Binz to Be Nominated for FERC Chairman Position (Updated)

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said on June 27 that President Barack Obama has announced his intent to nominate Ronald Binz as FERC commissioner. It had been widely anticipated that Binz would be named the new chair of the regulatory body.

The announcement, made late June 27, was prompted by current FERC Chair Jon Wellinghoff’s announced resignation late in May.

Binz is president of Public Policy Consulting and former chair of the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (2007 to 2011), where he was a vocal supporter of renewable energy. Colorado has 16% renewable energy. Binz also served as Colorado’s utility consumer advocate from 1984 to 1995.

Binz was a panelist for the ELECTRIC POWER Conference & Exhibition’s  Executive Roundtable, which also included FERC Commissioner Philip Moeller as well as representatives of investor-owned and cooperative utilities and an independent power producer. At that event in mid-May, Binz was the only panelist to claim that the primary industry driver going forward will be carbon regulation rather than gas prices. With this week’s announcement of the administration’s Climate Action Plan, he could be correct. At the May event Benz also mentioned the need to “cap and innovate,” implying that capping carbon dioxide emissions will force innovation in carbon capture and storage, which he said “is key” to coal’s future.

Binz, a long-time advocate of renewables, called wind energy “a fuel hedge with probably no equal.” He also proposed that building a wind farm and a gas plant is better than building wind generation alone.

Binz is also a principal in the “Utilities 2020 Project,” whose goals are to “move discussions forward about new business models and new regulation.” It proposes to:

• Research and examine evolving utility business models and current regulatory practices.
• Engage utility executives, regulators, consumers and industry thought leaders in a dialogue about current practices and future models.
• Develop updated models for utility business practices and utility regulation.
• Encourage adoption of new regulatory designs developed in this project.

Sources: POWERnews, FERC, Utilities 2020, whitehouse.gov (Updated June 28 with White House confirmation.)

—Gail Reitenbach, PhD, Managing Editor (@POWERmagazine, @GailReit)

Editor’s Note: This story was originally published on June 28