WASHINGTON (November 12, 2025) — CNBC’s Power Lunch co-anchor and Senior National Correspondent Brian Sullivan hosted a series of live interviews earlier this week with top electric company CEOs during the Edison Electric Institute’s (EEI) 60^th Financial Conference. The conversations explored how America’s electric companies are making record investments to deliver reliable, affordable energy that powers innovation, drives the nation’s economy, and supports American families and businesses. 

Scroll through for highlights from EEI member company leaders' interviews with CNBC:

Duke Energy President and CEO Harry Sideris
“We want to make sure that we protect our customers,” said Sideris. “We’re doing everything we can to keep costs as low as possible, utilizing tax credits where we can to return money to our customers and making sure that artificial intelligence firms are paying their fair share.” 

EEI Chair Calvin Butler, President and CEO of Exelon
“We have increased demand [at a level] we haven’t seen in the last 30 to 40 years, but we continue to play by the same rules that have governed our industry for the last 50,” said Butler. “We have to change the landscape. Where you see utilities not owning generation, supply is not showing up to meet demand… [We need] utilities to get into the generation business.” 

Pacific Gas & Electric Company CEO Patti Poppe
“Our electricity rates are down. We’ve lowered our rates three times in the last 15 months and they’re going down again in 2026,” said Poppe. “We’ve got the right rate design in California so that residential customers only benefit from new and growing load [from data centers and artificial intelligence companies].” 

NextEra Energy Chairman, President, and CEO John Ketchum
“We’re truly an all-of-the-above energy company, [we’re investing] in gas-fired generation, nuclear, transmission, pipelines, renewables, and energy storage,” said Ketchum. “We need a combination of all of these technologies to really get as much power on the grid as possible. We are leading in energy dominance and trying to do our part to help America.” 

Edison International President and CEO Pedro J. Pizarro
“[Our communities] need healthy utilities to provide safe, reliable, clean, affordable power,” said Pizarro. “California has been working with utilities and other [groups] over the last several years to find better ways to mitigate wildfire risk. The state created a wildfire insurance fund and set up liability caps, which help to strike the balance between accountability and maintaining financially healthy utilities.”

EEI President and CEO Drew Maloney
“The energy grid is the most critical engine that we have in America. If the energy grid doesn't work then America doesn’t work,” said Maloney. “That’s why EEI member companies are investing more than $1 trillion over the next five years to make sure that we have the energy infrastructure that we need to reliably and affordably provide energy to this growing economy.”

EEI's 60^th Financial Conference brought together more than 1,300 electric company leaders, investors and Wall Street analysts, and technology company executives to discuss the opportunities and challenges facing the electric power industry. EEI member companies are investing nearly $208 billion in 2025—and more than $1.1 trillion through 2029—to meet rising demand, ensuring reliable energy for American families and businesses while spreading costs across a larger customer base to enhance affordability and fuel economic growth.

Click here for more highlights from EEI's 60th Financial Conference.