Industry and national labs back reauthorizations and Etech to help rural utilities and improve threat coordination
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Summary
Trade groups, cooperatives and national labs urged Congress to reauthorize rural and municipal utility cybersecurity funding, expand Etech, and speed fund disbursement so small utilities can access upgrades, training and shared services to reduce vulnerability to cyber and physical attacks.
Representatives of the electric industry, rural cooperatives, public power and national laboratories told the subcommittee that federal programs and lab partnerships are critical to raising the cybersecurity baseline for smaller utilities.
Scott Aronson of the Edison Electric Institute described a "defense in depth" approach and cited information‑sharing venues such as Etech and the Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center (E‑ISAC) as important tools for rapid detection and mitigation. "Etech has allowed a small but growing subset of companies to work side by side with government to understand threats and to develop mitigation strategies," Aronson said.
Dr. Nate Melby of Dairyland Power Cooperative said the RMUC program has already produced awards that will benefit hundreds of cooperatives but urged DOE to speed disbursement and ease application burdens that favor better‑resourced applicants. He described specific uses for RMUC awards — managed detection and response, intrusion prevention, vulnerability assessments and shared training exercises — and said those investments let small utilities access capabilities they could not afford individually.
Rebecca O'Neil of PNNL detailed the laboratory's work supporting state energy security plans, including multi‑round reviews, training cohorts, and applied studies on fuel supply and interdependencies. Adrienne Lotto of APPA said public power utilities value mandatory standards, harmonized regulations, and federal‑lab partnerships that translate research into operational tools.
Panelists urged Congress to reauthorize the rural and municipal program, clearly define Etech's mission to avoid mission creep, and ensure money flows to under‑resourced utilities so they can adopt basic cyber hygiene and incident response playbooks. The panel described exercises (ClearPath, Citrix testing) and lab capabilities (EagleEye situational awareness) that the DOE and national labs run with industry to prepare for cascading incidents and extreme weather.
Lawmakers asked for examples of program improvements and for the record on how funded projects will be prioritized to balance affordability and resilience. The witnesses recommended continued bipartisan funding and clearer implementation timelines.
