New CEC Member and CPUC Liaison Announced

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced the selection of the new California Energy Commission member and the state energy czar. On April 20, he also revealed his three picks for newly minted California Public Utilities Commission posts, including one for an energy-efficiency liaison between the administration and the CPUC. This is a new layer of coordination and, perhaps, influence between regulators and the administration. The governor?s office would not allow any of the appointees to discuss their new jobs. Filling the recently vacated environmental slot at the CEC is Jackie Pfannenstiel, whose name had been floating around in connection with the appointment for some time. She was a senior vice president at PG&E from 1980 to 2000 and a senior economist with the CPUC two years earlier. ?She is known as an innovator and is committed to energy efficiency,? said Ralph Cavanagh, Natural Resources Defense Council energy program director. He and Pfannenstiel were involved in the CPUC?s effort to prod investor-owned utilities to rekindle their commitment to energy-efficiency programs in the late 1980s. ?The investor-owned utilities were flagging badly, and she was one of the leaders who helped push PG&E to have the largest energy-efficiency program in North America in the 1990s,? he said. Pfannenstiel is the only one of the five appointments that requires Senate confirmation. Joe Desmond, the new energy czar, has made his mark as the chief executive officer of the Silicon Valley company Infotility. He?s been active with the Silicon Valley Manufacturers Group. Recently, he?s been pitching a plan for a tag-trading system to create a market for generators? capacity. Shannon Eddy, senior policy consultant with the Center for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Technologies, was named the governor?s adviser on renewables and energy efficiency at the CPUC. She?s worked for the Sierra Club and alternative energy organizations. ?Since the crisis she has been in the middle of the most important [energy] legislation,? Cavanagh said. ?She is very diplomatic, well liked, and respected,? he added. He believes that Eddy and Pfannenstiel will promote renewables and energy efficiency and that their different backgrounds will be complementary. Bob Lane returns to the CPUC as the policy and planning adviser. He was an adviser to former commissioner Jessie Knight, Jr., who created the plan for direct access with a core-noncore split. Knight had advised the governor during his campaign. ?The policy appointments to the CPUC are unusual and signal a channel between Sacramento and San Francisco that hasn?t been there before,? said energy consultant Arthur O?Donnell. ?Some might say putting Eddy at Van Ness is a consolation prize for not getting the CEC position. Bob Lane is quintessential CPUC. He?s home again.? Finally at the CPUC is Todd Slosek, the new communications director. He was the point man for the governor?s get-out-the-vote campaign for Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The one appointment that was expected, but not announced, is a new chair of the California Independent System Operator board. Stanford University said that professor Jim Sweeney is in line for the position, but the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission lawsuit against CAISO on governance issues scheduled in D.C. Circuit Court for May 18 may be delaying the appointment. J.A. Savage also contributed to this report.

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New CEC Member and CPUC Liaison Announced

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