CERAWEEK: Executives say utilities preparing for more-extreme weather

US utilities are having to prepare for extreme weather in ways they've never thought of before, from more devastating wildfires in the West to increased flooding and more hurricanes in the Southeast, executives said March 26.

At the same time, utilities are also facing the challenge of meeting increased electrification and rapid demand on the electrical system while keeping power reliable and affordable, executives said during the CERAWeek by S&P Global energy conference in Houston.

"We have to think about extreme weather in ways we've never thought about it before," said Chris Womack, Southern Company chairman, president and CEO. "We need to make sure we are getting ahead of it and be prepared for the most extreme conditions."

The country needs to accept that there are conditions that are causing more extreme weather, Womack said. The term 100-year events is often used, but Womack said if "100-year" events keep repeating again and again they're not 100-year events.

"We have to make sure we are looking a little bit deeper and understanding how extreme this can be and no matter what scenario plays out, making sure we are prepared for it so we can respond and restore service and also defend service as best as we can for all of our customers," Womack said. "We've got to prepare for some conditions that we've never prepared for in the past. Things will be more extreme than we expected."

California wildfires

Wildfires are the extreme weather issue that has hit California the hardest, Edison International President and CEO Pedro Pizarro said.

"We done a lot to harden the grid and decrease the probability of a catastrophic event happening, but we know that risk will never be zero," Pizaro said.

Two major fires erupted in Los Angeles in January 2025.

"It's likely that Edison's equipment could be found [responsible] of that ignition," Pizaro said about one of the fires. "That coincided with 100-mph winds, ground and aerial firefighters, insufficient water resources, gas continued to flow after the ignition, so a number of things that came together for a heart-breaking catastrophe."

Edison has replaced 7,000 miles of bare wire with insulated wire, he said about hardening the grid.

"We know a lot more is coming," Pizaro said about extreme weather and wildfires. "We know that by 2050, California will see 20% more impact from wildfires."

Utilities have a responsibility to prepare, but it needs to be a partnership with communities, so decisions are made in correlation to community actions, he added.

"We're going to see the average sea level rise, which means the storm surge will be even worse," Pizaro said. "We're going to see much more extreme heat. We're going to see more floods and more droughts. We need to be prepared for that now."