Maryland PSC: Director of Telecommunications, Gas and Water Division

The PUF team had a warm welcome at the PSC offices in Baltimore on the upper floors of the William Donald Schaefer building. Maryland punches well above its weight, with an expansive grid modernization portfolio, ambitious electric vehicle and charging programs, utility-scale batteries deployed as grid assets, and more, backed up by a diverse renewable generation portfolio and nuclear power at the Calvert Cliffs plant.
 

PUF's Lori Burkhart: How did your background lead you to the Commission?

Benjamin Baker: I have a degree in physics and history. I originally worked as a financial analyst for Southern California Edison. Then a couple of years ago, I was looking to move to Maryland to be near my now wife as we were trying to live in the same area. I moved to Maryland and got a job here as a regulatory economist and have been working my way up through the ranks.

PUF: You're Director of Telecommunications, Gas and Water division. Talk about your unique role at the Commission. What it is that you do?

Benjamin Baker: I oversee everything but electricity. I'm relatively new to the position. I started in it about two months ago, overseeing gas, water, and telecommunications, and each of those are fairly unique.

I'm having a crash course in the telecommunications industry right now. I've got a book with a thousand pages of definitions.