22 percent have served at least seven years
Steve Mitnick is Editor-in-Chief of Public Utilities Fortnightly and author of the book “Lines Down: How We Pay, Use, Value Grid Electricity Amid the Storm.”
Forty-three of the hundred ninety-two state utility commissioners have served since the summer of 2010, or longer. So, twenty-two percent of the current commissioners have served at least seven years.
Two have served since January 1989. That's twenty-nine years. Wow. Twenty-nine years means a whole lot of regulatory hearings.
I only counted commissioners from full members of NARUC. Sorry to my friends on the commissions of Guam, New Orleans, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, etc. And I rounded up or down to the nearest number of years of service.
I left off the list Commissioner and NARUC President Rob Powelson. He was in his ninth year on the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, a string of years now interrupted by his U.S. Senate confirmation a couple of weeks ago to a term at FERC.
Here's the honor roll of longest-serving commissioners:
29 years: Bob Anthony, Oklahoma Corporation Commission; Frank E. Landis, Jr., Nebraska Public Service Commission.
27 years: David E. Ziegner, Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.
25 years: Rod Johnson, Nebraska Public Service Commission.
22 years: Stan Wise, Georgia Public Service Commission.
20 years: John W. Betkoski III, Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority.
16 years: Joann T. Conaway, Delaware Public Service Commission.
15 years: Foster L. Campbell, Louisiana Public Service Commission; Gary W. Hanson, South Dakota Public Utilities Commission; Harold D. Williams, Maryland Public Service Commission; Doug Everett, Georgia Public Service Commission.
14 years: Mark C. Christie, Virginia State Corporation Commission.
13 years: Lambert C. Boissiere, III, Louisiana Public Service Commission; Elizabeth B. Fleming, G. O'Neal Hamilton, John E. Howard, South Carolina Public Service Commission.
12 years: Joseph L. Fiordaliso, New Jersey Board of Public Utilities; Judith W. Jagdmann, Virginia State Corporation Commission; Dallas Winslow, Delaware Public Service Commission.
11 years: Michael A. Albert, Public Service Commission of West Virginia; Chuck Eaton, Georgia Public Service Commission; Edward S. Finley, Jr., North Carolina Utilities Commission; Tim Schram, Nebraska Public Service Commission; Janice W. Wilson, Regulatory Commission of Alaska.
10 years: Betty Ann Kane, Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia; Brandon Presley, Mississippi Public Service Commission.
9 years: Kenneth W. Anderson, Jr., Public Utility Commission of Texas; Bryan E. Beatty, North Carolina Utilities Commission; Robin Sessions Cooley, Wyoming Public Service Commission; James C. Dimitri, Virginia State Corporation Commission; Lauren "Bubba" McDonald, Jr., Georgia Public Service Commission; Dana Murphy, Oklahoma Corporation Commission; Robert Pickett, Regulatory Commission of Alaska; Eric F. Skrmetta, Louisiana Public Service Commission; Swain E. Whitfield, South Carolina Public Service Commission.
8 years: ToNola D. Brown-Bland, North Carolina Utilities Commission; Kenneth C. Hill, Tennessee Public Service Commission.
7 years: Ronald A. Brise, Florida Public Service Commission; Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, Alabama Public Service Commission; John F. Coleman, Jr., Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission; Art Graham, Florida Public Service Commission; Nikki M. Hall, South Carolina Public Service Commission.
Lead image: Bob Anthony, Oklahoma Corporation Commission
