Podcasts about utilities

What's up, everyone! Today we're sharing an episode with Joseph Vellone, the CEO of ChargeScape — a Joint Venture between Ford, Honda, BMW, and Nissan. -----Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Pocket Casts-----As the grid continues to buckle under the pressure of ever-increasing demand, it's more important than ever to find ways to manage the existing load. However, it's not all bad. One of the main demand drivers might be the core solution to these demand problems—namely, EVs, when paired with smart charging software. You see, all these EVs are essentially backup batteries. Currently, not all are equipped with bi-directional charging, but most new vehicles hitting the roads are. So, not only can a smart charging software, managed by utilities, alleviate demand on the grid, it can also pull energy from the vehicles when the time is right (again, when the hardware capabilities are present). -----Support our Work with a Paid Subscription-----This fundamentally shifts our perspective on vehicles. Instead of a cost center, it could earn you money by purchasing cheap energy, or charging on solar for free, and selling back to the grid at peak demand times. This is the type of utopian future we work towards — and the best part, it's becoming reality in front of us. Topics **01:35 Revolutionizing EV Charging**05:21 Joseph Vellone's Journey in Renewable Energy**07:47 The Unique Opportunity at ChargeScape**12:00 Transforming the EV Charging Experience**13:30 Make Money w/ Smart Charging**18:04 The Future of EVs + Renewable Energy**20:03 Building a High-Performance Team**23:10 Managing Startup Intensity Without Burnout**25:58 How to Successfully Sell to Utilities**28:50 The Benefits of Having Automakers as Strategic Investors**31:17 The Role of AI in ChargeScape's Strategy**33:44 Understanding EV Industry Backlash**37:59 Resilience of EV Charging Amid Political PushbackLinks**Joseph Vellone | ChargeScape**Connect with Somil on LinkedIn | Support the showIf you're gonna change the world, you're gonna need a world-class team. Partner with ErthTech Talent to help you do that, for less. 70+ Placements 5+ Years (exclusively in CleanTech) The Lowest Fees in the Market (12-15% of first-year salary) 90-day placement guarantee It's really hard to say no to that. Wait?! -- The best service is also the cheapest? Seems too good to be true, but it's the entire reason we started this company. We believe that Climate entrepreneurs are doing important work, and there should be a firm to help them find the best talent, without it breaking the bank. Reach out today for a free assessment of your hiring process. hello@erthtechtalent.com

Even before tariffs and higher interest rates pressured the economy, housing starts were lagging in Ontario's bigger population centres. A look at the obstacles to construction and affordability – including higher fees, taxes and even NIMBYism – with a panel of pros who know what the holdups are. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The ongoing energy transition has fundamentally changed the utilities industry. Fixed income investment analyst Barbora Matouskova looks at the shifting backdrop for European utilities and potential opportunities for bond investors. #CapGroupGlobal     For full disclosures go to capitalgroup.com/global-disclosures    For our latest insights, practice management ideas and more, subscribe to Capital Ideas at getcapitalideas.com. If you're based outside of the U.S., visit capitalgroup.com for Capital Group insights.  Watch our latest podcast, Conversations with Mike Gitlin, on YouTube: https://bit.ly/CG-Gitlin-playlist  This content is published by Capital Client Group, Inc.   U.K. investors can view a glossary of technical terms here: https://bit.ly/49rdcFq  To stay informed, follow us  LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/42uSYbm  YouTube: https://bit.ly/4bahmD0  Follow Mike Gitlin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikegitlin/  About Capital Group  Capital Group was established in 1931 in Los Angeles, California, with the mission to improve people's lives through successful investing. With our clients at the core of everything we do, we offer carefully researched products and services to help them achieve their financial goals.  Learn more: capitalgroup.com  Join us: capitalgroup.com/about-us/careers.html  Copyright ©2025 Capital Group 

Think rent is the only way to generate income from real estate? Think again. In this episode of REady2Scale, Jeannette Friedrich from Blue Lake Capital breaks down five practical, underutilized strategies that multifamily operators can deploy to unlock hidden revenue potential from their properties. Whether you're an operator, asset manager, or investor, this episode will help you rethink how to fully monetize your assets. Key Takeaways: - Revenue-Sharing Utilities & Internet: How bulk service contracts can offer tenants savings while generating consistent income for operators. - Peer-to-Peer Storage Rentals: Monetize underutilized parking spots, garages, or storage areas using platforms like Neighbor.com. - Content Creation Rentals: Rent model units or clubhouses as staged environments to creators via platforms like Peerspace. - Rooftop Access Leasing: Use rooftops as drone launchpads or filming locations through apps like Giggster to add nonintrusive revenue. - Amenity Repurposing for Leagues: Convert tennis courts to pickleball or open fields to small soccer pitches and lease to local clubs. Learn how small adjustments to your property strategy can deliver outsized returns — no major renovations required. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction to Real Estate Opportunities 00:58 Creative Revenue Streams: Low Hanging Fruit 01:23 Revenue Sharing for Utilities and Internet 02:15 Monetizing Unused Spaces 02:58 Leveraging Clubhouses and Rooftops 03:46 Repurposing Sports Facilities Are you REady2Scale Your Multifamily Investments? Learn more about growing your wealth, strengthening your portfolio, and scaling to the next level at www.bluelake-capital.com. Credits Producer: Blue Lake Capital Strategist: Syed Mahmood Editor: Emma Walker Opening music: Pomplamoose *

Ahmed Riesgo argues that the Saudis are “purposefully flooding the market” with oil to aid the Trump administration by driving down the price of oil and pressure Iran and Russia. He thinks Moody's downgrades of U.S. credit is “15 years late to the party.” The U.S. “doesn't deserve a triple-A rating,” he adds, with no sign of the country curbing its spending anytime soon. He expects the Mag 7 to “evolve into” utilities and defensive plays, rather than growth names.======== Schwab Network ========Empowering every investor and trader, every market day.Subscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribeDownload the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watchWatch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-exploreWatch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/Follow us on X – / schwabnetwork Follow us on Facebook – / schwabnetwork Follow us on LinkedIn - / schwab-network About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about

Do you know how much energy you're really using when you're generating those cute videos and photos on AI platforms like ChatGPT, Copilot or Gemini? It's likely a lot more than you think. With so many people utilizing these platforms, entering all kinds of prompts, it's very quickly starting to put stress on our power grid. Matthew Carrara of Doble Engineering in Marlborough talks with Nichole about what's really happening behind the scenes, and what needs to be done to ensure our infrastructure is able to keep up.

Lot Prep Masterclass: Essential Steps to Prepare Your Land for a Custom Home | Episode 29In this first episode of our special 7-part series expanding on our most popular episode (Ep. 22), hosts Steven Byrnes & Mike Byrnes take an in-depth look at Lot Preparation, the critical first step in the custom home building process.You'll learn about:Land Surveying & Boundary Identification: Why surveying your lot is crucial.Tree Clearing & Site Preparation: Key considerations for effectively clearing your land.Scraping the House Pad: Proper techniques to establish a solid foundation.Excavation & Basements: Important excavation insights, including considerations for basement builds.Drainage & Topography Management: Ensuring proper water runoff and land grading.Utilities & Setbacks: Understanding utility placements and building setback requirements.Whether you're planning your dream custom home or just getting started, this episode will equip you with essential knowledge to avoid costly pitfalls.Subscribe and visit buildingwithbreven.com for more resources, and follow us on Instagram @brevenhomes for additional custom home insights.

Episode 472: The USA Industrial Technology growth narrative is evident by the fact that year-to-date the S&P 500 top performing sectors are Utilities and Industrials. Also, don't despair about the 20 Year Treasury Bond negative Media narrative … it's so insignificant it was discontinued for nearly 40 years. Sign up for free ALERTs & Market Commentary at:  https://www.investablewealth.com/subscribe/ ------------------------------------------------------

On episode 125 of the Squeaky Clean Energy Podcast, we speak with Tim Echols, a commissioner at the Georgia Public Service Commission. We discussed topics like load growth and data centers, new electricity generation, including the Vogtle Nuclear plant, and the role that clean energy plays in meeting new electricity demand in the state.   Presented by NC Sustainable Energy Association. Hosted by Matt Abele (Twitter: @MattAbele). Edited by Yash Mistry. Be sure to follow us on Instagram at @nccleanenergy.

Market sectors can tell you a lot about what's happening in the real economy, and where money is being spent: This reflects into earnings. Investors also tend to invest in areas that are doing very well vs those that aren't. Money chasing money tends to give an indication of concerns in the economy. So what are sectors that are economically-sensitive say? Basic Materials: Money flows are coming in, which would not be the case were there concerns about the health of the economy. The Communications sector has seen a lot of recovery, particularly since the sell-off. Cap-ex for the Mag-7 companies are at all-time highs, specifically in AI-related areas. (News Flash: AI is not dead.) Utilities, which are sensitive to interest rates, have had a very sharp rise, reflecting the anticipated higher need for energy generation demands from AI. Another interest rate-sensitive area is Real Estate, which has been improving, but remains under pressure. Transportation and Energy have been improving, as well;  Hosted by RIA Chief Investment Strategist, Lance Roberts, CIO  Produced by Brent Clanton, Executive Producer ------- Watch the video version of this podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsVVT2IzJuo&list=PLwNgo56zE4RAbkqxgdj-8GOvjZTp9_Zlz&index=1 ------- Get more info & commentary:  https://realinvestmentadvice.com/insights/real-investment-daily/ ------- Register for our next in-person event, "Retirement Income Empowerment Workshop," June 14, 2025: https://tracking.realinvestmentadvice.com/l/1052953/2025-05-08/ysxr ------- Visit our Site: https://www.realinvestmentadvice.com Contact Us: 1-855-RIA-PLAN -------- Subscribe to SimpleVisor: https://www.simplevisor.com/register-new -------- Connect with us on social: https://twitter.com/RealInvAdvice https://twitter.com/LanceRoberts https://www.facebook.com/RealInvestmentAdvice/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/realinvestmentadvice/ #MarketSectors #Economy #EconomicCommentary #BasicMaterials #Communications #Utilities #Transportation #Energy #AI #RealEstate #MarketRally #MarketPullback #BuyTheDip #InvestorPatience #RaiseCash #MarketConsolidation #20DMA #50DMA #100DMA #200DMA #InvestingAdvice #Money #Investing

In this episode of the Pipeliners Podcast, host Russel Treat is joined by Laura Ade, Scott Craig, and Andy Donato - chairs of the Gas Control Committee - during the 2025 AGA Operations Conference in Aurora, Colorado.  Visit PipelinePodcastNetwork.com for a full episode transcript, as well as detailed show notes with relevant links and insider term definitions. 

