy efficiency declining, or are we simply getting smarter? Hear directly from IOUs, CCAs, and RENs as they present their Business Plans and explain their investment strategies for 2028–2035. This session will surface the debate head-on, while grounding the conversation in EE's essential role in addressing rising electricity costs and accelerating load growth.

• Shelby Bush, Programs Manager - Advancing Energy Efficiency, Grid Resilience & Decarbonization, Peninsula Clean Energy
• Darren Hanway, Manager of Energy Programs and Strategy, SoCalGas
• Erica Keating, Principal Manager of Energy Efficiency Portfolio & Solicitations, Southern California Edison
• Lujuana Medina, SoCalREN and Division Manager, County of Los Angeles - ISD Environmental Initiatives Division
• Moderator: Ericka Flores, Clean Energy & Equity Advocate, Climate & Energy, NRDC

Networking Break

Session 2: Why is Electrification Not Cost Effective for the Customer (Yet)?

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. Current cost-effectiveness frameworks capture utility and societal benefits, but obscure what customers actually experience: escalating electricity rates and long-term commodity costs that never appear in program metrics. When a customer evaluates fuel switching, they're running a household budget projection that doesn't pencil out. Bill impacts are absent from cost-effectiveness tools, and this gap is a barrier hiding in plain sight.

This session examines what's being left out and makes the case for a more integrated approach. Energy efficiency directly reduces customer bills. 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. Getting this integration right is essential to closing the gap between program goals and customer reality.

• Lauren Bates, Associate Director, E Source
• Leah Catanzarite, Strategic Principal, Building Electrification, PG&E
• Ely Jacobsohn, Public Utilities Regulatory Analyst V, CPUC
• Ram Narayanamurthy, Manager, Existing Buildings, California Energy Commission
• John Whitchurch, Director of California Programs, Cascade Energy LLC
• Moderator: Beckie Menten, California Director, Building Decarbonization Coalition (BDC)

Lunch Break

Session 3: Accelerating Transportation Electrification in California: Lowering Fuel Costs While Protecting Affordability

California must move faster on transportation electrification to reduce exposure to volatile gasoline prices, meet climate goals, and lower household and fleet transportation costs. At the same time, rising electric rates and grid investment needs underscore the importance of scaling electrification in ways that protect affordability.

This session highlights 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, and 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.

Panelists will explore how targeted transportation electrification, including managed residential charging, multifamily solutions, fleets, and public facilities, can lower total cost of ownership for vehicles and buildings, reduce energy burden, and support faster, more affordable electrification across Southern California.

• Aaron Dyer, Senior Manager, Southern California Edison
• Hilary Polis, Director, Transportation Electrification Research and Strategy, E Source
• Sage Stone, Program Manager, Transportation Electrification, Clean Power Alliance
• Vincent Weyl, Vehicle-Grid Integration Principal, California Energy Commission
• Moderator: Sam Pournazeri, Vice President, Transportation & Energy, ICF

Session 4: Transformative Community-scale Energy Solutions
California's energy transition requires more than technology; it demands strategies that prioritize investing in community engagement, strengthening capacity, and building lasting trust. This session draws on real-world results from Advanced Energy Communities funded through CEC's EPIC grant program to explore what it takes to drive meaningful adoption of local clean energy and electrification at the building and community level. Panelists will share 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. Central to these success stories: wraparound outreach that builds genuine trust, and a long-term commitment that turns early buy-in into project pipelines and the aggregation needed to improve economics and delivery. This panel offers concrete lessons for program administrators, implementers, and policymakers working to scale community-scale clean energy from pilot to program.

• Genaro Bugarin, Director of Energy Innovation, The Energy Coalition (BAAEC)
• Neil Moffatt, Serious Controls
• Therese Peffer, Associate Director, California Institute for Energy & Environment (CIEE)
• Moderator: Wade Stano, Senior Policy Counsel, MCE

Afternoon Networking Break

Session 5: Getting it Right: Opportunities for Load Growth to be a Grid Resource
As new demand from data centers and electrification accelerates, utilities and program administrators are under increasing pressure to address affordability and reliability concerns driven by this new load growth. Data center energy use alone is expected to grow to 10% of California’s load over the next decade. Combined with other sources of significant load growth like transportation electrification, utilities and program administrators are under increasing pressure to ensure new load supports—rather than strains—the grid.

This panel will explore 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. Speakers will share 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, this session will highlight what it takes to make load growth from data centers and electrification work for the grid—not just in theory, but in practice.

• Thomas Folker, Chief Strategy Officer, Leap
• Wannie Park, CEO, Pado
• Moderator: McGee Young, Founder & CEO, WattCarbon

Closing Remarks

• Chris Burmester, Chief Strategy Officer, Energy Solutions and CEDMC Board Chair

Networking Reception - Appetizers, beer, and wine served.

*Speakers are still being added, see the website for all the details: cedmc.org/events/spring-symposium

Ticket Pricing:

• CEDMC Member $495
• Non-Member $595
• IOU, POU, REN, CCA, Non-Profit - $295
• Government, Student, Academic - $95

In-person only, no online viewing option.

CEDMC Sustaining Members receive two complimentary tickets. For your discount code or to learn how to be come a Sustaining member, email admin@cedmc.org.

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Lodging

For lodging, we recommend the Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa. We do not have a discount code to book a room. NOTE: It is a 13-minute drive away from the NHCC.