PUBLIC REGULATION PUBLIC COMMISSION REGULATION DISTRICT COMMISSION3 DISTRICT 3 The League asked:
The Public Regulation Commission is a five-person commission that regulates the utilities, telecommunications and motor carrier industries. It also oversees pipeline and fire safety. A candidate must be a citizen of the United States and reside in the district he/she represents. A candidate must also certify that he/she has at least ten years of specified professional experience and education in an area regulated by the Commission. Commissioners are elected by district and have four-year staggered terms. Districts 1 and 3 are up for election in 2020.
1. What are your qualifications for this position?
I have bachelors and masters degrees in civil engineering. As a lifelong public servant, I served our country as a Federal engineer and regulator for over 30 years working at all levels of Federal government. I served my communities for 14 years as councilman and Mayor for the City or Espanola; and councilman for the City of Santa Fe, all quasi-judicial bodies like the PRC. I’m currently a consulting engineer and licensed to practice engineering in the States of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.
I have a PhD in High Energy Physics, and have run an oil and gas research and development company, and a GeoThermal green energy company since 2010. I am well versed in in the physics, economics and regulatory environment of alternative energy generation, transmission and storage.
2. Do you favor an appointment process rather than election of PRC members? Please explain your answer.
Nationally, our democracy is under threat. Trusting voters to elect their representatives is key to our reflective democracy. I don’t believe voters will undermine New Mexico’s democracy by removing their voice and choice to elect PRC commissioners by voting in favor of a proposed State constitutional amendment to change the commission from elected to appointed. A smaller, appointed commission with longer terms of office will only serve industry insiders and special interests, not the consumers.
Regulatory capture is the process where a regulated commercial sector has disproportionate influence on those regulating that sector. While having the members of the PRC be elected is not a cure for regulatory capture, the alternative method of having those members of the PRC be appointed will likely result in industry insiders having even more power within the PRC that they do no. So I would oppose converting the PRC to an appointed body.
3. When evaluating requests for utility rate increases, what factors should be considered to ensure fairness to both the rate payers and the companies involved?
The PRC reviews a utility’s cost of service and establishes utility rates necessary to recover those costs. The PRC determines that such costs are reasonable and prudent, including a reasonable return on equity, for the utility to provide adequate, efficient, and reasonable service. The PRC verifies costs with adjustments for known and projected changes whereby recovery of these costs must be equitably shared among different customer classes. By law, utility rates must be just and reasonable.
Utility investors need to receive a risk weighted return on their investment. Unfortunately utility rates are set as a return-on-capital, giving management an incentive to spend more on imprudent or wasteful capital projects, as a way to increase profits, The PRC needs to be aggressive in discounting wasteful capital spending projects, so that rate payers don’t pay for those projects. Rate payers must accept that build out of Green projects will require (hopefully temporary) higher rates.
4. What role, if any, does the PRC have in addressing climate change?
As an engineer, I trust the science that tells us that climate change is a real threat to us now and in the future. Our State is a national leader in addressing climate change through the enactment of the Energy Transition Act (ETA) of 2019 which accelerates our transition to 100% renewable energy. Growing our renewable energy sector will help create new jobs, diversify our economy, and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. The PRC is key to the implementation of the ETA and other legislation.
Given that the Energy Transmission Act explicitly directs the PRC to regulate electricity production away from carbon based energy, the PRC must act to implement the ETA to the best of their ability. Under the ETA it is the duty of the PRC to address carbon and other GreenHouse Gas emissions.
5. What should the PRC do to help ensure access to high quality broadband in underserved areas of the state?
The pandemic exposed the critical need for immediate, expanded, and equitable access to broadband across NM. The PRC must work with the State’s congressional delegation and executive and legislative branches to develop a statewide broadband plan. The plan must have adequate, consistent State funding to leverage Federal funding and target underserved areas. The PRC must also increase the $5M broadband program within the Rural Universal Service Fund. A mix of broadband technologies must be used.
This is special are of interest to me as a candidate. The telecom companies have received large incentives to build out rural broadband, with little progress on the ground to show for the public monies spent. The PRC should vigorously audit these contracts, and seek the return of funds, and compensation for violation of these broadband agreements. The PRC has at its disposal is regulatory action to compel competitors access to these broadband markets, to further induce deployment of broadband.