In this episode, Levi Gobin demonstrates how to prepare your Mac for beta testing by creating a second volume on your Mac's internal disk to install and run beta versions of the operating system. This way, you can run the beta when you want, but continue to use your Mac with the current shipping version of macOS. To create a volume to install macOS betas on:Open Disk Utility (located in the Utilities folder).Select your startup disk (usually called Macintosh HD) in the table, and choose “Add APFS volume” from the context menu (accessed by pressing VO-Shift-M).Name the volume (it can be any name) and if you want to specify a minimum and maximum amount of storage space for it, click size options, define your parameters, and click OK. Otherwise, click Add to create the volume, which will share space with your startup disk.Once the volume has been created, download the current shipping version of macOS from the App Store, and follow the onscreen instructions to install it, a process that is demonstrated in the episode. At the point where the installer confirms that macOS will be installed on your current startup disk, click show all disks, and select your newly created volume. Once the installation completes, your new copy of macOS will start as if the Mac was new from the factory; follow the onscreen instructions in the Setup Assistant, a process that is also demonstrated.To obtain a macOS beta, if you haven't already, sign up for either the developer or public beta program. Once you've signed up, an option will appear in System Settings > General > Software update to install updates from that channel. Once a beta is seeded, you should be able to install it like any other update.To switch between the two volumes, you can either go to System Settings > General > Startup disk to select a default volume that the Mac will start from each time it is restarted or turned on, or select a different volume as your Mac starts. To do this, shut your Mac down, press and hold the Power button until the startup options dialog appears, interact with the volume you want to start up from, and click Continue.If you no longer want to run the beta on your Mac, you can remove the volume by starting up from your primary volume, opening Disk Utility, selecting your secondary volume in the table, and choosing “Delete APFS volume” from the context menu (accessed by pressing VO-Shift-M).TranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated by AI Note Taker – VoicePen, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers' names, voices, or content.Levi: Hello, everyone. In today's recording, I'm going to show you how to dual boot macOS. This might be useful for when you want to beta test a new version, such as macOS 16, which is coming out here in June 2025. I'm going to show you how to dual boot macOS and how you can test the new beta without messing up your current operating system. So first, what we need to do is create an APFS volume.Levi: And the way we do that is by going to Disk Utility. Disk Utility is located in your Applications folder, then under Utilities, Disk Utility. But an…

“Henssler Money Talks” hosts Nick Antonucci, CVA, CEPA, K.C. Smith, CFP®, CEPA, and D.J. Barker, CWS®, consider how artificial intelligence is transforming industries—and if the electric utility sector is next? As data centers power the future, utilities may see rising demand and revenue. But is this a strategic move or just market timing in disguise?Original Air Date: May 17, 2025Read the Article: https://www.henssler.com/electric-utilities-and-ai-strategic-opportunity-or-market-timing 

 We kick off with the latest developments in U.S.–China trade talks. The government just cut tariffs by 115%, effectively returning us to the original 30% rate where this economic game of chicken began. Is this The Art of the Deal in action—persistence, bluffing, and pushing boundaries to secure favorable “deals”? Next, AMC is trying to lure movie buffs back to theaters with half-price tickets on Wednesdays—just in time for the summer blockbuster season. We dive into the state of the cinema industry, how box office performance stacks up against broader consumer spending trends, and whether COVID has permanently changed how we watch movies. After the break, we explore the question: Does the energy demand of AI make electric utilities a potential investment play? One investor wonders if AI is a boon for individual electric companies—or if the better move is gaining exposure through a sector fund or ETF. Circling back to Trump-style deals, we examine what Republicans are proposing for the 2025 tax package—including a tax exemption for tipped income, an income tax carve-out for overtime pay, and a potential increase in the SALT deduction. To wrap up, we tackle the persistent lack of transparency in medical billing—particularly timely as UnitedHealth Group faces a federal investigation into Medicare fraud. Join hosts Nick Antonucci, CVA, CEPA, Director of Research, and Managing Associates K.C. Smith, CFP®, CEPA, and D.J. Barker, CWS®, and Kelly-Lynne Scalice, a seasoned communicator and host, on Henssler Money Talks as they explore key financial strategies to help investors navigate market uncertainty. Henssler Money Talks — May 17, 2025  |  Season 39, Episode 20 Timestamps and Chapters 5:49: Art of the Trade Deal 15:58: AMC's Curtain Call 32:35: AI's Power Play 39:13: Tax Free Tips 45:53: The Cost of Care Follow Henssler:  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HensslerFinancial/ YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/HensslerFinancial LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/henssler-financial/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hensslerfinancial/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@hensslerfinancial?lang=en X: https://www.x.com/hensslergroup  “Henssler Money Talks” is brought to you by Henssler Financial. Sign up for the Money Talks Newsletter: https://www.henssler.com/newsletters/ 

Wall Street recorded another mixed day in a choppy session as US data came in weaker than expected. US producer prices unexpectedly dropped and retail sales were mixed. S&P 500 up 0.41%, NASDAQ down 0.18%. Dow up. Dropped at open but steadily rose throughout day. Ended near high, up 272 points. Mostly positive sector performance. Growth sectors returned some recent gains. Tech slightly down, Cyclicals down. Amazon (-2.4%) and Tesla (-1.4%) dragged Cyclicals down. Tesla impacted by news Musk took leased cars back to sell after saying they were taken back to become robotaxis. All other sectors up. Rate-sensitive sectors best performing. Weak data caused yields to fall, boosted REITS and Utilities. Non-Cyclicals also did well despite Walmart (-0.5%) warning of price hikes following Trump's tariffs. Healthcare also up following recent struggles as Trump demands costs consumers' face are lowered. UAE to build biggest AI campus outside of US. Priced into Big Chips in the days prior. UnitedHealth dropped 10.9% as DoJ began criminal probe into potential Medicare fraud. Down 28.9% last 5 days, down 53.0% in last month. Meta down 2.3% as it delayed release of flagship AI model due to capability concerns. Resources down. Oil down after Trump claimed US close to Iran nuclear deal. OPEC+ hike also to increase supply faster than expected according to IEA. Base metals down. Fears of longer-term US-China trade. Iron ore still near 5 week high. Zinc, Aluminium, Nickel all down.ASX to rise. SPI futures up 80 points (+0.96%). Gold up 2% Oil down. Want to invest with Marcus Today? The Managed Strategy Portfolio is designed for investors seeking exposure to our strategy while we do the hard work for you. If you're looking for personal financial advice, our friends at Clime Investment Management can help. Their team of licensed advisers operates across most states, offering tailored financial planning services.  Why not sign up for a free trial? Gain access to expert insights, research, and analysis to become a better investor.

Tell us what you think of the show! Utilities are doing all they can to accommodate large load customers like AI data centers, but some worry those efforts come at a cost to other customers. On this episode of the Factor This podcast, West Monroe Partner Sam Uyeno explains how the proliferation of data centers could actually lower electricity prices. In a far-reaching discussion, Uyeno and host Paul Gerke touch on demand flexibility, the potential benefits of AI in grid planning, and the complexities of co-location and supply chain issues. Uyeno also previews his participation in the upcoming DTECH Data Centers & AI event in San Jose, California.

For our latest Uncrewed Views Conversations podcast, Commercial UAV News Editorial Director Jeremiah Karpowicz talks with Xplorate CEO and Founder Ronnie Fahy. They discuss the overall impact drones have had on the aviation industry, as well as the use of drones in offshore operations and utilities inspections, the impact of regulations on uncrewed operations, and AI's role in the future of UAV-based commercial work.

The Taoiseach Micheál Martin today described two large-scale data centre facilities being developed by Echelon Data Centres in Co Wicklow as "the model for future data centre development in Ireland". Speaking in Arklow at the official launch of Echelon Data Centres' DUB20 and DUB30 facilities, the Taoiseach provided strong support for the data centre sector and the economic value it delivers for Ireland. Mr Martin said: "These two large-scale facilities demonstrate Echelon's commitment to responsible data centre development. They are located in a regional area where the grid isn't constrained, they will have the capacity to generate and dispatch power to the grid when needed, and they will facilitate the generation of renewable energy resources that will, in turn, help decarbonise Ireland's electricity system. "They are the model for future data centre development in Ireland - and they will deliver jobs and economic benefits for Wicklow, and will encourage further foreign direct investment in Ireland. CEO of IDA Ireland, Michael Lohan added: "Driving sustainable change sits at the very heart of IDA Ireland's Adapt Intelligently: A Strategy for Sustainable Growth and Innovation 2025-29. Indeed, our client companies are instrumental in shaping a green and digital global economy. Echelon's commitment to operating its facilities sustainably, responsibly, and with due regard for the environment is commendable. I wish the team continued success." Echelon will invest an estimated €3.5bn to develop the DUB20 & DUB30 sites, creating around 2,600 jobs during construction and 715 permanent positions at the two facilities once they are operational. However, an Economic Impact Assessment report prepared for Echelon by KPMG has calculated that the potential economic output of the DUB20 and DUB30 sites could be as much as €7.5bn during the construction phase, and €801m per year once both campuses are operational. The Economic Impact Assessment states that the potential economic output of the DUB20 and DUB30 sites could be as much as €7.5bn during the construction phase, and €801m per year once both campuses are operational. The report found that every €1 Echelon invests in the DUB20 and DUB30 sites could yield a return of €1.60 due to additional economic activity through supply chains and employee spending across construction and operational phases. It also found that for every 10 jobs created during construction, up to nine additional jobs will be supported elsewhere in the economy, while every 10 direct operational roles could sustain a further 16 jobs. Echelon Chief Operations Officer, Graeme McWilliams said: "Echelon's sites in Wicklow will generate broad-based economic value with measurable impact across the Irish economy that goes far beyond our initial investment. They represent responsible data centre development which supports regional development and job creation in partnership with good grid citizenship. "The energy demands of DUB20 and DUB30 will underpin investment in almost 1GW of wind-generated renewable energy, power that will help reinforce the national grid, increase Ireland's energy security, and support our transition from fossil fuels to clean, green energy sources." Echelon's DUB20 campus is being developed on the site of the former Irish Fertilisers Industries plant at the Avoca River Business Park in Arklow. DUB30 is being developed some 5km away at Kish Business Park. Last year, DUB20 became the first large-scale data centre in Ireland to receive a grid connection from EirGrid for more than four years. This reflects the fact that the site meets Commission for the Regulation of Utilities' (CRU) 2021 criteria for data centre connections. The grid connection will allow Echelon to begin work on a 220kV substation at the site that will allow access to the grid for up to 800MW of wind energy generated off the coast of Wicklow in the future. Echelon is also investing in solar, battery energy storage systems, and renewabl...

