At a regulated utility, an executive with budget authority signs, and the state commission later decides whether customers pay for it. At a data center operator, a capex committee approves the spend, and joint venture partners must agree. At an independent power producer (IPP), the asset manager signs, and lenders must consent to material contracts.
Who signs at a regulated utility, and where does the commission come in?
The utility signs the contract. The public utility commission (PUC) decides later, in a rate case, whether the cost goes into customer rates. NARUC's reference manual for commissioners states the test: recoverable costs are "used and useful" plant and prudently incurred capital and operating expenses (NARUC, accessed October 2026). NiSource's 2025 annual report describes rates set to recover "prudently incurred operating and capital costs" plus a return on invested capital (NiSource 10-K, February 2026).
This adds a regulatory affairs lead to the deal. Your business case may become rate case evidence, so state the problem, the options considered and the cost per customer.
Pricing structure decides some utility deals. A utility earns a return on capital in rate base. NARUC's 2020 cloud computing brief says a SaaS contract is usually an operating expense with no return, and that as of September 2020 only a few states had approved treating SaaS as a capital expense (NARUC CPI, 2020). Ask the finance and regulatory team how they book a contract like yours before you send a price.
Security review is set by a standard. NERC CIP-013-2, approved by FERC in March 2021, requires a documented supply chain risk plan for medium and high impact grid cyber systems. Procurement under that plan must cover vendor incident notification, disclosure of known vulnerabilities, verification of software integrity and control of vendor remote access (NERC). If your product touches those systems, expect contract terms for each item.
How long does a utility RFP take, and who votes at public power?
Plan for eight months or more. Many municipal utilities and cooperatives set rates through their own board, so the board takes the regulator's place. The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) board adopted its own rates by resolution after a public hearing in June 2025 (SMUD Resolution 25-06-15).
SMUD's August 2026 board packet shows the full path for one procurement (SMUD, August 2026):
- The RFP was issued in December 2025.
- Eleven proposals arrived on 6 March 2026, and ten were responsive.
- Staff shortlisted the five highest scorers and negotiated price with them.
- The board voted on the award on 20 August 2026, with a not-to-exceed value of $250 million.
That is about eight months from RFP to vote. At the same meeting, the board ratified a $2.5 million emergency repair contract under its procurement delegation policy. Even an emergency purchase went back to the board.
Who signs at a data center operator?
In our reading, a capex committee approves each project budget, and the vendor decision sits inside that build. Public filings show the spend. Equinix spent $4.3 billion on capital expenditures in 2025, up from $3.1 billion in 2024 (Equinix 10-K, February 2026). The same filing names access to power as a limit on where it can expand.
Joint ventures add a second approver. For its joint ventures that are variable interest entities, Equinix states that decisions on construction, operations, financing and real estate need the consent of both Equinix and its partners.
We expect the head of design and construction, or a regional development lead, to be the economic buyer. Critical facilities or electrical engineering owns the technical evaluation and the design standard. Procurement wants a vendor it can buy from across many sites. When a tenant leases the capacity before it is built, the tenant's design requirements can set the specification.
Who signs at an independent power producer?
In our judgement, the asset manager owns the operating budget for a portfolio of plants and usually signs. On a project-financed plant, the lenders hold a veto over material contracts.
A financing agreement for a utility-scale solar project, dated November 2023 and filed with the SEC in 2026, shows how tight this is (SEC EDGAR, Exhibit 10.10):
- No material project document may be amended, terminated or waived without written approval from the agent acting for the majority lenders.
- Change orders under the construction, transformer and module contracts skip consent only below $2,000,000 in total, with schedule and warranties unchanged.
- Any new project contract needs the lenders' prior written approval.
- Each annual operating budget must satisfy the agent.
Lenders depend on an independent engineer. A law firm primer on project finance lists a report from that engineer confirming the technology is commercially viable as a condition to closing the loan. It adds that lenders "almost never want to be the first to finance an untested technology" (Wilson Sonsini, 2012). If your product changes how a financed plant runs, bring operating history and warranty terms the engineer can review.
What does each member of the buying committee need to see?
Titles and blockers are our judgement. Confirm them at each account.
| Buyer | Role | Usual titles | What they need to see | Typical blocker |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Utility | Economic buyer | VP of distribution, grid operations or IT | Cost per customer and a result in their own data | No line in the approved capital plan |
| Utility | Technical evaluator | Engineering manager, OT or grid systems lead | A test on their network with a pass mark | Integration with existing control systems |
| Utility | Procurement | Supply chain or sourcing manager | Supplier registration, insurance, CIP-013 terms | Purchase must go through a formal RFP |
| Utility | Regulator or board | Regulatory affairs; board at public power | A cost the utility can defend as prudent | Subscription booked as expense with no return |
| Data center | Economic buyer | VP of design and construction, regional development lead | Cost per megawatt and the effect on the build schedule | Spend outside the project budget |
| Data center | Technical evaluator | Critical facilities or electrical engineering lead | Fit with the design standard and test data | Not on the approved vendor or design list |
| Data center | Procurement | Global sourcing or supply chain lead | Supply across many sites and delivery dates | No capacity to supply many sites |
| Data center | Capex committee and partners | CFO, investment committee, JV partner | Payback inside the project model | JV partner consent |
| IPP | Economic buyer | Asset manager, VP of asset management | Effect on output, availability or operating cost | Budget set a year ahead |
| IPP | Technical evaluator | Performance or reliability engineer | Results on a comparable plant | Warranty conflict with the original equipment |
| IPP | Procurement | Procurement or contracts manager | Terms that fit the project contract structure | Lender consent for a material contract |
| IPP | Lenders | Administrative agent, independent engineer, tax equity investor | Operating history and bankable terms | First-of-a-kind technology |
Who should outbound email first?
Email the technical evaluator first at all three buyer types. That person can describe the problem in numbers. The order is our judgement.
- Technical evaluator, with one problem you can measure on their system.
- Economic buyer, after the evaluator confirms the problem, with the cost case in their units.
- The approval step, early. Ask how the cost would be recovered, who sits on the capex committee, or which engineer the lenders use.
- Procurement last, to learn the RFP calendar, supplier registration and the board or committee dates.
Give each contact a reason tied to their role. Verify the list the week you send: in our data, 23% of B2B contacts marked deliverable had become invalid about ten weeks later (our data, October 2026; 520 contacts re-verified with a second verifier). Our Outbound service runs this sequence, and the free trial books your first three qualified meetings at no cost.
To map the buying committee at your target utilities, operators and IPPs, start with The Diagnostic at $2,500.