The strength of the Energy Central Community comes in the collective knowledge, experiences, and insights, and key to that are our esteemed Experts. As such, Energy Central is excited to welcome Guy Harris (Director at ScottMadden) as one of the newest Energy Central Featured Experts, bringing over 25 years of experience across the electric, gas, and water sectors.
With a unique perspective developed through both consulting and utility-side roles, Guy has helped organizations navigate strategic planning, improve operational performance, and rethink how utilities manage supply chains and adopt new technologies. Now, as part of the Energy Central community, he’s here to lend that deep expertise to our ongoing conversations, offering insights into the practical challenges and solutions that are reshaping the energy landscape.
In this introductory interview, we give Guy the floor to share more about his professional journey, the biggest strategy gaps utilities face, how AI and data are transforming operations, and what he believes needs to change for the industry to truly meet customer needs. This conversation is just the beginning—Guy is eager to connect, answer questions, and join thoughtful exchanges with his fellow industry peers.
Join us in welcoming him and dive into the discussion below!
Matt Chester: Welcome to Energy Central as one of our Featured Experts! I'd love to give you a chance for the community to get to know you, so please start by introducing yourself, sharing your role in the power sector, and discussing your key areas of interest and expertise.
Guy Harris: I have been engaged in the electric power and natural gas industry for over 25 years. I have served as both an external consultant and adviser to company leaders, as well as been a team member for a large electric and natural gas utility. I also spent a few years in the water space.
My areas of expertise and interest are focused on strategy development and operations performance improvement. This enables me to engage in various places across the energy value chain. I have also assisted clients with improving their supply chain operations.
MC: Strategic planning and execution have been a significant focus of your career. What do you think is the biggest gap utilities face when translating strategy into action?
GH: Primarily, it involves maintaining discipline to stay focused on the longer term and the developed goals and objectives, and continuing to navigate the pathway to achieve them. While all plans are developed with good intent, it is easy to become embroiled in the "near term" and "next quarter" challenges and issues.
In addition to maintaining focus, it is having the agility to adjust to changes as they arise and navigate through them. Changes and challenges are inevitable.
Eisenhower said, "Plans are worthless, but planning is everything" (or words to that effect). This emphasizes the importance of planning and ensuring you have the ability (and foresight) to handle contingencies. Mike Tyson was a bit less eloquent: "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth".
MC: Given your experience in water, electric, and gas sectors, where do you see the most significant innovation or transformation happening today?
GH: The amount of information and data available to utility operations is unprecedented. The "winners" in the space will be those who have a defined plan for what they are accessing, measuring, collecting, why they are doing this (to what end), and how they will use this to improve and advance. This can span the spectrum: delivering best-in-class service to customers because you know how and why they are using energy and water; improving overall customer service because you foresee possible issues; ensuring energy is always available, addressing an emerging maintenance issue before a forced outage occurs, efficiently deploying capital to optimize growth opportunities and operations improvements, etc.
The use of AI is related to this. The technology presents great opportunities, but the questions of "what, why, how…and when" need to be addressed.
Our firm has seen technology deployed for FOMO, with no plan for what is needed and why. This is money and opportunity wasted. Fortunately, we can help with this and either make corrections or, better yet, proactively address the issue by developing a thoughtful plan beforehand.
MC: If you could wave a magic wand and change one thing about how the utility industry operates today, what would it be and why?
GH: I would like to see better coordination and integration between utility operations, energy policy, and regulation, as well as a clearer understanding of what customers truly want and need, to provide safe, reliable, affordable, and clean energy for many years to come.
This would enable a more efficient deployment of capital, improved service to customers, and an overall optimized system. I also think this would help improve customers' appreciation and knowledge of these essential services.
MC: What are you excited about when it comes to becoming a part of the Energy Central Community? What value do you hope to bring to your peers, and what are you hoping you'll get out of it personally?
GH: Having the ability to engage with energy leaders in a variety of areas and challenges that we all face. In this way, we can best advance our industry. Overall, we stand out in the level of cooperation and sharing that occurs across all sectors.
I hope to contribute to the quality of the discussion and enhance understanding and knowledge.
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Thanks to Guy for joining me for this interview and providing a wealth of insights and expertise to the Energy Central Community. You can trust that Guy will be available for you to reach out and connect and ask questions as an Energy Central member, so be sure to make him feel welcome when you see him across the platform.