PowerGridTalks: From the Bucket Trucks to the Boardrooms
Sep 23, 2026 · 1 hr 41 min · 14 segments
Storm restoration is big business and it isn't always pretty. Nicole Rhodes (CEO) and Dustin Toney (Director of Storm Operations) of Center Phase Energy join PowerGridTalks fresh off a brutal storm…
Dustin ToneyGuest
Nicole RhodesGuest
Tom WilliamsonHost
So, Nicole, you've worked in the manufacturing, you've worked inside a big utility.
Which one of those roles gave you the biggest reality check? Was it your initial engineering role or was it when you switched over to the contractor side?
don't realize how much difference there is between the utility and the contractor side, right? Yeah.
And when you're at a utility, you have an opinion and a view of the contractor side.
When you come to the contractor side, you realize that most of those opinions and views are completely wrong.
And just, you know, there's a different level of hustle and grind and grit that you have to have to make it on this side of the industry.
So what was it? that kind of came to light for you when you went to the contractor side that you really didn't understand from each other.
They said, what's one thing that is completely different than you were like, I had no idea contractors had to do that.
I don't have a meter spinning over here, right? And so all the financial aspects of it, just the managing the business, very different challenges over here.
I mean, I tell you, that's probably the biggest rude awakening coming over to this side of the world.
And then, you know, I mean, I had opinions formed of the contractor side of the world.
So, Nicole, you've worked in the manufacturing, you've worked inside a big utility.
Which one of those roles gave you the biggest reality check? Was it your initial engineering role or was it when you switched over to the contractor side?
don't realize how much difference there is between the utility and the contractor side, right? Yeah.
And when you're at a utility, you have an opinion and a view of the contractor side.
When you come to the contractor side, you realize that most of those opinions and views are completely wrong.
And just, you know, there's a different level of hustle and grind and grit that you have to have to make it on this side of the industry.
So what was it? that kind of came to light for you when you went to the contractor side that you really didn't understand from each other.
They said, what's one thing that is completely different than you were like, I had no idea contractors had to do that.
I don't have a meter spinning over here, right? And so all the financial aspects of it, just the managing the business, very different challenges over here.
I mean, I tell you, that's probably the biggest rude awakening coming over to this side of the world.
And then, you know, I mean, I had opinions formed of the contractor side of the world.
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