Canada's energy conversation grows louder every day. But before we can address the national goals or even energy independence, we need to look at our local utilities and energy systems to understand their capabilities. Host Trevor Freeman walks through how the energy conversation needs to start locally, how to future-proof energy systems, and what the hardworking crews do to build and maintain these systems. Listen to episode 156 of thinkenergy.   Related links   Trevor Freeman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevor-freeman-p-eng-8b612114 Hydro Ottawa: https://hydroottawa.com/en     To subscribe using Apple Podcasts:  https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/thinkenergy/id1465129405   To subscribe using Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7wFz7rdR8Gq3f2WOafjxpl   To subscribe on Libsyn: http://thinkenergy.libsyn.com/ --- Subscribe so you don't miss a video: https://www.youtube.com/user/hydroottawalimited   Follow along on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hydroottawa   Stay in the know on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HydroOttawa   Keep up with the posts on X: https://twitter.com/thinkenergypod   Transcript: Transcript: Trevor Freeman  00:07 Welcome to a thinkenergy short hosted by me, Trevor Freeman. This is a bite sized episode designed to be a quick summary of a specific topic or idea related to the world of energy. This is meant to round out our collective understanding of the energy sector, and will compliment our normal guest interview episodes. Thanks for joining and happy listening.  Hi everyone. Welcome back to another thinkenergy short. I'm your host, Trevor Freeman. I'm recording this the day after our federal election here in Canada, and energy, as it so often does, did come up on the campaign trail. There was talk about the transfer of energy from province to province, including a west, east pipeline and a national interconnected electricity grid, which we've talked about a little bit here on the show before, improving the way that we move electricity from province to province, not just sort of north to south, between us and the United States, there was also talk about specific strategies on how to address climate targets, albeit not very much talk about that. Nor was there a lot of talk about how to foster the energy transition, although it did pop up from time to time, especially if you're an energy nerd like me and went looking for it. The point is whether it was front and center in election ads or not. There are some big decisions to be made regarding energy in the coming years, and those big decisions will undoubtedly lead, one way or another, to some big energy projects. But that is not what we're going to talk about today. We're actually going to zoom in a little bit and talk about the work that goes on a little bit closer to home that is critical to making the entire system work for the end user. You the customer, me the customer, including those big energy projects, and that is the work that is done to build and maintain our local distribution grid.  So the poles and the wires and the transformers that you see outside your home or outside your business that's actually bringing the power the final step, so that you can use it before we can talk about national energy independence, or these large goals that we have as a country. When it comes to energy, we need to make sure that the poles and wires and transformers in every city, every town and every neighborhood are ready, and that we're building the necessary infrastructure to meet that growing demand, and that is where your local utility comes in. We don't just maintain the system that we have, we prepare it for the future and make sure that we're laying the foundation that we need for tomorrow. Here in Ottawa, it is finally, finally spring, or at least it feels like it's finally spring outside, and that means that construction and outdoor work is starting to ramp up. So today I'd like to shed a little bit of light into what our crews do and your local utilities crews likely do to maintain and to build our system. When it comes to keeping our grid operating in tip top shape, nothing beats planned maintenance. This is the cornerstone of any electric utility strategy to deliver safe and reliable power, and this includes proactive measures like replacing aging equipment, trimming trees near power lines and performing essential upgrades. Such activities are vital in reducing the frequency and duration of unexpected outages and helping maintain that resilient power system that we all rely on. So let's go step by step. Utility poles, they are assessed regularly and replaced as needed. Utilities critical hydro pull program tests 1000s of pools annually to identify the ones that require maintenance and new pull installations also support great expansion to meet a city or a community's growing need new residential developments or new commercial developments. For example, next would be something like vegetation management. So this is another critical aspect. Regular tree trimming and removal near power lines can help prevent outages and safety hazards, especially during storms and high winds. Utilities like Hydro Ottawa, who I work for, employ satellite imaging technology to scan the grid, you know, at least twice a year, to identify high risk areas and potentially dead or dying trees, to allow for proactive maintenance, and that's in addition to the sort of visual inspection that happens as our crews are moving about our system, so all these different techniques that we use. It's like high tech arboriculture with Mission grid resilience. We are aiming to reduce the amount of tree contact with our system. If we go below our streets, we will see chambers connecting vast duct structures to our substations. So where you don't see overhead lines, that means those lines are buried running through duct work maintenance, hole upgrades and cable replacements are also part of a comprehensive maintenance strategy. These efforts are critical to keep our underground infrastructure safe and ensure that the structural integrity of our entire power system is able to accommodate our city's current and growing a. Electricity demands, we also have equipment like Transformers and switches and circuit breakers that are located both outside, overhead, underground, in substations and transformers, and they undergo routine inspections and replacements to prevent potential service disruptions. But it's not just maintaining what we've got, we also need to continue expanding to meet growing need we talk a lot on this show, as all you listeners know about the fact that our demand for electricity is growing, and it's growing at a pace that we really haven't seen before. So we need to make sure that we are building out our grid to be able to meet that demand. In order to do this Hydro Ottawa, for example, is embarking on one of the largest Grid Investment Programs in our entire history, and it's something that a lot of utilities in Ontario and across the country are looking at as they do their long term planning and forecasting. So as an example of just what the pace of change is here in Ottawa, traditionally, we would build a new substation every kind of five to seven years. And this is a major project. A substation is a big project. And so one every five to seven years has been the pace in our next five year period. So kind of between now and 2030 we are planning to energize a new substation every single year for the next five years, substations play a pivotal role in the power grid stepping down high voltage electricity that we get from transmission lines to lower voltages that are suitable for distribution to homes and businesses to our customers. So as an example, again, here in Ottawa, we have a substation that became fully operational in 2022 in Ottawa's southwest end, and that substation alone can power 32,000 homes annually. So substations are one of the major pieces of work that we are doing to build out our grid and provide for the growing electricity demands. And along with those substations come new distribution lines and more poles and wires and transformers and all of the associated equipment. Now, a lot of this work might sound routine, but it's not. It's strategic and forward looking and absolutely essential if we want to build a clean, flexible, reliable energy future here in Canada. So when utilities replace an old pull today, it's not just maintaining the status quo. It's laying the foundation for a National Clean grid tomorrow, it's supporting some of those large projects that we talked about at the very beginning of this episode. When utilities install a new conduit for easier cable upgrades, that conduit could be helping future generations of Canadians stay connected to renewable power. When utilities trim one branch at a time, they're protecting the integrity of an entire community's power system. Now behind these initiatives are a number of dedicated, capable, really smart folks that are working on these projects. Obviously, we've got our outdoor crew so power line technicians, our overhead and underground crews, our stations technicians, our forestry crews. These are the folks that are really out on the front line, that are maintaining and building our grid. You'll often see them out there by our trucks, or in orange, if you see them, keep your distance because they're working, but give them a thumbs up, or say hi. Wave at them and tell them they're doing a great job, because they always are. But then we also have some, let's call them back of house folks that are working on various aspects of our grids, and that's everything from our powerhouse technicians that are operating and monitoring the generators that are in our generating stations, and for Hydro Ottawa, that includes our Shoji air generating station in downtown Ottawa on the Ottawa River. We've got smart grid engineers that are focused on integrating renewable energy resources and modernizing the grid to make it more resilient and sustainable and to bring more data in from the grid to let us make better decisions. We've got system operators that really serve as a communications hub between the field workers and the control center, ensuring rapid response to outages and maintaining the integrity of our distribution system. If you haven't already listened to an episode I did almost a year ago now about grid modernization with with Jenna from Jenna Gillis from Hydro Ottawa. Have a listen to that, and you'll hear a little bit about what those system operators do. The collective efforts of all these folks and many others are really crucial to supporting both the local needs and our national energy objectives. So these big projects, again, to you know, to say that point again, those large projects don't happen without the day to day small projects happening as well. So there you have it. I hope you found that to be an interesting look into some of the essential work that your local municipal utility is doing, and how that connects to those larger, big energy policy decisions and projects. As always, really appreciate you tuning in and look forward to chatting with you next time. Take care. Thanks for tuning in to another episode of The thinkenergy podcast. Don't forget to subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts, and it would be great if you could leave us a review. It really helps to spread the word. As always, we would love to hear from you, whether it's feedback comments or an idea for a show or our guests, you can always reach us at thinkenergy@hydroottawa.com

The recent blackout in Spain and Portugal was a wake-up call. Why did it happen? What can prevent something like this from happening again? While there were multiple factors that led to the collapse of the grid, there are solutions, and here to talk about one such pathway forward is Peter Londa, CEO of Tantalus Systems Holdings. Tantalus is a tech company that helps utilities modernize their distribution grids by leveraging data across systems deployed along the grid to make for a smarter, more efficient delivery and use of electricity. As an aside, Tantalus is a publicly traded company and so please be aware that nothing that is said during the course of this discussion should be considered investment advice and please as always do your own due diligence.If you enjoyed this discussion of the threats and opportunities along the electricity grid, please share it far and wide and don't forget to like and subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen.Thanks again and we'll see you next time.

Wall Street jumped as the US and China agreed to cut tariffs for 90 days. Chinese imports are cut from 145% to 30%. US imports are cut from 125% to 10%. S&P 500 up 3.26%, NASDAQ up 4.35%. Dow jumped at open at inched upward throughout the session. Closed up 1161 points, just 8 off high. Broad rally. All sectors up except Utilities. Flat. Cyclicals and Tech best performers. Amazon (+8.1%) and Tesla (+6.7%) boosted the former. Defensive sectors were the laggards as risk-on sentiment reigned. Still recorded gains. Healthcare was up despite Trump's executive action to lower drug prices. Seen as vague and difficult to enforce. Pfizer rose 3.6%, Eli Lilly up 2.9%, Moderna jumped 6.0%. Investment banks up as outlook for risk assets improved. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citigroup all recorded gains of over 4%. Apple up 6.3% on tariff news. Same day it announced it would use AI to help preserve iPhone battery life. Resources mixed. Some jumped on news – Aluminium, Iron Ore. Others down. Nickel down 1.4%, Lithium down 1.0%.ASX to rise. SPI futures up 97 points (+1.17%).Want to invest with Marcus Today? The Managed Strategy Portfolio is designed for investors seeking exposure to our strategy while we do the hard work for you. If you're looking for personal financial advice, our friends at Clime Investment Management can help. Their team of licensed advisers operates across most states, offering tailored financial planning services.  Why not sign up for a free trial? Gain access to expert insights, research, and analysis to become a better investor.

“The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.” – Proverbs 22:3That verse reminds us that wisdom means planning ahead, especially when it comes to life's most serious emergencies. If something were to happen to you, would your family know how to manage the finances, pay the bills, or access important documents? Today, Dr. Art Rainer joins us to walk through how to create a financial emergency binder.Dr. Art Rainer is the founder of the Institute for Christian Financial Health and Christian Money Solutions. He is a regular contributor here at Faith & Finance and the author of Money in the Light of Eternity: What the Bible Says about Your Financial Purpose.Why Planning Ahead MattersLife is full of unexpected turns, and while we trust God in all things, wisdom calls us to prepare, especially when it comes to our finances and family care.Consider the questions every household should be able to answer:What happens if you or your spouse is hospitalized?Would someone know how to manage your bills and care for your children?If you were to pass away unexpectedly, would your family know where to find your vital documents?Sadly, many families are left overwhelmed and directionless in moments of crisis because these preparations were never made. Yet this kind of confusion can be avoided through a simple but powerful step: organizing essential information before it's urgently needed.The Power of an Emergency BinderAn emergency binder is a centralized location—digital and physical—where your most critical information is stored. This includes:Financial accounts and passwordsMedical records and contactsInsurance informationBill due dates and utilitiesFuneral wishesChildcare instructionsAnd more.Preparing an emergency binder may not feel urgent, but when the unexpected happens, it becomes priceless. Organizing your household's key information is a tangible expression of love, wisdom, and care. It's a simple act of stewardship that offers comfort, clarity, and care when it matters most.How to Get StartedCreating an emergency binder might sound overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be.Here's a simple approach: work on one section at a time. Set aside 30 to 60 minutes a day to focus on gathering the necessary documents for each category. This bite-sized method turns a daunting project into a doable one.And once it's complete? Print it out. A red three-ring binder is a wise choice for easy identification in an emergency. Store it in a secure, fireproof location, and ensure that your loved ones are aware of its location. It's also wise to keep a digital backup, securely stored and shared with trusted family members.If you're thinking, “I wish someone would just do this for me,” you're in luck. Art and his team have created The Essential Emergency Binder—a beautifully designed resource with over 60 pages of templates and instructions to help you get started quickly and confidently.You can find it at EssentialEmergencyBinder.com.On Today's Program, Rob Answers Listener Questions:I want to consolidate our investments. We have a pension, Social Security, Roth IRAs, a 401(k), and traditional IRAs at two different financial institutions. Is it better to have everything in one place?I'm concerned about how my church is spending its tithe money on items like a drum set and library donations, rather than traditional ministries. Is this the right way for a church to use funds?I've received a six-figure inheritance from my uncle in Florida, which includes checking, savings, a money market account, and a Lutheran annuity. I would like to confirm that there is no inheritance tax in Ohio. I'm considering investing the money in CDs through my bank's Certificate of Deposit (CD) program. Can you confirm the tax situation and advise me on this approach?Resources Mentioned:Faithful Steward: FaithFi's New Quarterly MagazineEssential Emergency BinderWisdom Over Wealth: 12 Lessons from Ecclesiastes on Money (Pre-Order)Look At The Sparrows: A 21-Day Devotional on Financial Fear and AnxietyRich Toward God: A Study on the Parable of the Rich FoolFind a Certified Kingdom Advisor (CKA) or Certified Christian Financial Counselor (CertCFC)FaithFi App Remember, you can call in to ask your questions most days at (800) 525-7000. Faith & Finance is also available on the Moody Radio Network and American Family Radio. Visit our website at FaithFi.com where you can join the FaithFi Community and give as we expand our outreach.

