The Utility Broadband Alliance (UBBA) has announced that Oncor Electric Delivery Company and the Lower Colorado River Authority (LCRA) will serve as host utilities for the 2026 UBBA Summit & Plugfest, scheduled for Oct. 12-15 in Fort Worth, Texas. Malia Hodges, senior vice president and chief information officer for Oncor, will deliver the event's keynote address.

The annual conference will bring together utilities and technology providers to discuss how advanced communications infrastructure can support grid modernization efforts. Organizers say growing electricity demand driven by population growth, artificial intelligence (AI), electric vehicles and renewable energy, combined with increasing cybersecurity threats, extreme weather and changing load patterns, is driving the need for faster, more secure and lower-latency communications networks.

The event will focus on how private LTE networks can support utility operations through emerging applications, including AI-enabled grid monitoring and controls and next-generation advanced metering infrastructure (AMI 2.0).

The 2026 program will feature the annual Plugfest testing event, showcasing four AMI 2.0 use cases operating over private LTE infrastructure:

• Waveform capture and post-event control.
• Load disaggregation and scheduling.
• Local distributed energy resource (DER) and flexible load control.
• Fault detection and location.

Additional sessions will include presentations, panel discussions, fireside chats, case studies and technical sessions focused on utility communications. Southern Company will present lessons learned from deploying an AI-enabled weather station fleet over private LTE, while LCRA and Burns & McDonnell will share a case study on improving worker safety, grid reliability and flood preparedness.

A fireside chat featuring Black & Veatch and Grain Management will examine approaches for developing a business case for private LTE ownership and acquiring spectrum for deployment.

Scheduled utility presenters include Ameren, ComEd, Evergy, Southern California Edison, SouthernLinc and Tampa Electric. Infrastructure and technology providers participating in the program include Anterix, AT&T, Ericsson, GE Vernova, Nokia, Palo Alto Networks, Sitenna, Verizon and West Monroe.

The conference also will feature a panel discussion moderated by utility industry analyst Mike Smith examining findings from UBBA Insights: The Utility Broadband Revolution, a research initiative launched in early 2026 to identify lessons and opportunities from utility broadband deployments.

Registration for the 2026 UBBA Summit & Plugfest is now open.