Commission Watch

“I work with our Office of General Counsel, when we get a Public Information Act request, to handle our agency’s response. We work with the Department of Information Technology – an arm of state government – to facilitate those requests, if necessary.”

“I’m a liaison to the legislature as well as other state, local, county, and federal agencies, and also liaison with the Governor’s office. I am uniquely positioned to see issues that are bubbling to the surface.”

“ I advise the Chair and Commissioners on a variety of legal and policy matters. There are four senior Commission advisors, and we serve in a number of roles.”

“I hope we can keep a hybrid aspect of the virtual hearings because there’s been more public participation, particularly when we have our administrative meetings, requiring representatives for companies to come here for a 3-to-5-minute presentation.”

“I’m hoping soon we can begin to implement performance-based rates and performance incentive mechanisms.”

“Now we start the process of helping a lot of small businesses and customers get back on their feet. That’ll take more time, probably a little longer than the pandemic took.”

“During the pandemic that has been a little challenge because you don’t see body language. That’s the whole point of a hearing is when you have a witness sitting before you to talk to you, you can assess their demeanor.”

“Our diversity of energy resources in a relatively small state provides added resilience, including our large hydroelectric station on the Susquehanna River and our LNG terminal on the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland is fortunate to have the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant.”

Maryland punches well above its weight, with an expansive grid modernization portfolio, ambitious EV programs, utility-scale batteries deployed as grid assets, and more, backed up by a diverse renewable generation portfolio and nuclear power at the Calvert Cliffs plant.

AEP CEO Nick Akins talked with Senator Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who chairs the Senate Energy Committee, about prospects for clean energy legislation in Congress.