By Global Energy Desk
Published: February 2026
Main Facts: The Affordability Disconnect in Modern Utilities
Across the modern energy landscape, utility providers of all sizes and service territories agree on one overarching reality: affordability is a top-tier priority. From massive investor-owned utilities scrambling to integrate power-hungry data centers to municipal cooperatives upgrading local distribution lines, energy leaders are working furiously behind the scenes to ease mounting financial pressure on ratepayers.
Yet, a profound disconnect remains between what utility operators think they are communicating and how ratepayers interpret these rising costs.
When monthly electricity and gas bills increase, the average consumer rarely pauses to analyze the complex web of market forces, sweeping policy mandates, regulatory requirements, and multi-billion-dollar grid modernization efforts driving those numbers upward. Instead, they focus entirely on the brand name printed on the billing envelope. To the end user, a higher bill is frequently misconstrued as unchecked corporate greed or widening profit margins rather than what it typically is: the necessary cost of keeping aging infrastructure online while preparing the grid for a clean energy transition.
Bridging this empathy and perception gap requires an urgent evolution in traditional corporate messaging. Utilities can no longer rely on silent efficiency gains or dense legal filings to justify their expenditures. Instead, they must actively, transparently, and directly demonstrate how long-term grid investments deliver tangible, everyday value to the people they serve.
Chronology: The Evolution of Greg Cornett’s Leadership Strategy
This challenge of public perception has increasingly taken center stage at major industry summits, most notably through the leadership and writings of Greg Cornett, President of Rhode Island Energy.
- The Pre-Executive Foundation: Having navigated complex energy dynamics from multiple professional vantage points—including private legal practice, multi-jurisdictional legal counsel, and executive-level operations—Cornett developed an early appreciation for the silos that naturally form between utilities, regulators, and consumers. He recognized that breaking down these administrative and communicative barriers is a mandatory prerequisite for successful grid modernization.
- The Transition to Rhode Island Energy: Upon stepping into leadership at Rhode Island Energy, Cornett immediately prioritized public-facing transparency as a core corporate pillar. He identified that defensive public relations campaigns were failing and that the utility needed to fundamentally alter its relationship with its customer base.
- Thought Leadership and Industry Advocacy: Over the past year, Cornett has amplified this message through high-profile commentaries and keynote appearances, including major addresses at events like DTECH Northeast.
- The Present Milestone: Ahead of his upcoming return to the DTECH Northeast stage—where he will headline a premier keynote panel alongside executive leaders from Eversource and the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities—Cornett sat down with industry media to unpack why public trust must be managed with the same rigor as any physical generation asset or transmission line.
Supporting Data: Demystifying the Customer Bill
The core of the consumer affordability crisis lies in a lack of financial granularity. Without contextual data, ratepayers operate in an informational vacuum, filling in the blanks with worst-case assumptions.
To combat this, Rhode Island Energy introduced a bold, proactive transparency initiative: biannual bill breakdowns. Rather than burying the numbers in fine print or corporate jargon, these breakdowns explicitly segregate three distinct cost streams:
- Supply Costs: The wholesale price of generating electricity or sourcing natural gas.
- Grid Infrastructure Investments: Capital expenditures dedicated to hardening the system against extreme weather, integrating renewable energy, and replacing decades-old transformers and lines.
- Regulated Rate of Return: The actual profit margin collected by the utility for its investors.
According to Cornett, this simple educational shift completely transforms the customer dialogue.
"We decided to break this down in very simple terms for our customers," Cornett explained during his interview. "We started including a document that outlines all components of a bill, including what a typical profit is on your piece of the bill. In our case for a typical residential customer, it’s only about $2.50 a billing period. That helps them understand that yes, we’re a business that has to make money, but that $2.50 is helping ensure a system that’s safe, reliable, and modern."
