A single add-on registration will provide DTECH attendees with expanded educational content and networking opportunities in San Diego

PLMA, The Flexible Load Management Community, and the Smart Energy Consumer Collaborative (SECC), a nonprofit organization that studies Americans’ energy-related behaviors, interests and values, today announced that they are bringing a new experience to DTECH® 2026 in San Diego for utility professionals interested in load flexibility, distributed energy resources (DERs) and residential customer engagement.

With customer-sited DERs and load flexibility programs becoming increasingly essential to delivering reliable and affordable electricity to customers, PLMA and SECC are merging two existing DTECH partner events – PLMA’s Symposium on DER Grid Services and SECC’s Consumer Symposium – into a single, combined program that will explore two important angles of the distributed, flexible energy transition: grid operations and customer engagement.

The combined Symposia on DERs and Customer Engagement on Monday, February 2 will be available to all DTECH 2026 attendees for an additional $299 registration fee, and with this registration, attendees will be able to experience a joint keynote address in the morning, a follow-up panel with utility leaders in DERs and customer engagement, and several combined networking opportunities, including lunch, breaks and a closing cocktail reception on an outside terrace.

In the second half of the program after lunch, SECC’s 2026 Consumer Symposium and PLMA’s Symposium on DER Grid Services will function as separate tracks on customer engagement and grid operations, respectively, and attendees can pick-and-choose the sessions that are most relevant to them. PLMA’s sessions are ideal for utility planning, operations and program management professionals, while SECC’s program will be geared toward utility marketing, residential program management, market research and customer service professionals.

Registration for the Symposia on DERs and Customer Engagement is available now via DTECH, and the full event agenda will be available through both PLMA and SECC later this fall. For more info on SECC’s 2026 Consumer Symposium, including sponsorship and speaking opportunities, contact SECC’s President & CEO Nathan Shannon.