A landscape of solar panels.
The Coastal Conservation League’s Energy & Climate Program staff attended the May 17-20th, 2026 Annual Education Conference of the Southeastern Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (SEARUC) in Biloxi, Mississippi. The annual event, which is hosted in a different state each year, brings together regulators, industry staff, consumer and environmental advocates, consultants, and other interested stakeholders in the regulated electric, gas, and water utility businesses.
The South Carolina Public Service Commissioners in attendance this year were Justin Williams, Florence Belsor, Mike Caston, and Swain Whitfield. There were also representatives from other consumer and environmental advocacy groups, including the Sierra Club, Southern Environmental Law Center, the World Resources Institute, the Rocky Mountain Institute, and the National Resources Defense Council.
This year, like in many other parts of the country, the biggest focal point was addressing the growing demand for electricity due to AI data centers. While the Southeast has never been a leader in clean energy, the programming at this year’s conference was unusually focused on promoting the role of fossil fuels in meeting demand growth.
Many speakers and panelists packaged their promotion of fossil fuels as an i“all-of-the-above" approach to energy dominance, though some also lobbed misleading critiques of renewable energy. Notable speakers in favor of this new all-the-above vision included the former senior economic advisor to President Trump, Stephen Moore, and Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves. Similarly, the Chairman of the Mississippi Public Service Commission, Chris Brown, drew on the historic importance of this new era of data center demand growth, harkening back to Edison’s invention of the lightbulb.
Several other panels focused on nuclear development, grid reliability, and cybersecurity. The most helpful presentation from our perspective was given by Michael Hagerty of the Brattle Group. Hagerty offered an overview of some of the opportunities to improve upon transmission planning processes in the Southeast, and he highlighted the billions of dollars of potential benefits that could flow to Southeastern ratepayers if best practices were implemented.
Attending the SEARUC conference enabled our team to establish many new professional connections in the energy space, and we also gained some helpful insights into the ways Southeastern utility commissioners are thinking about important policy issues, particularly regarding data center load growth. Next year’s conference will be in Destin, Florida.