Explore how utilities can enhance communication, build trust, and engage customers more effectively during crises and beyond with Part Two of this intriguing discussion with experts from Chartwell Inc. Shaun Jackson, Senior Vice President of Marketing at KUBRA, hosts this discussion, featuring special guests Steve Waters, Director of Councils, and Casey Collins, Senior Research Analyst. This engaging episode examines actionable strategies for improving outage communication, fostering sustainability engagement, and evolving the utility-customer relationship from a service provider to a trusted advisor. This episode showcases best practices and innovative ideas for utilities to strengthen customer connections, from leveraging transparency and empathy during outages to creating impactful environmental programs.

What if the utility bill you barely understand holds the key to stabilizing the grid, accelerating electrification, and saving you money?Rachel Bryant has spent nearly 20 years navigating the complex world of energy regulation—as both an engineer and a lawyer. Now at GridX, she's helping utilities across the country translate convoluted tariff structures into clear, actionable decisions for customers. The result? Better engagement, smarter energy use, and a grid that can flex with our electrifying future.Recorded live at RE+ Northeast, this conversation unpacks why traditional cost-of-service rate structures are crumbling under the pressure of EVs, solar, and home electrification—and how time-variable pricing might just be the answer. From peak load reduction to EV charging patterns, Rachel breaks down how data, software, and savvy communication can bring utilities and customers into alignment.Expect to learn:

In the latest episode of Public Power Now, Dwayne Fulk, President and CEO at City Utilities of Springfield, Missouri, discusses the public power utility's plans to add generation and details the strategies that the utility has adopted to maintain low rates for its customers. This episode of Public Power Now is sponsored by the Energy Authority.

Kevin Mahn says we're “well-positioned for the second half” but expects bursts of volatility in May. He thinks the bottom might be into the market, arguing “the worst is behind us” around trade uncertainty as companies begin pivoting towards the “new world order.” He is bullish on utilities, calling them a “back door play on the A.I. revolution” and noting that many of them are strong dividend names.======== Schwab Network ========Empowering every investor and trader, every market day. Subscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribeDownload the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watchWatch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-exploreWatch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/ About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about

With consumer needs and capabilities rapidly evolving, many electric co-ops are quickly pushing grid advancements to meet current and future demands. On this podcast episode, Bryan Hannegan, president/CEO of Holy Cross Energy, and Mark Gabriel, president/CEO of United Power REC, discuss how they prioritize tasks as leaders of their respective utilities during a time of transition from a hub-and-spoke business model to one more like a distributed system operator. Hear how they are using battery storage, demand flexibility, satellite data, AI, drones and other new techniques to expand flexibility, improve service and keep costs down. With the energy landscape rapidly changing, Bryan and Mark are building cultures of innovation and creativity that attract new talent and provide a greater return of investment for all their members.

In this episode, Siddarth walks you through the process of checking your MacBook's battery capacity—an indicator of how well the battery retains a charge compared to when it was new. He also explains how to determine the cycle count, which tracks the number of times the battery has been completely drained and recharged.Battery capacity can be viewed by going to System Settings > Battery and clicking the "Show detail" button. Cycle count can be viewed by opening System Information (located in the Utilities folder), selecting "power" in the table, and pressing VO-J to jump to the information pane.TranscriptDisclaimer: This transcript was generated by AI Note Taker – VoicePen, an AI-powered transcription app. It is not edited or formatted, and it may not accurately capture the speakers' names, voices, or content.[00:00.05] You're listening to an AppleVis podcast. Hi, welcome to a short tutorial on how to check the charging cycles count on MacBook. So ever wondered how to check your MacBook battery cycles?[00:00.25] When we get into settings of a Mac and when we interact in the battery, we can only find the details of the battery health. It might be 100% or 95% or 90%.[00:00.39] Depending on your usage. But how to find the battery cycle count or how many times we have charged our battery? For that, in this demonstration I'll be showing you how we can find it and how we can understand the overall battery details. So first, I'll show you what we can get in the settings battery of Mac. So I'm on my MacBook...[00:01.08] ...desktop. I'll open my settings with VO-M (system settings) and I will navigate here to the battery with VO-Right Arrow (battery) and I'll interact here.[00:01.35] Alright, my current battery level is 59%. I just navigate here by VO-Right. Sorry, I'll interact here. My Low Power Mode is set to only on battery. I don't need the Low Power Mode activated when I'm connected to my charger.[00:01.54] Okay, Battery Health. And if I right arrow again with VO-Right – Normal – Show Detail – right, I'll hit VO-Space. So it's great that even after one and a half month – sorry, one and a half year – of my Mac, still the battery health is Normal. And we'll see how much percent the battery health is.[00:02.19] Right, and go... VO-Left here, to the left side of the screen. Yes, that's right. It's 100%. And I feel it's a great...[00:02.35] ...battery. I like the way battery optimizes on Mac more than the iPhone. Maximum capacity – the maximum capacity is 100% – but we can't really see the cycle count here. For that, what we have to do is, first, I'll close the settings...[00:02.53] Right. I'll open the search box again with Command-Space – Spotlight. Spotlight Search. Alright, here I will type "System Information". If I just type “System” I get the filtered it here – S-Y-S-T-E-M – some information – space – I just type I-N-F...[00:03.15] ...it will be already taken, so just hit Enter here. Excellent. So here, you can get all the details regarding your hardware, your Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, audio devices, whatever.[00:03.31] Now, we need to find something called “Power.” And I'll interact here. I interacted with the VO-Down Arrow, VO-Shift-Down Arrow. I keep going right with VO-Right. You don't need all these things. I'll just keep moving…

Eric Sterner is surprised that Trump decided to negotiate tariffs with the whole world at once. If that's dealt with, though, he thinks consumers will keep spending at “healthy levels,” and points to tax cuts and deregulation in the latter half of the year getting the market “back on track.” He likes utilities, health care, and financials, arguing that they're the most insulated from tariffs.======== Schwab Network ========Empowering every investor and trader, every market day. Subscribe to the Market Minute newsletter - https://schwabnetwork.com/subscribeDownload the iOS app - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/schwab-network/id1460719185Download the Amazon Fire Tv App - https://www.amazon.com/TD-Ameritrade-Network/dp/B07KRD76C7Watch on Sling - https://watch.sling.com/1/asset/191928615bd8d47686f94682aefaa007/watchWatch on Vizio - https://www.vizio.com/en/watchfreeplus-exploreWatch on DistroTV - https://www.distro.tv/live/schwab-network/Follow us on X – https://twitter.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/schwabnetworkFollow us on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/schwab-network/ About Schwab Network - https://schwabnetwork.com/about

The power industry supply chain is facing unprecedented strain as utilities race to upgrade aging infrastructure against a backdrop of lengthening lead times and increasing project complexity. This supply chain gridlock arrives precisely when utilities face mounting pressure to modernize systems. As the industry confronts this growing crisis, innovations in procurement, manufacturing, and strategic planning are essential. “Utilities can optimize their supply chain for grid modernization projects by taking a collaborative approach between the services themselves and how they can support the projects, as well as having a partner to be able to leverage their sourcing capabilities and have the relationships with the right manufacturers,” Ian Rice, senior director of Programs and Services for Grid Services at Wesco, explained as a guest on The POWER Podcast. “At the end of the day, it's how can the logistical needs be accounted for and taken care of by the partnered firm to minimize the overall delays that are going to naturally come and mitigate the risks,” he said. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Wesco is a leading global supply chain solutions provider. Rice explained that through Wesco, utilities gain access to a one-stop solution for program services, project site services, and asset management. The company claims its tailored approach “ensures cost reduction, risk mitigation, and operational efficiencies, allowing utilities to deliver better outcomes for their customers.” “We take a really comprehensive approach to this,” said Rice. “In the utility market, we believe pricing should be very transparent.” To promote a high level of transparency, Wesco builds out special recovery models for its clients. “What this looks like is: we take a complete cradle-to-grave approach on the lifecycle of the said project or program, and typically, it could be up to nine figures—very, very large programs,” Rice explained. “It all starts with building that model and understanding the complexity. What are the inputs, what are the outputs, and what constraints are there in the short term as well as the long term? And, really, what's the goal of that overall program?” The answers to those questions are accounted for in the construction of the model. “It all starts with demand management, which closely leads to a sourcing and procurement strategy,” Rice said. “From there, we can incorporate inventory control, and set up SOPs [standard operating procedures] of how we want to deal with the contractors and all the other stakeholders within that program or project. And that really ties into what's going to be the project management approach, as well in setting up all the different processes, or even the returns and reclamation program. We're really covering everything minute to minute, day to day, the entire duration of that project, and tying that into a singular model.” But that's not all. Rice said another thing that sets Wesco apart from others in the market is when it takes this program or project approach, depending on the scale of it, the company remains agnostic when it comes to suppliers. “We're doing procurement on behalf of our customers,” he said. “So, if they have direct relationships, we can facilitate that. If they're working with other distributors, we can also manage that. The whole idea here is: what's in the best interest of the customer to provide the most value.”

Equifax advisors Jesse Hardin, Dave Sojka, Tom O'Neill, and Maria Urtubey explore the disconnect between positive hard data and declining consumer sentiment, rising concerns over tariffs, and their disproportionate impact on households and businesses. They dig into leading indicators to watch—like delinquency rates, employment trends, and consumer spending—and offer practical recommendations to help lenders and businesses navigate uncertainty. 

Hear from the nation's top reliability official as he and California Energy Markets Editor Jason Fordney explore the topic of grid reliability. Generation retirements, load growth through data centers and electrification, and more frequent extreme weather are among the challenges facing grid planners and reliability officials. This episode digs deep into the issues, including the challenges of more inverter-based resources on the grid, gas-electric coordination, and how New York City almost lost its natural gas supply in what would have been a catastrophic event. Don't miss this one-on-one with an official who is on the front lines of the reliability situation!

Tell us what you think of the show! Sponsored content.In the territories of many electric utilities, wildfires loom as an increasing threat, becoming larger and more frequent, necessitating proactive solutions.In this episode of the Factor This podcast, host Paul Gerke taps into the brain of a leading expert, Craig Clements of San Jose State University, to discuss the evolving threat wildfires pose to utility infrastructure and explore how a rigorously tested product, Hexion's ArmorBuilt, could stand as an effective means of protecting vital equipment.