When customers realize that out of a hundred-dollar bill, only a couple of dollars constitutes the actual profit margin—while the rest is funneled directly into fuel, safety, and reliability—the emotional temperature of the consumer debate cools significantly. It shifts the narrative from perceived corporate exploitation to shared stewardship of critical community infrastructure.
Official Responses: Cultivating Utility Authenticity
For decades, the utility playbook for crisis communication and public outreach relied heavily on polished corporate spokespeople, heavily scrubbed marketing campaigns, and stock photography. However, the modern socioeconomic climate has made consumers deeply cynical of traditional public relations.
This skepticism has only accelerated with the massive influx of energy-intensive data centers straining local grids, coupled with a broader public unease regarding AI-generated content and faceless corporate automation. In this environment, hyper-polished, sterile messaging is not just ineffective—it is actively counterproductive.
Recognizing this shift, Cornett has championed a strategy of radical authenticity at Rhode Island Energy. This approach replaces corporate mouthpieces with the actual technical experts, engineers, and field personnel who maintain the grid day in and day out.
"Every single day we’re using real employees, rather than stock images in our messaging," Cornett noted. "Wherever possible, we use the people who are doing the actual work to talk about those investments. These are folks that live and work and play in the communities we serve, and it comes across a lot more sincere and believable when customers hear it from the men and women in the trenches."
This shift toward frontline storytelling acts as a humanizing bridge between the utility command center and the kitchen table. When a line worker explains why tree-trimming programs or smart-meter rollouts are necessary to prevent winter blackout scenarios, the message carries a weight that no traditional public relations executive could ever replicate.
Implications: Public Trust as an Operating Asset
Looking ahead across the next three to five years, the energy sector is poised for a technological revolution. Innovations ranging from flexible interconnections—which promise unprecedented speed-to-power for industrial and data-center developers—to AI-powered robotics automating utility-scale solar construction are set to dramatically streamline operations and optimize bottom lines.
However, industry analysts warn that technological efficiency alone will not solve the structural challenges facing modern utilities. With affordability pressures projected to persist amid inflation and surging demand, power providers cannot simply cross their fingers and hope that quiet operational efficiencies will satisfy the public.
Instead, Cornett argues that the entire utility sector must undergo a fundamental mindset shift regarding how value is communicated and measured.
"As an industry, I think we have to embrace the reality that public trust is an operating asset, and we have to treat it as such," Cornett emphasized. "We’re not going to be successful in making the investments that we need to make if we don’t have some level of public trust. That’s something that can be lost very, very quickly and takes a really long time to earn back."
The Path Forward for Grid Modernization
The implications of treating public trust as a core operating asset extend far beyond corporate branding. They touch upon every critical function of a modern utility:
- Regulatory Approval: Public utility commissions (PUCs) do not operate in a vacuum. They are acutely sensitive to ratepayer outcry. When a utility has cultivated a strong foundation of community trust and clear educational communication, regulatory bodies are more likely to look favorably upon rate cases necessary for long-term capital investments.
- Capital Attraction: Investors are increasingly scrutinizing environmental, social, and governance (ESG) metrics, alongside community relations risk. Utilities with contentious public profiles face higher costs of capital and greater hurdles in deploying infrastructure projects.
- Energy Transition Buy-In: The physical buildout of the clean energy economy—spanning high-voltage transmission corridors, massive wind and solar installations, and local battery storage facilities—requires local permitting and community acceptance ("Not In My Backyard" or NIMBYism). Trust is the ultimate currency that turns local opposition into community partnership.
While the tactical methods for cultivating this trust will vary depending on regional market structures, local demographics, and state regulatory frameworks, the strategic imperative remains universal. Securing the future of the power grid requires moving consumers past the psychological barrier of the monthly invoice and into a broader, shared understanding of how modern infrastructure investments protect local communities today while securing the energy ecosystem for generations to come.
To explore these themes further, industry professionals can attend the "Cultivating Public Trust as an Essential Affordability Strategy" keynote panel or register for upcoming sessions at DTECH Northeast.
