Uplight’s annual Customer Connect (UCC) conference is coming soon, taking place April 28–30 at The Rally Hotel in McGregor Square—a vibrant hub in the heart of downtown Denver.
UCC is designed for utility leaders, innovators, and partners dedicated to accelerating demand-side transformation. This year’s event focuses on three imperatives for delivering flexible, reliable, and affordable energy through the Demand Stack:
- Maximizing customer participation: Converting customers into active participants and grid partners at scale.
- Reimagining energy assets: Leveraging existing customer assets as reliable, measurable demand-side resources.
- Scaling grid predictability: Implementing AI-driven forecasting to build a predictable Demand Stack that utility program leaders and grid operators can truly rely on.
1.5 Days of Connection, Learning, and Actionable Insights
The event kicks off Tuesday afternoon with an optional Coors Field excursion, as well as product councils, a VPP workshop with Dominion Energy, a deep dive into customer research, and more.
On Wednesday, attendees can choose from a variety of impactful, collaborative sessions. A few we’re especially excited about include:
The Demand Stack session, featuring leaders from Evergy, Alliant Energy, and The Brattle Group. The session will reveal quantitative findings on Demand Stack benefits—including how the Demand Stack could increase Evergy’s demand-side management capacity by over 100 MW by 2030.
The Grid Utilization session, which explores how utilities can leverage utilization-first strategy that maximizes existing grid capacity to save customers an estimated $12–18 billion annually by 2030. We’ll highlight a real-world case study from Virginia, where this approach has already been translated into legislation—and explore what that means for customers, utilities, and the grid.
The DERMS session, which will cover best practices in managing distributed energy resources (DERs) across multiple use cases, from peak shaving to distribution market participation. Hydro One will share how they’re planning to deploy DERMS to coordinate complex DER portfolios into cohesive grid resources.
The Demand Response in Community-Owned Energy session, which dives into the unique challenges and opportunities that Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs), municipal utilities, and cooperatives—including Jackson EMC and CORE Electric—face in launching demand response and virtual power plant programs. Jackson EMC and
View the full agenda to learn about each of the 16 collaborative sessions!
Keeping the Energy Up, Beyond the Agenda
Just as important as the sessions are the connections made at UCC. Here’s what attendees can look forward to:
Tuesday afternoon, go on a Coors Field Tour to explore behind-the-scenes of one of Major League Baseball’s premier ballparks. You’ll see firsthand how the Colorado Rockies lead in sustainability, with LED sports lighting that saves nearly 400,000 kWh annually, solar panels in centerfield, and the MLB’s first-ever stadium garden.
Tuesday evening, the Welcome Reception at La Loma sets the tone for two days of connection with stunning rooftop views of Coors Field, hors d’oeuvres, and two crowd favorites: Megawatt Maniac trivia and the chance to create custom engraved luggage tags to take home.
Wednesday evening, head to Flight Club in the historic Union Station for food, craft drinks, and dart competitions to wind down after a full day of discussion.
Join Us in Denver
Space is limited to ensure the right mix of utility leaders and industry partners. There is no registration fee—attendees cover only their own travel and accommodations.
It’s not too late to request your spot at UCC 2026!
We can’t wait to see you in Denver.