Investing in Bizarro World Episodes: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLIAfIjKxr02sAztzlJNy1ug5bDvTVZkME&si=w2d_EF-B5jMo1dYD Subscribe to Investing In Bizarro World: @bizarroworld Programming Note: Every week, we go live to share what we're doing with our money, our family accounts, and our best deals. The premium version of Investing in Bizarro World is $99/year. That gets you live access to real-time market commentary, answers to your investing questions, and Premium Portfolio Picks every week. No edits. No fluff. Check out Investing in Bizarro World Live now: https://bit.ly/42B7ZJhThe free version of the 312th episode of Investing in Bizarro World is now published.Here's what was covered:Macro Musings - Bond market flexes muscle as yields rise and the dollar weakens. Basis trade explained. VIX holds elevated, signaling more volatility ahead. Inflation ticks down but markets stay shaky. Tariff policies spark confusion and escalation with China.Market Takes - NASDAQ posts a record up day, but echoes of the dot-com bust remain. S&P still struggling. Gold stays strong above $3,200. Silver follows, nearing breakout levels. Utilities, gold stocks, and consumer staples remain resilient.Bizarro Banter - Government corruption, front-running of tariff announcements, and manufactured trade chaos. Criticism of both political parties and insider cronyism. The bizarre story of Peter Navarro inventing a fictional China expert named "Ron Vara."Premium Portfolio Picks - Nick and Gerardo each cover two selloff stocks worth buying now. For paid listeners only. Upgrade here: https://bit.ly/42B7ZJh0:00 Introduction2:05 Macro Musings: Bond Market Gets Freaky. VIX Stays Elevated. Weak Dollar. Strong Gold.13:28 Market Takes: Tariff Timeline. Blatant Insider Trading. Real World Implications. Growth and Inflation Projections.31:00 Bizarro Banter: Positioning in Bizarro World. Campaign Promises vs. Deliveries.36:16 Premium Portfolio Picks: Two Selloff Stocks from Nick & Gerardo - You need to subscribe to Bizarro World Live to get this section: https://bit.ly/42B7ZJhPLEASE NOTE: There are now two versions of this podcast. 1. Bizarro World Live — Pay $2 per episode to watch us record the podcast live every Thursday and get Premium Portfolio Picks every week. You can do that here: https://bit.ly/42B7ZJh2. Bizarro World Free — Published the Monday after the live recording with no Premium Portfolio Picks.Visit our website Daily Profit Cycle for more content like this and more! https://dailyprofitcycle.com/

In the latest episode of Public Power Now, Jill Weiss, Utilities Director of Wisconsin public power utility Stoughton Utilities, details the steps that the utility has taken to maintain high levels of safety and reliability and discusses a program under which utility customers can help support local community service organizations.

This episode we sat down to talk with local STEM Instructional Coach, Derek Pike from Warsaw Schools, about his experience bringing students on a fieldtrip to Kosciusko REMC for a Live Line Demo. 

In this episode of the All Things Sustainable podcast, we sit down with Shinjini Menon, Senior Vice President of System Planning and Engineering at Southern California Edison, an investor-owned public utility operating as a subsidiary of Edison International.   Southern California Edison is one of the largest US electric utilities, and Shinjini explains how it is prioritizing energy reliability and affordability while also building climate resilience — a topic that is particularly urgent in Southern California, where the risk of wildfires is so high.   “We have put forward a pretty ambitious goal for decarbonization and the electrification that we believe is necessary for affordable decarbonization,” Shinjini says.   “At the end of the day, it's about all of our communities having affordable access to energy, reliable energy, and having that energy security.”   Shinjini explains how the utility uses technology, modeling and data to mitigate wildfire risks and make the grid more resilient. She says Southern California Edison has learned from peers in the US and other parts of the world as it works to build climate resilience.   Listen to last week's interviews from the CERAWeek conference hosted by S&P Global here. Listen to our podcast episode about 2025 wildfires in Los Angeles here.  Read research from S&P Global Sustainable1 about the projected financial costs of climate change for the world's largest companies. Learn more about the S&P Global Sustainable1 Physical Risk dataset.  This piece was published by S&P Global Sustainable1, a part of S&P Global.           Copyright ©2025 by S&P Global           DISCLAIMER     By accessing this Podcast, I acknowledge that S&P GLOBAL makes no warranty, guarantee, or representation as to the accuracy or sufficiency of the information featured in this Podcast. The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. This Podcast should not be considered professional advice. Unless specifically stated otherwise, S&P GLOBAL does not endorse, approve, recommend, or certify any information, product, process, service, or organization presented or mentioned in this Podcast, and information from this Podcast should not be referenced in any way to imply such approval or endorsement. The third party materials or content of any third party site referenced in this Podcast do not necessarily reflect the opinions, standards or policies of S&P GLOBAL. S&P GLOBAL assumes no responsibility or liability for the accuracy or completeness of the content contained in third party materials or on third party sites referenced in this Podcast or the compliance with applicable laws of such materials and/or links referenced herein. Moreover, S&P GLOBAL makes no warranty that this Podcast, or the server that makes it available, is free of viruses, worms, or other elements or codes that manifest contaminating or destructive properties.     S&P GLOBAL EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL LIABILITY OR RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR OTHER DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF ANY INDIVIDUAL'S USE OF, REFERENCE TO, RELIANCE ON, OR INABILITY TO USE, THIS PODCAST OR THE INFORMATION PRESENTED IN THIS PODCAST.

Tell us what you think of the show! Sponsored Content.Decarbonizing the power sector attracts most of the energy transition's attention. While replacing fossil fuel generation with solar, wind, and battery storage is a critical step to combating climate change, it only addresses a piece of the challenge. Modernizing the power grid from interconnected poles and wires to an intelligent and dynamic machine is paramount to meeting the moment.The digital grid is coming, and just in time. Utilities in the U.S. are still in the early stages of realizing this opportunity, but change is coming swiftly, and their European counterparts have created a blueprint for what that could look like.Episode 83 of the Factor This Podcast features Arnaud Cantin, senior vice president of digital power at Schneider Electric.Cantin shares why a smart grid, not only clean power, is crucial for the energy transition. Why do we need it, what it could do, and what's stopping us?That's all next on Factor This.Check out FactorThis.com — your new, one-stop shop for energy news, insights, and commentary. We've combined the reach and expertise of Renewable Energy World, POWERGRID International, and Hydro Review to serve you better. Sign up for our free newsletter today.

Officials say even though the floodwaters in Frankfort are starting to go down, conditions in the city remain dangerous, Versailles Municipal Utilities shuts down intake from the Kentucky River due to flooding and safety concerns, and a USDA program that helped get fresh, local food into Kentucky school cafeterias will soon come to an end.

April 3, 2025 - The existing power producers in New York don't want the state's utilities to get into the energy generation business, so they formed a coalition to oppose this authority. We explore this opposition with Gavin Donohue, president and chief executive officer of the Independent Power Producers of New York, and Marguerite Wells, executive director of the Alliance for Clean Energy New York.

In this week's episode, David and Ian discuss International market strength, US market weakness, and important levels buyers must reclaim. In addition, they touch base on Gold, Bitcoin, Oil, Energy, Utilities, Breakfast food, Baseball, and the Masters. Not all market environments are the same.

Governor Gavin Newsom issues another executive order to speed up rebuilding -- this one applies to electric, gas and other utility companies. We check in on "Altadena Not For Sale" rally at Fair Oaks Burger today. An art gallery reopens after the Palisades fire. And, an artist talks to 100 local leaders to capture the zeitgeist of L.A. Plus more. Support The L.A. Report by donating at LAist.com/join and by visiting https://laist.com Support the show: https://laist.com

On today’s episode of “Marketplace Tech,” Meghan McCarty Carino speaks with Daniel Cohan, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University, about virtual power plants. These aren’t physical generating stations. They’re more of a network, usually managed by a local utility, that aggregates electricity from  different sources like businesses or homes. Essentially, these customers give energy back to the grid or help the utility balance supply and demand. As electricity demand grows, thanks to power-hungry AI data centers, electric cars and extreme weather, some providers are turning to virtual power plants to reduce strain on the grid.

On today’s episode of “Marketplace Tech,” Meghan McCarty Carino speaks with Daniel Cohan, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University, about virtual power plants. These aren’t physical generating stations. They’re more of a network, usually managed by a local utility, that aggregates electricity from  different sources like businesses or homes. Essentially, these customers give energy back to the grid or help the utility balance supply and demand. As electricity demand grows, thanks to power-hungry AI data centers, electric cars and extreme weather, some providers are turning to virtual power plants to reduce strain on the grid.

