Jill Grey Ferguson ‘26, Doctoral Student in Environment and Resources
Graduate Fellow, Office of Commissioner Clifford Rechtschaffen
California Public Utilities Commission
Host organization: The CPUC regulates all investor-owned electric and natural gas companies, water utilities, telecommunications, and transportation. The CPUC is made up of ~1,600 employees including subject matter experts across a variety of Divisions as well as its five governor-appointed Commissioners and their advising staff.
My role: I decided to make the Clean Energy Financing Rulemaking the focus of my individual summer project since it was directly relevant to my PhD work on financing and investment strategies for equitable building decarbonization. Specifically, I am quantifying the rate impacts of a scenario where all investor-owned utilities invest their capital in full decarbonization packages (e.g., energy efficiency, demand response, electrification, on-site renewable generation, and bidirectional battery storage) for all 14 million California homes and connect them as virtual power plants. In addition to this project, I am also responsible for writing briefing memos for the Commissioner to help inform his decision making ahead of voting meetings. This role involves summarizing the proposed outcome, connecting the issue to the overarching regulatory authority, providing background on the events that have preceded the proposed decision, distilling the stakeholder opinions, and making a recommendation. I have also gotten the chance to organize stakeholders and conduct research in response to a proposed rulemaking.
Typical day: As a fellow within Commissioner Rechtschaffen’s office, I get the opportunity to participate in all team meetings where I glean new knowledge every day from the Commissioner himself, his chief of staff, and his expert advising team. In just my first couple weeks, I was able to participate in meetings about equity, hydrogen, fuel cells, net energy metering, building decarbonization, tribal energy sovereignty, heat pumps, electric vehicles, gas pipeline trimming, rate design, rail safety, and broadband! When I have a briefing memo assignment, I spend part of the day reading hundreds of pages of rulemakings, scoping memos, resolutions, and associated comments. Then I pick up the phone to pose any remaining questions to the Energy Division experts. I spend the rest of the day presenting my Shultz project to different groups within the CPUC to get additional feedback. I also schedule at least one e-coffee chat a day with someone at the CPUC so that I can learn from the staff outside my office as well. The most special day so far was when I got to go into the CPUC SF office to watch the live stream of the voting meeting while my mentor, who is Chief of Staff to the Commissioner, explained the strategy underlying the prepared comments!
What I have learned: I learned that the CPUC work environment includes fast-paced work turnaround to support slow, sometimes decade long decision making. This combination of rapid yet deliberative work has been very exciting for me! I have also found that my initial judgment shifts after looking into the history and comments associated with each multi-year decision making process.
