People often think of Energy Access as only applicable to people who live in Africa or South Asia in extreme energy poverty. While nearly one billion people who live off-grid with absolutely no electricity access are top-of-mind, there are a host of other communities that struggle with the same underlying technological challenges. Recognizing this common technology thread and the decentralized energy access solutions which are becoming an increasingly important component of the electricity infrastructure based on robust cost-effective solutions in the area of energy access, the IEEE Power Electronics Society IEEE launched the Empower a Billion Lives (EBL) global competition followed by establishing anew Technical Committee (TC-12) to focus on area of energy access through decentralized solutions. This year TC-12 will organize a recurring conference, the IEEE International Decentralized Energy Access Solutions (IDEAS) Conference that provides a forum for bringing together technologists and practitioners in the broad area of energy access. The IEEE IDEAS Conference include keynote addresses, technical paper and poster presentations, tutorials, special sessions, as well as sessions on other key factors such as business models, funding, policies and regulations, social impact, adoption drivers, etc. IDEAS will also host a special session of the Empower a Billion Lives Forum that brings together energy access practitioners from around the world for cross-cutting discussions on energy access challenges and opportunities. Finally, as the originating TC for the IEEE Empower a Billion Lives (EBL) global competition, IDEAS will be a venue for the EBL2025 competition planning and prelaunch events (EBL2025 Global Final will be held at IEEE SPEC in Johannesburg, SA)