SEPA, SGIP announce plans to merge

Julia Hamm, president and CEO of the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA), and Sharon Allan, president and CEO of SGIP, announced this week the intent to merge the two organizations under the SEPA brand.

Speaking at a breakfast meeting at the DistribuTECH 2017 conference in San Diego, Hamm and Allan said that increased integration of the two organizations’ expertise led to the decision to merge. Increased prevalence of clean energy is causing changes in business models, regulations and customer engagement, which is SEPA’s focus. It is also causing enhanced planning, grid operations and technological advancement, which is SGIP’s area of expertise.

“Within SEPA’s mission of facilitating the electric power sector’s smart transition to clean energy future, integrating SGIP’s technical knowledge is another way to serve our members.” Hamm said. “Moreover, the combination of SEPA’s and SGIP’s resources and expertise will accelerate grid modernization efforts and have an even greater impact on the industry.”

The merger will bring up to 100 new member organizations to SEPA’s current base of 1,000 members.

The boards of both organizations have approved the merger. SGIP members will now vote on the merger plans. If approved, the merger could become legally finalized by the end of the first quarter of 2017, but the integration will be phased in during the remainder of the year. All SGIP staff will transition to new positions at SEPA and continue the work they began in their positions at SGIP.