A new initiative launched by the Gee Strategies Group, the "Utility Commissioners/Wall Street Dialogue” is an executive-level, interactive program aimed at establishing a greater level of understanding and awareness between two sets of participants vital to the continued health and growth of the investor-owned, electric utility sector: the regulatory and financial communities. Convened for the first time in New York City for one and one-half days, this Dialogue consisted of a series of moderated conversations between the following:

• State Utility Commissioners
• Chief executive officers of utilities, and
• Senior executives from credit rating agencies, security analysts, and investment banks

The purpose was not to reach a consensus, but rather to achieve a better understanding among all participants of the vital role each community plays in the process of balancing public interest concerns with the need of investor-owned utilities to remain financially viable and to access capital on reasonable terms.