The energy industry is facing an impending workforce shortage. The shortage reflects an unprecedented number of retirements expected to occur in the next decade, coupled with increasing energy demand and changes in the skill sets needed to support shifts toward “greener” energy technologies. The U.S. Department of Labor predicts that 500,000 energy industry workers will retire over the next five to ten years, a turnover rate of 50 percent. Both the Department and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation have expressed concerns that the anticipated workforce shortfall threatens the reliability, efficiency, and security of utility services. This so called “graying of the workforce” suggests that state commissions should allocate resources to investigate the current and future staffing of the utilities they regulate, and should be prepared to encourage solutions where appropriate and mandate them where necessary.

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