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PacifiCorp filed documents with the California Public Utilities Commission on Friday, agreeing to terminate all its ratepayer-funded energy efficiency programs in California in exchange for a 0.7% reduction in user rates. The company had attempted to retain and redesign these programs but ultimately reached a settlement with the CPUC's Public Advocates Office, planning to phase them out by January 1, 2026.
On July 22, 2026, a transmission disturbance in Northern Virginia caused over 3 gigawatts of data center load to switch to backup power within seconds. Although it did not impact reliability, it served as a wake-up call for grid operations. ERCOT records show eight similar incidents between 2020 and 2023, and the Irish grid also experienced four large-scale data center load reductions between 2022 and 2025. Industry experts call for establishing an operating framework for large loads that covers fault ride-through, model validation, real-time telemetry, and recovery processes. NERC and FERC have begun advancing the development of relevant standards.
FedEx is advancing its healthcare logistics growth plan under Nick Gennari, who leads the newly formed FedEx Life Sciences unit. The company is leveraging dedicated teams, cold chain capabilities, and technology like FedEx Surround to capture more pharma and medical device shipments, targeting a share of the $80 billion addressable healthcare market.
Canada confirmed retaliatory tariffs of up to 50% on US imports, effective Sept. 8, targeting steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, electronics, seafood, and pulp and paper. The move mirrors US Section 338 and 232 duties and includes a $7.5 billion support package for affected businesses.
Trade tensions between the US and Canada have escalated again, potentially impacting the electricity sector. Canada has threatened to impose tariffs on electricity exports or halt exports entirely, which could affect electricity supply and prices in regions such as New England and New York.
U.S. energy bills continue to rise, and utility companies' internal gas and electricity divisions use conflicting forecasts for investment planning, which could lead to duplicate construction and idle assets. Taking National Grid in New York State as an example, its electricity division forecasts over 30,000 new heat pumps by 2030, while the gas division plans to invest $550 million to support customer growth based on the assumption that electrification will stall. Experts point out that integrated gas and electricity planning is key to solving this problem.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced a new round of tariffs on Canadian imports, including a 50% levy on cars, trucks, auto parts, and steel, set to take effect Jan. 1. The announcement follows the collapse of trade negotiations last week, with Canada vowing retaliatory measures.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems in Devens, Massachusetts, announced on July 30 that it had secured $1 billion in new funding, bringing total funding to $4 billion. CEO Bob Mumgaard stated that the funds will be used to complete the SPARC demonstration reactor and advance the deployment of its ARC commercial power plant in Virginia. Investors include pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and infrastructure companies, but only ENI and Google have publicly disclosed their identities.
In filings with FERC, Microsoft and PowerHouse Hillwood disclosed a dispute over the terms of agreements to serve their planned data centers. Microsoft argues that the agreement submitted by American Transmission Company (ATC) is flawed and could shift costs to ordinary customers; PowerHouse Hillwood, meanwhile, requests that FERC reject ComEd's cancellation notice, accusing it of abusing monopoly power.
The energy and utilities industry is facing complex challenges such as electrification, distributed energy resources, and electric vehicles, making traditional models that rely on human judgment insufficient. Vertical AI, as an intelligent technology tailored to industry-specific scenarios, is collaborating with human experts to form a new operating model. Based on SEW.AI's research on 470+ organizations, this article explains how "human + vertical AI" achieves decision-making at scale by connecting four-dimensional data—customers, employees, business, and grid—and lists practical case studies from utilities in Canada and the United States.