WORKSHOP

Heartland Utility Workshop

October 14th, 2026 | OG&E Headquarters, Oklahoma City

Regulators and customers are pushing Midwest utilities for greater reliability and affordability. Vegetation management budgets, meanwhile, get hit with the same scrutiny as every other line item on the sheet. Whether to invest in better data isn't really up for debate anymore. What's harder is building the business case for it internally.

This invite-only roundtable brings together a small group of VM and operations leaders from across the Midwest to explore how utilities are using remote sensing to unlock budget, reduce risk, and demonstrate ROI to leadership.

The session is designed as a peer-to-peer conversation built on stories from utilities that have already made the shift to a data-driven approach.

Topics will include:

• The 5 biggest budget unlocks utilities are seeing from remote sensing

• How to frame risk-with-spend for executive and regulatory audiences

• Moving from time-and-equipment models to fixed-cost, predictable programs

• Lessons from utilities navigating wildfire mandates and storm resilience goals