The Utilities Technology Council (UTC) is a global association focused on the intersection of telecommunications and utility infrastructure. UTC gives voice to the men and women in the utility workforce who create and maintain critical communications systems that help keep the lights on, the water and gas flowing. We represent the hands-on folks in the field and control rooms responding to storms, deploying new technologies, and securing energy and water infrastructure from all kinds of threats. UTC sits at the nexus between the energy and telecommunications industries, which are rapidly converging and becoming more interdependent. Embedded throughout utilities’ critical equipment is a series of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) networks providing utilities with greater control, protection and situational awareness over their infrastructure. These networks are so embedded into the grid that they are nearly as important to reliability as the electricity which flows through the lines. and Canada deploy some form of their own “private” ICT networks alongside the towers, lines, poles, and meters that make up their infrastructure. ICT networks are critical for day-to-day operational reliability, efficiency, resilience, storm response/recovery, cybersecurity, modernization, situational awareness, and the integration of distributed resources. Not only are these networks essential for the daily task of delivering electricity, as demands for utilities change, ICT networks are the key to Utility 2.0—likely a more decentralized, efficient, cleaner industry giving consumers more control over their usage. Through advocacy, education and collaboration, UTC creates a favorable business, regulatory and technological environment for organizations that own, manage or provide critical utility telecommunications systems. History: UTC was founded in 1948, to advocate for the allocation of additional radio spectrum for power utilities. Over the last 70 years, UTC has evolved into a dynamic organization that represents electric, gas and water utilities, as well as natural gas pipelines, critical infrastructure companies and other industry stakeholders.
