National Meetings

Leveraging existing infrastructure is critical in today's economy.  Utilities have an existing ultra-reliable network that is in high demand from outside partners.  They key lies in how to market this infrastructure and maintain a profitable partnership the benefits all interested parties.  The Utilities Wireless Collocation Summit 2010 is the third Annual Conference for the UtiliSite Council.  Members of the UtiliSite Council are utilities that offers a wide variety of support services for commercial wireless carriers including antenna sitings, traffic backhaul and construction.  The Summit is a great way for attendees to learn to leverage their infrastructure and make this business model work for your utility.  It's also a great chance to share best practices on how utilities are working with wireless carriers across the United States. We encourage everyone involved in the collocation business or considering expanding their non-rate revenue to include collocation opportunities to join us at this yearly meeting.

Major policies initiatives are being considered in federal and state, legislative and regulatory bodies that will have sweeping impact on America’s economy and its citizens. These policies involve energy, telecommunications, the environment, the Nation’s economy, and more. However, in many important aspects, the benefits of a more coordinated approach to the development of these policies as they all impact smart grids has not been fully explored. Discussion of the interrelationship of these diverse policies is essential to ensure that smart grids can not only fulfill their promises and goals, but do it in a manner that provides the most benefits to consumers and at the least cost. Policymakers from widely varying parts of federal and state governments must now act in concert with consumer, labor, and business organizations in ways never fully realized before.  The UTC Smart Grid Policy Summit is an effort to bring all these policymaking communities together to collaboratively examine the key issues of the day in a way that has never been attempted before.

The essential questions to be addressed in this Summit –

• Legislative And Regulatory Policy Initiatives – What Should We Expect?
• Balancing Multiple Policy Initiatives – Can We Get It Right?
• Smart Grids and Broadband – Can They Be Mutually Supportive?
• Comprehensive Spectrum Policies – What is Necessary for Smart Grids?
• The Standards Making Process – Can It Fulfill Its Goal?
• Cyber Security and Consumer Privacy – What’s Really Needed?
• Smart Grid Benefits – Maximize The Benefits For Everyone Or Just A Few?
• Smart Grid Policies – Challenges For Tomorrow?

The Utilities Telecom Council is proud to be the sponsor of this first annual UTC Smart Grid Policy Summit, designed to be a forum where all policy-making communities impacting the future of the smart grid can come together and engage in a serious dialogue about their top priorities and top policy goals for the year ahead. America’s policymakers are facing a dizzying array of choices as they strive to ensure that tomorrow’s energy utilities create and use smart grids in ways that achieve incredibly important policy goals for this country of -

• Reducing Greenhouse Gases by enabling more renewable and energy storage technologies,
• Increasing energy efficiency by providing consumers with new information and tools,
• Increasing security, reliability, and restoration capabilities for the energy grid,
• Stabilizing rates thru consumer options that help avoid or defer major energy investments, and
• Increasing energy independence by supporting electric vehicle technology.

There is much to be debated, but there is great opportunity for common ground. The UTC Smart Grid Policy Summit will be a great success if we are able find points of agreement that we can move forward on together; and focus on issues for which genuine debate is warranted.