Abbott appoints chairman of PUC
Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday appointed Peter Lake, chairman of the Texas Water Development Board, to lead the Public Utility Commission of Texas.
If confirmed by the state Senate, Lake would serve as chairman of the PUC through Sept. 1, 2023, taking over an agency reeling from the fallout of the catastrophic power failures in February that led to the deaths of nearly 200 Texans.
All three members of the previous commission resigned; Abbott so far has named two replacements, Lake and Will McAdams, a long-time legislative staffer and now president of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Texas, a trade group.
A Senate committee on Monday unanimously recommended McAdams’ appointment, sending it the full Senate for final confirmation.
The PUC regulates the state's electric, telecommunication, and water and sewer utilities. It also implements respective legislation, and offers customer assistance in resolving consumer complaints.
Lake, 38, has served on the Texas Water Development Board since December 2015 and as chairman since 2018. The board plans and helps develop water resources in the state.
Lake is the former head of business development at Lake Ronel Oil, an exploration and production company in Tyler, and he previously served as director of special projects for VantageCap Partners, an investment firm.
“Peter Lake has been a diligent public servant throughout his time with the Texas Water Development Board, and I am confident he will bring a fresh perspective and trustworthy leadership to the PUC,” Abbott said in a
statement. “Peter’s expertise in the Texas energy industry and business management will make him an asset to the agency.”
Lake could not be reached for comment.
The PUC has faced a backlash over the widespread outages in February that left more than 4 million Texas customers without electricity for days. The chairman at the time, DeAnn Walker, and another commissioner, Shelly Botkin resigned as the PUC came under fire for its oversight of the power system and the state’s grid manager, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT.
The third member, Arthur D'Andrea, was briefly elevated to chairman but forced to resign after a tape leaked on which he promised out-of-state investors to block efforts to reprice billions of dollars in wholesale electricity trades during the power crisis.
The question of whether to reprice about 30 hours of wholesale market trades has been controversial. The state’s independent power market monitor first called for repricing after it concluded that ERCOT kept emergency measures in place too long, and should have allowed prices to drop from the state maximum of $9,000 per megawatt hour.
Opponents of the move argued that repricing would unfairly penalize market participants who made good-faith decisions based on the conditions at the time.
McAdams, in his testimony before the Senate Committee on Nominations expressed skepticism that wholesale electricity rates should have been
kept at a $9,000-per-megawatt hour for as long as they were during the storms. He added, however, that he did not have all the information to fully assess the decision.
"The PUC was doing everything it could with every tool in the toolbox," he said. "They fired every bullet in the gun at this thing to try to keep (the power) on."
Asked later if he would have done anything differently, McAdams replied, "I probably would have fired every bullet in the gun."
Luke Metzger, executive director of Environment Texas, a research and advocacy group, said Lake could “establish more independence” than his predecessors showed.
Metzger said Lake, while serving on the water board, he took steps toward conservation. Under his leadership, the board implemented the flood infrastructure fund, a program designed to make state funds available for drainage and flood projects.
It will be difficult, however, for Lake to restore the public’s trust in the PUC, Metzger said. He likely will face pushback from special interests when trying to implement any policy changes, such as requiring generators to better winterize their plans.
“There is going to be a lot of jockeying by power companies about what those rules are going to look like,” Metzger said. “That is probably going to be the first big hurdle (PUC commissioners) face.”
Lake is originally, from Tyler. He has also worked as a trader and director of
research at Gambit Trading, a member firm of the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
Lake received a bachelor’s degree in public policy, with a specialization in economics, from the University of Chicago and an M.B.A. from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.