A Day (Two Actually) at the California PUC
Carla Peterman is a commissioner on the California Public Utilities Commission. She was appointed to the commission by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. in December 2012. Commissioner Peterman serves as a Board member of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and as Vice-Chair of NARUC’s Energy, Resources, and Environment Committee.
PUF's Steve Mitnick: Commissioner Peterman, what is it like to be a commissioner at the California Commission? Is there a typical day?
Carla Peterman: The first word that comes to mind is awesome. It's awesome being a commissioner at the California Public Utilities Commission, because we get to make decisions that really matter to the people of California. We have a fantastic staff of experts to draw upon. We are also able to draw upon the expertise of several research labs and universities.
I personally do a lot of work on energy efficiency, energy storage, and renewables. When you're setting policies on issues, first of their kind policies, you need to draw on a lot of technical, economic, and policy expertise, and we have that here at the commission.
A typical day for me is a combination of meeting with my staff and staff in the agency to work on the proceedings that I have. We have ongoing proceedings, and we're trying to get to a decision on them.
It's also talking to my staff about decisions that other commissioners and judges have. I have to decide how I want to vote on them, and how I would consider the issues. We vote every two weeks on anywhere from fifty to a hundred items.