As a property manager, you're familiar with the uncomfortable shuffle when trying to ensure utilities are set up correctly at move-in. What if you could make the whole process easier? In this episode of the Property Management Growth Show, property management growth expert Jason Hull sits down with the founder of Utility Profit, Zac Maurais, to discuss wires, pipes, and signals: Everything you wish you knew about home utilities. You'll Learn [01:48] How Zac Built a $100 Million Business [07:38] Solving Utility Challenges with a Streamlined Tool [15:54] Using Utility Profit to Make Extra Profit [23:26] Integrations and Frequently Asked Questions [30:20] Take Action on The Things You're Avoiding! Quotables “I think the secret to being smart is just being willing to look stupid.” “Done is better than perfect.” “Have a bias for action. Get your hands dirty. Do it yourself.” “ Whatever it is that you think that's holding you back, just start trying to do it.” Resources DoorGrow and Scale Mastermind DoorGrow Academy DoorGrow on YouTube DoorGrowClub DoorGrowLive Transcript [00:00:00] Zac: It's almost like we're like taking the Yellow Pages and then putting it online or something. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of a wacky problem that we're solving there.  [00:00:08] Jason: So you're single handedly bringing the utility space into the future. So, All right. [00:00:16] Jason: Welcome DoorGrow Property Managers to the Property Management Growth Show. If you are a property management entrepreneur and you want to add doors, you want to make a difference, you want to increase revenue, you want to help others, you want to impact lives, and you're interested in growing in business and life, and you're open to doing things a bit differently, then you are a DoorGrow property manager and you just don't know it. DoorGrow property managers love the opportunities, daily variety, unique challenges and freedom that property management brings. Many in real estate think you're crazy for doing it. [00:00:47] Jason: You think they're crazy for not because you realize that property management is the ultimate high trust gateway to real estate deals, relationships, and residual income. At DoorGrow, we are on a mission to transform property management business owners and their businesses. We want to transform the industry, eliminate the bs, build awareness, change perception, expand the market, and help the best property management entrepreneurs win. [00:01:13] Jason: I'm your host, property management growth expert, Jason Hull, the founder and CEO of DoorGrow. Now let's get into the show and I'm hanging out today with Zac Maurais. Did I say it right?  [00:01:25] Jason: That's right, yes.  [00:01:26] Jason: Hey. All right, cool. It's great to have you on the show. So Zac we're going to be chatting today about wires, pipes, and signals, everything you wish you knew about home utilities. [00:01:38] Jason: I think this will be interesting to our listeners because, you know, we get into this stuff as property management people. So, so Zac before we get into that though, give us a little backstory on you. How'd you get into being an entrepreneur? When did you first figure that out, that you maybe were one and then we can get into why you started this business so that you've got going and tell us, tell everybody about it. [00:01:58] Jason: Cool.  [00:02:00] Zac: Let's do it. Yeah. So, quick intro myself, I live here in Austin, Texas. I've been an entrepreneur now for better part of a decade and a half. Right out of college I started a business it was actually a food delivery business called Favor. We ended up scaling that business to having 50,000 delivery drivers in the state of Texas. [00:02:22] Zac: So it was the second largest employer in the state. And over the course of building it up over a couple of years, we were doing over a hundred million dollars of food sales a year. So sizable company and we sold that to HEB grocery and yeah.  [00:02:38] Jason: And if people don't know, HEB I'm in the Austin area, I'm up in Round Rock. [00:02:41] Jason: But if people don't know HEB. HEB consistently wins the best grocery store awards like in America every year. Like it's always winning.  [00:02:51] Zac: It's kind of amazing. I mean, they are an institution. There's so many small towns across Texas where the only show in town, I would kind of say it's akin to like a Walmart or something like that for a national brand that people would be more familiar with. [00:03:04] Zac: Family run business, been around for a hundred years. So it's cool that it had joined forces with Favor. And learned a lot from doing that company. I mean, at the time that we sold it, we had over 140 corporate employees, designers and software engineers and business intelligence people and salespeople. [00:03:24] Zac: So I'm right there with you, Jason, where I like growth. I like growing things and learning about business and learning about new categories. So as I sold it, I was looking for the next thing to do.  [00:03:35] Jason: So people are clear, Favor, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but Favor competes with like Instacart and like some of these, it's like a delivery service. [00:03:44] Zac: That's right. So the way that the service worked was, it was like an on demand. It was part of the on demand delivery kind of thing that was happening. The gig economy, you know, people will probably remember Lyft coming out and Uber. There wasn't one for delivery of kind of like fast casual food or groceries yet. [00:04:02] Zac: And we brought that into the market. We had first mover.  [00:04:05] Jason: Oh yeah. So yeah, it's kind of like Uber Eats and, you know, these kind of things.  [00:04:08] Zac: Exactly. So you could tap a button, request a Favor, and then someone would go shopping for you, go pick up some tacos or yeah, run at the grocery store or something like that and bring it to you in 45 minutes or less. [00:04:20] Jason: Got it. And is Favor just a Texas thing?  [00:04:23] Zac: At one point in time we tried to go national expansion, but it was a bit of a wartime thing that was going on. Yeah. A lot of VC dollars getting put in. And we had a very strong Texas brand. We had over a million people in Texas using it. [00:04:37] Zac: Yes. So we said we just doubled down on home base.  [00:04:40] Jason: I mean, Texas is like its own little universe. We've got Favor, we've got HEB, we've got, you know, there's all these things that are just specifically Texas. So if y'all come to Texas, you got to like experience the whole Texas deal. You got to go to an HEB, you got to go to Bucky's, you got to go to all these things, right? [00:04:56] Zac: So yeah, right. When you're here in town for Jason's event, go get yourself some Yeti swag.  [00:05:02] Jason: Yes.  [00:05:02] Zac: And then order yourself a Favor.  [00:05:04] Jason: Yes. There you go. Yeah. Cool. Yeah, and people get really religious about their, you know, things like Yeti. It's like Yeti Mecca. Like people, like my brother-in-law comes into town. He is like, "I got to go to the Yeti store." He's like, just like starry-eyed in there. And I'm like, "why? Why?" Coolers, thermases? I don't know. Cool drinks. Yeah. Yeah. It's a thing. So he like collects them, and then sometimes he's flipping them too. Like there's limited edition things, so. My brother-in-law's name is Jason also, so he might listen to this. [00:05:36] Jason: So Jason, I mentioned you on my podcast, so, all right.  [00:05:39] Jason: Shout out to Jason.  [00:05:41] Jason: Shout out to Jason. So, cool. So Zac, I mean, that's a pretty impressive thing. Not many people can say they built a hundred million dollar, you know, business or had an exit or something like that. So, and then what did you do next? [00:05:55] Jason: Like, you sell this thing, did you lose all meaning and purpose in life and decide to start a new business or what happened?  [00:06:01] Zac: I think that happens with some people, right? You sell it, you have somebody, you're like, "what am I going to do with my life now?" I'm going to take a good thing and somehow it becomes a bad thing. [00:06:09] Zac: But I just, I really like building. And I like the process of entrepreneurship where you talk to people, you try to find a problem and you like go hit a whiteboard, you sketch, it becomes more tangible, and then all of a sudden you can partner with an engineer and make it and then bring it back to the customer. [00:06:26] Zac: And I just like that. It kind of just scratches something in my brain, I think. And something else that's been cool for me on my entrepreneurship journey. I had mentioned that I've been doing it now for a decade and a half and the entire time that I've been working and doing startups, I've been doing it with like my best friend Ben from growing up together. [00:06:45] Zac: We  [00:06:46] Jason: best friend Ben.  [00:06:46] Zac: wen to school in New Hampshire. And it's fun to be able to go on that journey with someone like that.  [00:06:52] Jason: Yeah. That's cool. So you and Ben are still doing stuff together then.  [00:06:55] Zac: Right.  [00:06:56] Jason: Yeah. Third company.  [00:06:57] Zac: Third company now, so.  [00:06:59] Jason: Yeah. Dynamic duo. All right. And so I imagine that you have some complimentary sort of skill sets and challenge each other a bit. [00:07:08] Zac: Yeah, I think our brains have kind of been swapped and became more of the same brain. But the way that I explained it originally was like Ben was the left brain engineer, right? He is going to build out the backend database. He was a civil engineer, so he was just constantly doing math. And then I was more of the, you can kind of see there's some paintings behind me, like I was the artist.  [00:07:30] Jason: The right brain guy. Yeah. Got it.  [00:07:32] Zac: But now it just kind of became one, somewhere between now. He kind of went a little bit more right. I went more left, so.  [00:07:38] Jason: Cool. So bring us up towards the present day. So like, what are you and Ben, you know, getting together and working on? [00:07:45] Zac: Yeah, so I guess the way that we got into the property management industry was we were trying to build some leasing automation tech over the last few years. We had something called Sunroom Leasing, and it was like a platform that would help. With self showings, with different things related to collecting some data from renters about the home. [00:08:05] Zac: We had at one point in time, around 8,000 homes that were leasing across the country for some real estate investment trusts and some large scale property managers. And it kind of turned us on to this like, it had some challenges I think of that scale. And so we ended up realizing that's not what we want to do long term. [00:08:26] Zac: And something that it was like a good ride, but I think we were onto something that could be more scalable and a more acute problem to solve.  [00:08:35] Jason: Yeah, this was like a tuition business. You're learning and paying the price of tuition. Yeah. So you got familiar with the property management industry a bit through that. [00:08:44] Jason: That's right. Figured out kind of your target audience and you probably started to see some different problems you like started scheming with your whiteboard on, so.  [00:08:52] Zac: Yeah, and the problem that we zoomed into was around utility setup. And what we thought was kind of a silly thing was, here it is, it's 2024. [00:09:01] Zac: This was last year that we had launched it. We realized that there wasn't like a Google Maps of utilities. We thought it was silly that you couldn't just type in an address online and then see what's the water, what's the electric, what's the gas, what's the internet? There was no transparency for that. [00:09:20] Zac: And when we looked closer, there's like, you zoom in on water, there's over 20,000 water providers and they have really weird setups, you know, or it could be down just by the neighborhood or the zip code or the, you know, it's just wacky the way that the mapping works. And we thought if we could build out the whole mapping infrastructure, that would be a valuable thing, both for owners of the property that just want to have a more streamlined process, property managers that are doing it every day, and then renters. If you kind of think of this problem of setting up utilities while it's annoying and they have to Google around and make a bunch of phone calls, this is just one problem within a whole, you know, iceberg of other things. It's just the tip, small thing that they're doing a ton of things related to the move. We thought that if we could streamline this, then it could have a broad appeal and be something that we could do nationally and do at a big scale. So, over the last year, what we've done is we've built out that infrastructure to be able to do mapping at scale. [00:10:21] Zac: And we have built a platform that streamlines the process of turning on utilities. We're trying to make the utility on switch and it's a cool tool because the property managers using it can get confirmation that utilities have been set up correctly. And this is helpful for them because, you know, if you don't turn on the electricity and it's the dead of winter, you're probably going to have some problems on your hands with pipes bursting, you know, and things like that. [00:10:48] Zac: So, it's a useful tool in the process.  [00:10:51] Jason: So let's talk about this problem, right? This is super annoying. Like everybody that's moved has had to figure out this weird, you know, puzzle to like, which utility providers are available here? Which internet provider can I use? What are my options? Can I get this cool fiber, you know, thing, can I get this? Is there..? Like what's available? Then they're trying to figure out like water, electric. You're maybe trying to find out from the previous owner or somebody and you're trying to like negotiate all this and then like getting things switched and then the timelines like it's a mess. [00:11:25] Jason: Like it's really annoying and yeah, it's like why do we just deal with this and put up with this? We're living in the age of AI and this AI revolution now and. Why isn't there a better solution to this? It seems like it's just like chaos and confusion. Yeah, so.  [00:11:45] Zac: It is chaos and confusion. Yeah. And people waste so much time doing it and oh god. [00:11:50] Zac: Yeah. And I think as a result, like sometimes people will just make sacrifices where they'll be like, well, I was on this telecom company before. Maybe I'll just go back to them. And then I might miss out on being able to be like, well, I could have had faster internet or a better plan that's cheaper or something If they had just...  [00:12:07] Jason: sure. Yeah.  [00:12:07] Zac: ...known that they had options.  [00:12:10] Jason: Right. You're like, man, I'm still using dial up. And I didn't realize Google Fiber was available here. Yeah, right.  [00:12:15] Zac: Throwing that in an old AOL like.  [00:12:18] Jason: Yes, I remember those days. I was such a nerd. Alright, so yeah, and people may maybe get impatient and they just make some quick decisions. [00:12:27] Jason: You know, and all these companies try to give them incentives like, Hey, if you move, like we'll move it and help you get it set up. And they try to make it seamless, but because they're trying to retain their, you know, the customer, but that might not be in the best interest of the customer.  [00:12:41] Zac: Totally. Yeah. So this we're in the spirit of trying to add transparency into the process, make it more streamlined. And and have a really lightweight tool like, you know, not another app you have to download, but just something that seamlessly fits in the move in process. Okay. [00:12:55] Zac: Integrates really well with the tools that the property manager is already using, you know, just is able to sync, in real time, figure out what are the addresses coming up, and then give the property manager a way to both communicate what the utilities are and then check that they've been turned on. [00:13:16] Zac: And then interestingly, there's a lot of places in the US where these telecom companies are competing. And they spent a lot of money to lay down these fiber optic lines, you know, or copper lines, and they're trying to recoup some of that cost. Yeah. And so they'll pay money for more customers. [00:13:35] Zac: And so we're able to generate revenue and then share that with property managers as an incentive to use the tool.  [00:13:43] Jason: Okay, cool. So what's the name of the tool or this service?  [00:13:46] Zac: It's called Utility Profit.  [00:13:48] Jason: Utility profit. Okay. All right. And it's P-R-O-F-I-T I would assume? Yep, exactly. Not like you're prophesying. [00:13:57] Jason: All right, got it. So Utility Profit, and so this really is solving that challenge to just streamline all that, and there's a financial incentive or benefit for the property manager helping to get these things connected.  [00:14:11] Zac: That's right. That's right. Yeah. And one of the...  [00:14:14] Jason: Win, win, win all the way around win. [00:14:15] Zac: Yeah, exactly. And that's the best type of tool. You know, something that it doesn't just benefit one party, but all the people involved. Yeah. And so, you know, it's exciting there. Now there's people across the entire United States using it. We've been helping thousands of renters per month. [00:14:32] Zac: Just in the last year there's been, I think over 750 property managers using it. Some really big ones with thousands of properties all the way down to people that just have a couple homes in the portfolio. I think the average has about 400 homes and, you know, it's really kind of empowering that we bring something to the world and that fast that many people are using it. [00:14:55] Zac: It's cool to see.  [00:14:56] Jason: Yeah. Cool. So. And Ben's leading the nerds on the team making this all work.  [00:15:02] Zac: Yeah, we're both working closely with engineers and, I mean, it's been a big lift. I mean, we've had to do all sorts of wacky things to be able to like get this data because like I said, it didn't exist. [00:15:12] Zac: I imagine. [00:15:13] Zac: We have to like literally go and draw service maps, you know, that were PDFs on old websites and then, you know, turn them into a structured database. Right. I, you know, pull it up correctly. Yeah.  [00:15:26] Jason: You're just doing this ground level legwork to like get... it's almost like you're transferring old records into a digital format. [00:15:35] Jason: You know? Yeah. So that people could play their MP3s or something. Yeah.  [00:15:38] Zac: It kind of feels like that. It's almost like we're like taking the Yellow Pages and then putting it online or something. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of a wacky problem that we're solving there.  [00:15:48] Jason: So you're single handedly bringing the utility space into the future, so.  [00:15:54] Zac: Yeah. And one thing that we've we've been doing over the last couple months that I think is pretty cool is that there's this whole industry that exists for the multifamily apartment space related to what they call as like fiber as an amenity or fiber to the home. [00:16:11] Zac: Yeah. And so the way it would work on multifamily would be, you know, these big telecoms would say, "Hey, we'll sell you a thousand units of internet and then we'll give you a discount for doing so. And then you can either kind of keep that for yourself or you can, you know, share that with your tenants as a way to help your apartments stand out from other apartments." [00:16:33] Zac: The apartments are i identifiable and also you know, easier for the telecoms to spot. The hard thing about homes is it's this long tail of properties and there hasn't been a good way to aggregate them. I think over the last few years there's been some, you know, real estate investment trusts that have got to scale. [00:16:54] Zac: And so it kind of got these telecom companies thinking, "Hey, maybe I should go you know, sell into this market, see if we can apply the same principles of this program from apartments to single family." But it hasn't yet been done at any sort of significant scale. It's kind of a new concept. Now that we have hundreds of thousands of homes, that we are effectively the on switch for, we're helping to source these deals. [00:17:20] Zac: And we're able to bring, you know, significant discount from retail pricing to property managers and consumers. So we we're adding that as a new program that we're doing. We're calling it like Fiber Ready Homes. So it's a cool thing because we can help property managers identify what portion of their portfolio has the underlying technology at the home to have, you know, hyper fast internet speeds. [00:17:47] Zac: Yeah. And then do all of the enrollment process and the billing process to be able to offer a program like this. And and it's pretty gnarly. Like the average property manager that will turn on this program can make tens of thousands of dollars a year. It's roughly $10 per month per door. [00:18:04] Zac: So if you're a 300 door property manager, this is about $18,000. 18,000 per year that you'd be able to generate. And just, you know, kind of free cash flows for enabling something that the renters want.  [00:18:18] Jason: Right. Just making more money and yeah, I mean, high speed internet also being able to bring that to your units. [00:18:26] Jason: It creates a bigger incentive for people to rent it. I mean, it's definitely something I research before I buy a home or move anywhere. I'm always like, what Internet's available there because my life is going to be happening through this. And a lot of more people working from home, especially since Covid. [00:18:41] Zac: True. Yeah, that's a good point. I mean, I think a lot of renters see internet more important than running water in some ways. I mean, it's like everyone's on Netflix and doing work from home calls. You know, it's just, it's super important for renters.  [00:18:55] Jason: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. That's interesting. And it sucks though when you like if you rent somewhere and that you only have one option and it's not the option that you really want in that area because sometimes they've negotiated like, oh, it's Comcast cable or something like this, and it's low speed or whatever. [00:19:11] Zac: Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Sometimes you're kind of limited by what lines have been laid, and sometimes there's limited options, but it's cool because now we have these two programs. We have one, which is that one I just explained, and then we have a second one. We call it like a marketplace. So it'll truly show you everything that's available, every single company, every single speed all the details of it and help to facilitate just being able to turn it on a lot easier. [00:19:34] Jason: Got it. How does this work? Like a property manager gets set up in your system, they've got their properties, you know, in this, and then they can figure out the tenants when they're onboarding a new tenant, they're like, "Hey, before we give you keys and move you in, we want to make sure utilities are getting moved over." [00:19:49] Jason: So you help streamline this?  [00:19:51] Zac: That's right. Yeah. So it will connect seamlessly with property managers, property management software. Pull in the active listings that they have, and then it will have triggers around the move in date. So once someone's been approved and you have a move in date that's approaching. [00:20:08] Zac: It will send reminders and say, Hey, you know, you're moving in end of the month, like before you move in, please show that you've turned the electric on so that there's not going to be bill back problems and things like that.  [00:20:20] Zac: So, it handles the communication and then what's pretty cool about the tool too, is it's all white labeled. Utility Profit, it's not, you know, like a tenant friendly name, you know? Yeah. It's really for the property manager. And so, okay. We're just helping to facilitate these things. So it's got the property manager's logo, you know, we're more just the underlying technology, which I think is good because like a renter in the process doesn't want to get handed off to another third party. [00:20:48] Zac: They just want to... [00:20:49] Jason: yeah, "Who are these guys? Why should I trust them? I trust you. I'm working with you," but yeah. Got it. No, I think that's really smart. And so your business model then, your growth strategy really is to leverage and support the property managers.  [00:21:02] Zac: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. We're trying to partner with all the property managers in the single family rental space. [00:21:08] Zac: And you know, last I checked, you know, there's at least five to 10 million homes that are managed by third party property managers. And we want to become the main place where where people used to turn on utilities. And you know, we talked about entrepreneurs and having a big vision earlier in the call. [00:21:26] Zac: You know, I think we're solving an important problem by building this Google Maps of Utilities and also just making a better experience. I think anytime we start a business though, you're kind of thinking about like, okay, "Well if I'm able to pull this off, how could this even be even more significant long term?" [00:21:42] Zac: And one of the things that I've been just thinking about as I've been doing it is you know, today we are helping to connect the dots between these things, but I bet in the not too distant future, maybe a few years out, we'll be responsible for millions of homes in helping to turn on these utilities. [00:21:59] Jason: Yeah.  [00:22:00] Zac: We'll probably want to go down the stack of utilities, you know, instead of just directing you to be going to, you know, XYZ local power source. Maybe they get directed to a company that, similar to how we're able to get discounts on internet because we have so much scale, we could buy energy contracts in deregulated markets and, you know,  [00:22:22] Jason: okay. [00:22:22] Zac: Inch down becoming a utility.  [00:22:24] Zac: Okay.  [00:22:24] Zac: And so, I think it's a, it's an interesting thing.  [00:22:27] Jason: So you're saying maybe there's a potential the property manager could be the utility?  [00:22:32] Zac: We'll be able to help the property manager earn more money... [00:22:35] Zac: yeah. [00:22:35] Zac: ...on this process because we...  [00:22:38] Zac: just more margin [00:22:38] Zac: ...want to direct them to like a utility that we own. And we're able to help them monetize these other things like natural gas and electricity.  [00:22:49] Jason: Got it. Love it. Yeah. You're passing the benefit onto the property manager. So, yeah. That gives them quite an incentive to help you grow this. [00:22:55] Jason: Right. So I love it. So, I mean, this really gives property managers a strong competitive advantage over self-management then. [00:23:03] Zac: Yeah, I think so. You know, I think property managers, they have so many things that they're doing and this is one of those set it and forget it types of tools. You know, it's not something you have to have mastery over and like learn another thing, this is like you get on, you set the thing up, you get the logo added and get it synced to your PM software and then you're done with it and it just kind of is happening in the background and then just notifies you. [00:23:26] Jason: Got it. So the setup is pretty easy and then it makes it a lot easier for the property management team to make sure utilities are getting set up correctly. There's visibility into seeing what's been set up and what hasn't, it sounds like. And you mentioned integrations with property management software, and I know everybody listening's like, "but what about my software? The one I'm using?" Yeah. So what integrations do you guys have set up already?  [00:23:49] Zac: It's all the major ones. So what we find is like AppFolio is popular. Rentvine is becoming more and more popular. You know, Propertyware is another one. Buildium's one that we you know, have in the works too, but yeah, I think most people... [00:24:04] Zac: Rent manager? [00:24:05] Zac: Rent manager, yeah. That's one that we work with too. Yeah. I know there's a lot of options for property managers there, but yeah. [00:24:11] Jason: Very cool. Yeah. So everybody listening there. There you go. So they're like, "oh, he mentioned mine. I'm okay."  [00:24:17] Zac: Yeah, that's right. Yeah it's cool that it, you know, just works in a broad way like that. And it's kind of interesting too that the tool even is able to work you know, even if you don't even have a property management software to figure out some ways to you know, even work in that use case. [00:24:32] Jason: Sure.  [00:24:32] Zac: But most people have software.  [00:24:34] Jason: So as long as you can get the properties like into your system, then...?  [00:24:38] Jason: That's right.  [00:24:38] Jason: Got it. Okay, cool. But if they have those then and you have that connection, then it's, yeah, it'll just streamline things. Makes it even more turnkey.  [00:24:47] Zac: That's right.  [00:24:48] Jason: Got it. Cool. So, all right, so you, what else should people know about this? [00:24:52] Jason: Like what are the big questions property managers have been asking you?  [00:24:55] Zac: I think one question is, you know, how much money I earn from this? You know? Okay.  [00:24:59] Jason: They like, they want to know about the money. Let's talk about the money.  [00:25:03] Zac: So the average property manager will, it's a range of 25 to $40 per move that, that happens. [00:25:10] Zac: It ends up being about 25 to, to $30 on average is what we're seeing across the country. And so I think it's one of those things where it's like nice gravy. What we find is that the average property manager, they're like, "this is nice. I can make some extra money from it." But I think it's like, you know, not enough to go, you know, it just adds to the bottom line a little bit. [00:25:32] Zac: Every little thing. Sure. So the main reason why people use it is the time savings, you know? Absolutely. It's just one last thing to have to worry about. So that's that's what we're seeing as we talk to people.  [00:25:44] Jason: Yeah. Yeah, because I mean, just the amount of time you're paying a team member, if they're like 25 to $35 an hour, for example you know, they might be spending an hour or two here or there just calling, trying to negotiate back and forth with the tenant, get these things set up so. [00:25:59] Zac: Property management some days feels like death by a thousand mosquitoes.  [00:26:04] Jason: Oh yeah. I often joke it's, it can be death by a thousand cuts or it can be a really well oiled systemizable machine, but yeah. [00:26:12] Jason: Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, it offsets a little bit at the move in cost and then just the time savings. You're not having to pay your team to do all this communication. And you know, speed in onboarding is a real challenge for a lot of companies that are really in a high growth sort of state. [00:26:28] Jason: Like small companies might have a hard time just onboarding 10 units in a month, you know? Yeah. And larger companies, it can be pretty hairy if things aren't well dialed in.  [00:26:36] Zac: Yeah, I think that's a good point. It's all about having the systems in place. So that they scale.  [00:26:40] Jason: Very cool. [00:26:41] Jason: Well, is there anything else you think people should know about utility profit? And then we can get into like, how can they connect and get something like this going?  [00:26:50] Zac: Yeah. So the website's, utilityprofit.com.  [00:26:53] Jason: Okay.  [00:26:53] Zac: And it has some more information about how it works and has has some videos of the actual product. [00:26:59] Zac: You can see what it looks like from the renter's perspective, from your perspective and the dashboard that gives transparency. And and it kind of just walks you through everything about the product. And then there's a way on the website to be able to either book a demo if you have any questions about how something works. [00:27:17] Zac: And then, what we do is we'll just help you do like an onboarding call where we have people connect their PM software, upload a logo, invite their team members, really simple, straightforward process and then and then it's kind of good to go. So it's very streamlined thing. People typically will do it and it'll be live same day. [00:27:38] Zac: It's not like some big heavy lift or something. You just kind of go through this 15 minute process. We help you get it all synced up and then it's good to go.  [00:27:45] Jason: So, there's competition out there, right? Like this is a new thing in the space, but previously there's all these companies that try to, you know, negotiate and be able to pull in money and by being the person that gets people on a certain internet service or gets people and they get these kickbacks from the companies and that's how they make their money. [00:28:03] Jason: How do you feel like utility profits sort of stands out from those and I mean, my guess is you have the database, you have the data, like your ability to streamline. You're not having to go and start doing research and that you're just much faster.  [00:28:17] Zac: Yeah, I think that's exactly it. So there's been this whole category over the last couple years that's called a home concierge. [00:28:25] Zac: Yeah. And it's historically been like a call center model. Yeah. Where a rep will get the address and they'll, on your behalf, Google around, make some calls, you know, go try to set things up. And I think that was a helpful first step, and it seems like the natural thing that, that the industry would've been doing. [00:28:43] Zac: But this is just the natural progression of it, you know, building that database out, making it something that is like, you know, a true streamlined tool for everybody. And and just digitizing it a lot more.  [00:28:57] Jason: This is the future. This is the future. It's the next step. You're going to be a sponsor at DoorGrow Live. [00:29:02] Jason: So make sure, you know, everybody come to DoorGrow Live this year. Our theme this year is innovating the future of property management. And so we're going to be sharing innovative stuff. Innovative new models of pricing, not doing it the same way everybody else has been doing it, like percentage or flat fee. There's a lot of innovation and that's our goal at DoorGrow. We're always trying to figure out what are the most innovative stuff? We've got AI maintenance coordinators, we've got all sorts of stuff that are going to be showcased at this event. So if you don't want to be behind the times and have your lunch eaten by competitors and startups that are savvier and more focused on the future, make sure you come to DoorGrow Live. You're going to want to be there because the people that are at DoorGrow Live are going to be the ones that are getting a head start on these really effective cost, saving new tools, these ideas, they're going to help you have more profit in your business. [00:29:54] Jason: And so, Zac, we appreciate you being a sponsor. We're excited to showcase you and some other tools at our event, so.  [00:30:00] Zac: It's going to be fun. It'll be here right around the corner, so. [00:30:03] Jason: Check it out at doorgrowlive.com, and make sure you get your tickets. And we're going to be talking a little bit more in the future, probably on our podcast here. And just online about some of the cool things that you will get or learn if you come to DoorGrow Live this year in May at the Kalahari Resort in Round Rock, Texas. [00:30:20] Jason: So, cool. Well, Zac, is there anything else you want to share before you go? Parting word of wisdom for entrepreneurs out there that haven't had a hundred million dollar exits and built big giant things and they're just struggling to build their little machine, what would you say to them?  [00:30:36] Zac: I would just say like, whatever it is that you think that's holding you back, just start trying to do it. [00:30:43] Zac: You know? I think a lot of times you build up whatever it is in your head. And you think, "well, I would do it if I had this. Or what if I have to hire this person? Or, you know, I need to have this figured out, or I don't know how this works. Like I'm going to just say no to it." I would just say, just start doing it. [00:31:02] Zac: It doesn't have to be perfect to start. And the more you just take that first step it will become more clear and sometimes, it's harder to see the next 10 steps in front of you, but it's pretty easy to take that first step. So I'd say, have a bias for action. Get your hands dirty. Do it yourself. You have mentioned a lot of these things about AI and how the best companies are using ai. [00:31:25] Zac: We're really leaning into that as an organization. It doesn't matter what people's role is, we're saying. You know, download, ChatGPT three and talk to it. Ask it questions like, you know, there's so many cool resources today. It's the best time to figure things out and do things and and take that first step. [00:31:44] Jason: Yeah. GPT 4.5, we're getting clues of that's dropping and going to be out for everybody soon. And then Grok 3, I've been really geeking out on Grok 3, so it's pretty next level, so, but yeah. Cool. I love the idea. Done is better than perfect. I love the idea of rapid iteration. You know, so many times for those of you that are in the earlier stages of entrepreneurs listening to this, this is great advice because I've seen inside a lot of businesses, a lot of small businesses, and one of the biggest mistakes a lot of them make is they try to make everything perfect before they ship it, before they launch it. "I want to get all my processes dialed in," and they're trying to solve problems they don't even have yet. [00:32:20] Jason: They're trying to solve future problems instead of their current problem. And so rapid iteration really is the secret to growing a business quickly because you learn very fast what does and doesn't work. Just start trying shit. Just do it. Break stuff and you're going to learn way faster and everything's figureoutable, so.  [00:32:39] Zac: Yeah. And in that spirit, it doesn't matter what the thing is, you can always get feedback from it, even if it's not totally built yet, like it can be on a napkin, you know, or it could be the next level of that. But go build the thing in whatever low fidelity way. Yeah. [00:32:55] Zac: And then go talk to your customers about it. And this is going to have different applications for different types of business. because you're going to talk about different things. But you know, maybe you have a new program that you're thinking property owners might want to see, like get their feedback on it. [00:33:10] Zac: Or maybe you want to launch a new website or a new logo or whatever it is. I would just say, it doesn't have to be perfect, bring it but you have to get feedback on it. So definitely go and partner with who it is that is going to see it, and then just talk to them about it and say, "Well, how could this be better? What is this missing? What would be the next thing to do? If you could do anything with this, what would you do?" And, you know, people love to share advice. I mean, I think that's the other thing. Yeah. It's like over the last couple years since I've been doing entrepreneurship, I've been kind of amazed at how many people have been willing to share their time and their advice. [00:33:46] Zac: Yeah. And especially if you get an intro to someone from something. Yeah. You know, I think there's this huge thing of maybe you're afraid to ask for that intro or, you know, have that conversation because it's not perfect yet. I would say, you know, find the ideal person that you want to talk to and then figure out how to work backwards and how to get an intro to them and then have that conversation. [00:34:08] Zac: You know, I think you have to be vulnerable in it because you are going to come across dumb sometimes. You know, people are going to say like, "how did you not know this? Everyone knows this," but like, just lose your ego in that. Be okay with not being okay. And then you're going to feel a lot better because on the other side of it, you're going to learn so much. [00:34:27] Jason: Yeah, I think the secret to being smart is just being willing to look stupid. So, I mean, for sure. Ask the dumb question that you're afraid to ask because you're going to learn way faster. And I really think proximity is power. Like just another reason people should come to DoorGrow Live is I think we attract the most growth oriented property management, business owners in the industry and just being in proximity to all these sort of change makers and people trying new stuff and people experimenting, people willing to invest in themselves and to pay like coaches, like DoorGrow. And then I use all my clients as a mass rapid iteration sort of project. [00:35:05] Jason: Like we're always figuring out more and more stuff and I'm gathering these ideas and so we've got systems in place to just allow us to innovate in this industry a lot faster. And so we're really excited about bringing these kind of things to DoorGrow Live and showcasing it. [00:35:19] Jason: So if you're not part of our program, you're not one of our clients. Come check out the magic at DoorGrow Live. Connect with some of the people there and you might realize you found a home, so yeah, your family might be there. So yeah, entrepreneurs we're different breed of people. We, you know, we take risks, we're willing to try new things, and we're not focused primarily on safety and security. [00:35:39] Jason: We're focused more on fulfillment and freedom and contribution. And so this natural offshoot, entrepreneurs are the most helpful people, especially the healthy ones. When you're in a healthy growth-minded state, you want to benefit and help everybody. You're not gatekeeping information like people are sharing stuff and so yeah, I found the same thing to be true in the high level masterminds, coaches that I work with. [00:36:00] Jason: Like just being around the people in these programs has been probably the biggest benefit more than even learning from the guru or whoever that is sharing stuff sometimes. And so, yeah, proximity.  [00:36:11] Zac: Yeah, I think that's well said. You kind of become an average of the people that you spend most time with. [00:36:15] Zac: So if you're around, you know, someone who's going to be pessimistic about everything, then chances are, not going to try things as much. I mean, that, that was like one of the reasons why I had originally moved from, you know, where I was growing up in New Hampshire. I remember when I was pitching Favor when I was 20 something people were like, "ah, no one's going to pay five bucks for something like that. And how do you know how? You don't know how to code. You can't figure that out. Right? Go get a job like everybody else." And then I kind of moved and found my tribe you know, and in Silicon Valley area and then in Austin, Texas. And then next thing you know, I'm actually doing the thing.  [00:36:53] Jason: I think even if people just come to DoorGrow Live to connect with somebody like you and they can create a relationship with somebody like you or any of the change makers or players that we attract at our event. [00:37:05] Jason: I mean, you've done things that a lot of people would dream of being able to do in business, right. And so come make those connections, come to DoorGrow Live and make some connections because it's going to change your life for sure. So, well Zac, I appreciate you coming on the show. People can connect with your company at utilityprofit.com. [00:37:22] Jason: Do a demo. And it's been great having you here.  [00:37:26] Zac: Hey, thanks so much for having me on Jason.  [00:37:28] Jason: All right, so everybody, if you are struggling to grow your business or you're struggling to deal with operations, reach out to us. Check us out at DoorGrow.com. We would love to have a conversation, see if we might be able to help you with something. [00:37:39] Jason: And that's what we do all day long and we care about our clients. We really want to make sure that everybody succeeds. We only win if you're winning. And so until next time, everybody to our mutual growth, let's all win. Bye everyone. 

The US is projected to add an additional 26 GW of solar capacity in 2025. Solar has been one of the energy transition's biggest success stories, but there are dark clouds gathering. Uncertainty is the biggest barrier to deployment at the moment: there's potential changes coming with federal tax credits and trade policies (some of which are already having an impact), and the perceived risks are high for investors of solar projects. To find out how developers and manufacturers are mitigating these risks, Sylvia Leyva Martinez, principal analyst covering solar markets at Wood Mackenzie, is joined by Mike Hall, CEO of Anza Renewables. Mike talks through the data he's analysing; Anza is seeing supply chains diversify and financial incentives like the ITC Adder helping developers. Despite efforts to bolster domestic manufacturing, China continues to dominate the global solar market. What are the impacts of Trump's tariffs on domestic manufacturing? With a quarter of the year already gone, what have we seen in solar investment? How can long-term planning be done when so much is up in the air?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.