Pennsylvania is a State that Punches Above its Weight.
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.”
Pennsylvania is a state that punches above its weight.
It is one of the top four generators of electricity in the nation. The Marcellus shale has made Pennsylvania the nation’s second-largest natural gas-producing state. The state supplies coal, natural gas, electricity, and refined petroleum products to the entire East Coast.
Therefore, it is no surprise that the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission is one of the largest in the United States, with five hundred employees in twelve offices. They are responsible for overseeing and regulating as many as eight thousand public utilities doing business in the Commonwealth. Those entities include providers of electricity, natural gas, telephone, water and wastewater, transportation, pipelines, and public highway railroad crossings.
PUF’s Steve Mitnick traveled to Harrisburg, the main office of the Pennsylvania PUC, to learn about the roles and responsibilities of the commissioners and staff, and the rich history of the commission itself.
Interviews for the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission:
- Gladys Brown, Chair, Pennsylvania PUC
- Andrew Place, Vice Chair of Pennsylvania PUC
- John Coleman, Pennsylvania Utility Commissioner
- David Sweet, Pennsylvania Utility Commissioner
- Norman Kennard, Pennsylvania Utility Commissioner
- Jan Freeman, Executive Director, Pennsylvania PUC
- Buck Pankiw, Chief Counsel, Pennsylvania PUC
- Rosemary Chiavetta, Secretary, Pennsylvania PUC
- Paul Diskin, Director, Bureau of Technical Utility Services, Pennsylvania PUC
- Dan Mumford, Director, Office of Competitive Market Oversight, Pennsylvania PUC
