Diversity, inclusion at heart of energy industry’s service to community, NARUC panel says

Published on November 14, 2022 by Liz Carey


Warning: Undefined variable $post_id in /var/www/dailyenergyinsider.com/wp-content/themes/dei/single.php on line 31

Warning: Undefined variable $post_id in /var/www/dailyenergyinsider.com/wp-content/themes/dei/single.php on line 36
© Shutterstock

Diversity and inclusion programs not only help companies expand their workforce, but also provide energy companies with the ability to give their communities a voice, panelists said during the opening day of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) Annual Meeting in New Orleans on Sunday.

Representatives from the energy sector joined Judith Williams Jagdmann, NARUC president and commissioner on the Virginia State Corporation Commission, to discuss how energy stakeholders are changing through diversity, equity and inclusion directives in the post-pandemic world.

Panelists Deanna Rodriguez, CEO of Entergy New Orleans; Gil Quinones, CEO of Commonwealth Edison (ComEd) in Illinois; and Constance Thompson, vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion for the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE), spoke at length about how the energy workforce is changing, but also how the energy industry can affect change through its actions.

Rodriguez said she runs one of the few utilities that is led by three women of color: Rodriguez, as a Latino woman, is assisted by two African American women, Sandra Diggs-Miller, vice president of customer service, and Courtney Nicholson, vice president of regulatory and public affairs. Being a diverse workplace shows from the top down and to the bottom up that diversity is an important part of a utility’s commitment to its community.

“It’s not just about being who you are, but doing what you do. And then it’s speaking up and taking notes,” Rodriguez said. “If you happen to be whatever gender and color you are, and you look around and you’re the only person of that gender or color in the room, think about how that feels and should you be saying things and inviting other people to the table… it’s important to be at the table, not just to take up space, but to speak up and bring those policy changes about.”

A diversity workforce is important to all aspects of an organization, Quinones said. At ComEd, he said, diversity is part of the utility’s DNA.

“We draw our strength from diversity,” he said. “Everybody contributes and everybody belongs. I look at it from three different perspectives: from our workforce perspective and from a business perspective, and I look at it from the perspective of addressing the climate crisis and how we prioritize our investments to make sure that there is a just transition in the energy transformation that is going on.”

Investing in diversity, Quinones said, not only helps to ensure that an organization looks like the community it serves, but also provides an organization with an increased workforce. ComEd partners with community organizations and public schools to create infrastructure academies to introduce students to careers within the infrastructure field, from linemen to support workers. The program also includes encouraging women to be linemen and learn the job.

“It makes a difference,” he said. “Outside of our business, it provides workforce members to the vendors who supply us with our equipment that we put on our grid. But it also provides economic opportunities to the neighborhoods and communities that we are privileged to serve.”

Rodriguez added that diversifying a workplace must be a part of any organization’s efforts to identify the workforce of the future. And the issue of employee retention remains challenging in a post-pandemic world.

Thompson said creating an inclusive workplace has to start with organization-wide efforts that are backed up by investments.

“It must be a strategic part of your business strategy,” she said, “and must touch people on an individual, interpersonal, group, and organizational level. Think about what it is and what you’re doing and how it will affect people. And it must be intentional, when I say intentional, I mean it must have money behind it, it must be an organizational commitment and it must be tied to your organization’s values.”

Committing to diversity within the workplace can affect the community’s perception of the organization, Quinones said, but the organization’s efforts to recognize diversity in its suppliers can also increase other organizations’ efforts to ensure diversity, equity and inclusion in their own workplaces. Quinones said that ComEd publicly recognizes companies that share their commitment to diversity and mirror the organization’s values.

Above all, ACORE’s Thompson said, organizations need to envision a time when focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion isn’t something they need to do. Organizations need to plan out the measurements they see in themselves and their suppliers that will identify when their goals have been met.

“The goal of these (programs) is for them to go away,” she said. “You should have a part in your strategy that measures when does this go away … These programs are not supposed to last forever.